No need to be pretentious, I was using CF%, which is usually as far as people go with possession stats. But I'll play your little game. Do you think Niskanen was overpaid? Top D in the Eastern Conference according to CF% rel last season. You also didn't address my point about Muzzin being the Kings best D-Man. Was Mike Green the best D-Man on Caps? Was Shattenkirk the best D-Man on the Blues? According to your logic, those teams were all at their best with those players on the ice. Same with Anton "More Possession than Poltergeist" Stralman.
Hopefully the Blues don't find out your secret formula, they clearly need to stop playing Pietrangelo less and play Shattenkirk more. Same with the Blackhawks, who need to play Leddy over Seabrook and Keith.
My point is that stats like CF% rel need to be taken with more than a grain of salt. At some level, you have to address the fact that hockey comes down to putting the puck in the net. Not only is Boyle at better scoring (like infinitely better) but he puts the people around him in better positions to score, which is why his assist totals dwarf Stralmans. Stralman was a great possession guy, which shouldn't be downplayed, by possession isn't everything. If it was, his classic stats would be better than they were.
Also, super funny at your implication that Boyle's numbers were only because he was on a good team, even though he was physically on the ice more than any other player on that team. Logically speaking, his impact was greater than the guys that played less.
Numbers are fun but watching hockey is better. Stralman in person is nowhere as good as Stralman the stat entity.
