Do you seriously have a problem with that?
Gardiner outproduced him at the same age, now, has better advanced statistics and Maatta hasn't played a full season due to injuries since coming into the league. I know I'll get heat for this but I don't get the hype for Maatta. Still young but meh, I'll keep Gardiner.
Advanced... statistics.... what about his absolutely direct statistics which are all poor?
-He's an offensive defenseman who physically has not been able to eclipse 31 points while being deployed in tons of offensive zone situations relative to his peers. Is this not evidence?
-He's -38 in the past 2 seasons alone. Is this not evidence?
-He only averaged the 4th most ice time (of D) on the leagues worst blue line last season (worst GA and shot suppression). Is this not evidence? Oh maybe that particular coach was horribly mistaken and the fanbois were right.....
-He is currently 5th!!!!! in ice time on again, the leagues worst blueline. He's literally not even a top-4 option on the worst blueline in the NHL as determined by the best coach in the league. There's been multipole different coaches now who either don't or barely deploy him as a #4 on, yup, the worst D in the NHL. Is this not evidence?
Gardiner supporters are taking advanced stats way too directly and literally and that's all they can cling to. Let's remind everyone, corsi "TENDS" to "POSSIBLY" indicate a player's puck possession skills. It in no way is a direct measure of possession, talent, or impact on the result. It measures shot attempt gradients, which is not possession. Jake Gardiner's team may fire more pucks towards the net than the opponent does when he's on the ice, but that will never mean much considering his flaws: a really low hockey IQ for the position of defense and a ton of mistakes leading to goals and high negative plus/minus while creating an illusion of something more with his style of play.
SLAMS THE JUDGES MALLET