Mercer vs Hoglander (discarding current season)

Mercer vs Hoglander (discarding current season)

  • Mercer

    Votes: 8 57.1%
  • Hoglander

    Votes: 6 42.9%

  • Total voters
    14

HugeInTheShire

You may not like me but, I'm Huge in the Shire
Mar 8, 2021
4,438
5,878
Alberta
I had this discussion with a Vancouver fan in the offseason and he was adamant that he'd rather have Hoglander over Mercer.
Which player would you take, if we discard this current season?

I didn't want to include this current season has Hoglander is underperforming.

At the time
Mercer was 22 years old had 271 game played had 64 goal and 67 assists for 131 points bus was coming off a disappointing season where he put up 20 goals and 33 points

Hoglander was 23 years had 221 games played had 50 goal and 40 assists for 90 points and was coming off a good season where he scored 24 goals and had 36 points
 
Last edited:

biturbo19

Registered User
Jul 13, 2010
27,305
12,425
As mentioned, it's pretty hard to just dismiss and not let this current season colour perceptions at least somewhat. But even trying to do so, at the time, i still would've taken Mercer over Hoglander, despite Mercer coming off a weak season.

For me, the biggest thing, and something i harped on even during the offseason with Hoglander, is that despite coming off a fantastic goal-scoring season, he's not really suited to "Top-6" duty. It's a bit of a double-edged sword, where he's good at generating his own offense from a 3rd or 4th line without strong linemates. Buzzing around and jumping on broken plays with decent finish. But he plays such a disjointed game, struggles when he starts to fancy himself a creative "playmaker" and tends to only really find much chemistry with very "straight line" or direct "north south" players. He's also not a special teams contributor on either end of things. It all just kind of limits his absolute "ceiling" offensively.


So despite coming off a disappointing season, i still would've gone with Mercer betting on a bounceback. I think he's at least shown at times, that he can operate much more smoothly with skilled, creative, Top-6 players. That gives him more value and "upside" for me. Even if Hoglander's ability to produce even strength goals without a lot of prime minutes or help, is a nice thing to be able to stash away in your Bottom-6.
 
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Regal

Registered User
Mar 12, 2010
26,650
16,608
Vancouver
As mentioned, it's pretty hard to just dismiss and not let this current season colour perceptions at least somewhat. But even trying to do so, at the time, i still would've taken Mercer over Hoglander, despite Mercer coming off a weak season.

For me, the biggest thing, and something i harped on even during the offseason with Hoglander, is that despite coming off a fantastic goal-scoring season, he's not really suited to "Top-6" duty. It's a bit of a double-edged sword, where he's good at generating his own offense from a 3rd or 4th line without strong linemates. Buzzing around and jumping on broken plays with decent finish. But he plays such a disjointed game, struggles when he starts to fancy himself a creative "playmaker" and tends to only really find much chemistry with very "straight line" or direct "north south" players. He's also not a special teams contributor on either end of things. It all just kind of limits his absolute "ceiling" offensively.


So despite coming off a disappointing season, i still would've gone with Mercer betting on a bounceback. I think he's at least shown at times, that he can operate much more smoothly with skilled, creative, Top-6 players. That gives him more value and "upside" for me. Even if Hoglander's ability to produce even strength goals without a lot of prime minutes or help, is a nice thing to be able to stash away in your Bottom-6.

This is my feeling as well. I guess I could see Hoglander being more valuable for his high-energy play if Mercer can’t get his production back where you’d like it (he’s a little better this year but not trending toward repeating his sophomore year), but Mercer certainly has an actual top 6 ceiling that I don’t see with Hogs. Also, Hoglander’s lack of defensive IQ makes him a tough bottom 6 player to place. If he was actually good defensively, he could be a strong 3rd liner type like a Hagelin or a Hansen. But right now he is a bit of a weird fit on most lines.
 
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