kingsfan
President of the Todd McLellan fan club by default
I was before with McKeen's, but all I'm referring to now is what each of us do, watch the games. Any average fan should know that stats don't always indicate a players true value or even his performance. That increases when the stat in question is one that can be affected by any other player on the ice, such as plus-minus.
Stats are generally a good measuring stick, some more than others, but to simply say a guy has a bad plus-minus and therefore is "terrible" is misguided. True, it could be accurate that the player is terrible, but it requires more observation that to simply look up his plus-minus numbers.
If it was so simple to say a bad or terrible plus-minus equals a bad or terrible player, Columbus would never have traded for Johnson in the first place and a lot of scouts would be out of work as websites like hockeydb or eliteprospects can give you that information. Yet there's no doubt in my mind or most other posters on this board that if Columbus were to trade Johnson right now, they'd still fetch a decent return for him. That can't be simply chalked up to untapped potential either, Johnson is 28 now. He's as good as he's likely to ever get.
