ChaoticOrange
Registered User
Based on what? His underlying stats aren't good, his GF/GA isn't good. Montreal's PK that he was on for significant time was terrible. He isn't overly physical. What makes him elite defensively? Being 52% on faceoffs? You look into McLeod's numbers and you can see why he's got a reputation for being defensively elite.I never said that. Evans played 3C the whole year after Dach went down and I called him a good 3C, which I think he is on a contender. If he’s your 4C on a playoff team, you’re in good shape.
About the bolded; So is Evans. He’s elite defensively who can put up ~30 points a year. The fact one is 24 or 27 or 35 doesn’t matter when you’re on a playoff run. You’re in the moment. No team would say “Wow McLeod still has untapped potential” when they’re about to play game 5-7 of the SCF. It doesn’t matter just like age won’t matter in April. You want to win, not develop.
For the last part, no, there’s practically no difference, not when both players put up very similar numbers all across the boards. There’s no valid argument that Evans would have done worst or better than McLeod in the playoff. It probably would have been a wash and make no difference whatsoever for Edmonton.
If you don't think age plays significantly into player value I simply can't help you. Teams look at a guy like McLeod as a longterm piece that can help them for years to come. That's why Buffalo paid such a high price for him. Evans is strictly a rental.
Role and team success also matters significantly. Playing 3C on a team that's just happy if they didn't lose by multiple goals and a team that was one win away from a Cup is a whole different world.