Toggle sidebar

Player Discussion Neal Pionk: Part II

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
  • We're expeting server maintenance on March 3rd starting at midnight, there may be downtime during the work.
McRanger said:
I mean for a guy with his skill who has 15 PP points in only 22 games to only be on the ice for 11 total ES goals for (in over 386 minutes, the second worst out of all 102 D-men who have played as much as Pionk) is a bit... troubling.
Click to expand...
I get it. And I do think that there are things that he can be doing better. It's blindly judging by only metrics that I have an issue with. Could he be better? Sure. And he should be with more coaching and more time. We are forgetting (not saying you) his experience level.
 
Also, what you're positing is just straight up incorrect, as Hedman doesn't increase his team's goals against rate at all, and Doughty actually makes it go down.

Good defensemen face top players and outplay top players. What a concept.
 
True Blue said:
But they have been on the ice the most when goals are being scored against. Clearly something is wrong.
Click to expand...

You're right, something is wrong. They should look to address some of those things.

Fortunately, they are good enough to be out there when their team scores a ton more goals and help them do that.

Pionk doesn't do this. Could he eventually? Sure, but he needs to come off the PK for a bit.
 
True Blue said:
Right.

The +/- stat is pretty easy. If you are on the ice for more goals scored against, then you are at a net -. That doesn't actually lie.
Click to expand...
That's not entirely how +/- works though, since it doesn't account for all goals scored.
 
True Blue said:
Right.

The +/- stat is pretty easy. If you are on the ice for more goals scored against, then you are at a net -. That doesn't actually lie.
Click to expand...
But Doughty and Hedman aren't. They're extreme plus players in every facet of the game. You're just babbling at this point.
 
Machinehead said:
But Doughty and Hedman aren't. They're extreme plus players in every facet of the game. You're just babbling at this point.
Click to expand...
If you look at their stats, are they + players or are they - players? Fairly black and white question here.
 
I never had a thread give me a migraine before....until now.The bickering back and forth is giving me 3rd grade flashbacks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: trilobyte
Machinehead said:
He's a +86 for his career, but I see you're going to use a small sample to push a narrative, so I'll just leave you to do that.
Click to expand...
Wait, let me get this straight. You were discussing how poorly Pionk has played this year. And to prove your case about how poorly he is playing this year, you are comparing a career stat of one of the best defensemen in the league, multiple All star and Norris winner to an NHL rookie with less than a season's worth of games? THAT's your evidence? Wow. So about context......
 
True Blue said:
Wait, let me get this straight. You were discussing how poorly Pionk has played this year. And to prove your case about how poorly he is playing this year, you are comparing a career stat of one of the best defensemen in the league, multiple All star and Norris winner to an NHL rookie with less than a season's worth of games? THAT's your evidence? Wow. So about context......
Click to expand...
Nah, you brought up Doughty.
 
Buchnevich89 said:
My solution is to keep Pionk on the power play as long as he is producing. And frankly, I don't care about Shattenkirk. He's most likely better than Pionk on the PP, but it is obvious he has regressed. So who really knows? And even if Shattenkirk is better, wouldn't you rather keep Pionk on the top PP unit for development and confidence reasons? I'm not pro-tank, but this is still an experimental year.

As far as 5v5 goes, Pionk needs to get off the top pairing. He needs to play less minutes. He needs to be tried with a different partner. And he needs to be coached. Like someone said, his defense isn't bad. It's pretty decent for an offensive defenseman. But he really needs to work on his zone exits. I don't get it. He can pass the puck well and skate like the wind. How hard can zone exits be? It gets annoying watching him hemmed in his own zone for so long, when you know he can be very effective at the other end of the ice. He needs to pass the puck out instead of just banking it off the boards. However, in the past couple games, I have seen some improvement from him in exiting the zone. Now he needs to work on keeping the puck in the offensive zone.

He still can improve, and I don't know why it seems many members are writing him off.
Click to expand...
Most aren't writing him off, just a select few.
He is a very young NHLer who has shown great promise. Yes, he has weaknesses, namely, net front coverage. I don't see as much of a problem with his zone exits. He is up against the best the league has to offer, so it stands to reason that it is more difficult to break out against them than 3rd/4th liners.
This team is rebuilding and lacks established talent. Put in the right situation, Pionk wouldn't be a first pairing D. The kid is drinking from the fire hose. Hopefully, he is better for it in the long run.
 
  • Like
Reactions: trilobyte and Buchnevich89
The other day we talked about players with horrendous analytics when they were young who became effective.

I said Josi as a defenseman, but a better example is Tom Wilson. He's gone from a drag in every aspect of the game to a driver in every aspect of the game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: apoptygma
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom