Uh, did you read what I wrote?
No, not at all - I was well aware of them, but didn't feel the need to actually post and format the numbers since I thought what I was saying was clear enough. Which it was: but for the +/- (on a non-playoff team), he was pretty much the same on the road and at home. As opposed to Brassard who was a completely different player on the road. And again, one is a KID, whereas the other is a VETERAN.
But, if you want me to, I'll go ahead and add these to my post. Happy?
Yes I did read what you wrote, I just don't think you've made much of a point. You criticized Brassard's numbers of which Zibenajad's were even worse and then afterwards provided excuses and justifications which I'm not buying.
In my mind, all goals scored on the ice count, but an awful lot of people only seem to count the goals they score but ignore the goals that are scored against them, and I'll never understand why.
Brassard was not on the ice for a lot of goals for on the road, but he was also not on the ice for a lot of goals against either. The small minus was more than made up for with his power-play production to produce a small positive of on-ice goal-differential while on the road.
Zibanejad on the other hand had a significant even-strength deficit to overcome,
and he has not demonstrated an ability to be a productive player with the man-advantage to overcome that deficit.
This would be my primary concern with this player. He's going to have to supplement his ES production with some PP numbers to become the player you hope he becomes.
And if he does, great! Then you get to pay him Brassard money. However much better than Brassard he becomes, that's how much more money you'll pay him.
The Rangers might've won the "asset management" duel, but this tells me that a team that made three deep playoff runs is thinking that it's window is closing. They gave up the better player now in exchange for the 30% chance that the 2nd-round draft pick in 2018 will become a player for them by 2022 or 2023.
My preferences lean towards taking the better player unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances.
Ottawa doesn't need "asset management." They have young players coming out of their arse, and they've drafted two more blue-chip centers in the past two years in Logan Brown and Colin and White and have another 2015 1st-rounder invested in a blue-liner.
What they do need is to return to the playoffs. They made the 2nd-round as recently as 2013 but veteran leadership like Alfredsson and Spezza upfront and Gonchar and Phillips on the back-end are gone and needed to be replaced. That's what acquisitions like Phaneuf and Chris Kelly and Brassard are about.
And they were a playoff team two seasons ago. One of the reasons they came up short in 2015-16 is
because Zibs didn't bring it every night and take his game to the next level.
Maybe he'll do that in New York, and maybe having a play-making winger like Zuccarello will bring it out of him. But that risk has now been shifted to New York while the Senators get the more proven track-record of Brassard (and he might even finish his career here given that he's from the area.)
