Evaluating quality, importance, and impact of defensive defensemen is the biggest blindspot I see with expanded analytics work and often interpreted/utilized poorly by many extended fan advocates. Ignore this critical function at one's peril.
The biggest problem with advanced stats is they can be twisted to fit any narrative you want.
Some good points though I would suggest McDavid's salary was less a negotiation than an open wallet to secure the emergent best player in the world. McDavid set his price point and was always the driver in that negotiation. Draisailt was a fair value deal at that time which he absolutely hit out of the park quickly with help running with McDavid. This is the teeter totter effect of long-term deals to young players - both sides bet on potential and hope the value proposition aligns reasonably even at conclusion. In a rising cap environment this worked out magically.
The interpretation is a killer, imo. Too many people just parrot information and conclusions without understanding the core data and reliability/not involved. This is a high speed, chaos collision sport with a very high degree of random.
Absolutely, the group seems very very tight already and from all accounts are very welcoming. That goes a very long way when it comes to chemistry and team bonding.
That said people were saying this kind of stuff about Jack Campbell before one minute of one scrimmage had been played.
Fair comment on Campbell although there really wasnt much in Campbells history that suggested he was capable of being a #1 goalie.
I don’t think Hall ever became a core piece in Boston. They dumped him for nothing the second they needed cap.
Yeah, and despite him being one of their best players and pretty much their best player in the playoffs. Bruins are headed nowhere. Regular Season lions, playoff chumps.
For sure. It's a blessing to be able to play McDrai together but it's also shit for the other lines because they can never build any sort of chemistry. Or it seems like some chemistry is starting and then we break up that line because another is struggling.
Imo the main purpose of the 11-7 is managing the energy levels of key players. We do not have an elite defense so one way around that is to have more D so we can keep the top guys fresher and more effective. Also, the dynamic of the forwards is that McDavid and Drai play with bottom sixers. That has some benefit to those bottom sixers ( or rather bottom fivers I guess) and also gives more minutes to McDavid and Draisaitl, who are horses. Our other top sixers are older and were never close to as good as McDrai when they were younger, and so limiting their minutes is important to keep them effective. Imo 11-7 suits our team in particular
Hall was a quality player, but a bit of a one man show. He drove the offense but did not play well with other guys. McDavid's arrival made him superfluous. That said he'd be a great player as a trade deadline acquisition to any contender.
At least this time Lucic isn't expected to be a top line player. Should just be a depth forward.
200 points? Come on now. Don't be silly. lol. But he should be able to at least hit 150 again. I would say with better wingers as you mentioned maybe upwards of 170 could be doable though obviously still extremely difficult. But we will see.
