Yes, but people tend to take these charts as showing what they want them to. Matchups, zone usage, goalie play, blind luck, and the fact that the number of games is pretty small all require an evaluation that these charts don’t actually provide. I don’t think that anyone thinks that Vaakanainen is actually our best shutdown guy, do they?
No, but that would be the fault of the people interpreting the chart. What I would take from that chart is the Vaak-Gudas pairing does a great job limiting offense (on both ends of the ice) in their minutes. Goalie play doesn't really factor into xG since it only looks at the scoring chances and not how the goalie dealt with the shot (to eliminate bias from a hot/cold goalie). But yes, this info likely does ignore matchups and zone starts (and if it says it doesn't, then I would be somewhat skeptical of that).
Goalie rebound control/freezing of the puck would play into both number and quality of shots against, would it not?
Defense is always going to be somewhat linear to their partner.
I do wonder how much influence Lybushkin has on Minty in the form of communication and comfort with both being Russian.
I think hes a good partner for Mintyukov this year... as he kinda learns at the NHL level... but i dont think hes the ideal type to really bring out the best of mintyukovs abilities.
The more comfortable he is the better Minty will be IMO.
Seems like he just keeps getting points, eventually we should see Minty score a few goals as shooting is one of his strengths.
Well they're not similar players really. Oleg was a speedster with a cannon and Minty really is neither of those things. Minty seems to have much better defensive instincts and is better than Oleg at winning individual battles (he's better than most, honestly). Minty just seems to have a lot more tools in his toolbox.
I agree, and I think it's because he knows his slapshot isn't his best weapon. His best weapon is being shifty and getting pucks through to where they can do some damage, not blowing goalies away with a Pronger-esque slapshot.
I do think he needs to work on his long range shot. If he can make himself somewhat of a threat to shoot from the point on the PP, he will be that much more effective.
