Many scoffed when U.S. Olympian and elite National Hockey League defenseman Justin Faulk (hereinafter referred to as "jfaulko" or "gritty vetran jfaulko") was named to the All-Star Game ahead of hockey players PK Subban and Erik Karlsson, despite the fact that all signs point to jfaulko being just as good and probably better (at least this season).
Here are the facts:
- jfaulko has 10 goals and 29 points playing for the 2nd-worst offensive team in the league. He has as many goals as Jeff Skinner, Alex Semin, Brett Bellemore, Rod Brind'amour, and the entire Eye Care Associates Storm Squad combined. jfaulko has registered a point on a stunning 29% of Hurricanes goals, which is a big number.
- In addition to thriving in the NHL, gritty vetran jfaulko also excels in the Corsi Hockey League. Despite his pairing playing the tough minutes, the Hurricanes outshoot the other team by almost 4 shots per 60 minutes at even strength (32.9 to 29) with jfaulko on the ice and get 52.2% of the shot attempts. (source:
war-on-ice.com)
- jfaulko also leads Carolina's defense in shorthanded time. The Hurricanes currently have the the #1 ranked penalty kill in the NHL (87.4%) and the #4 PK in the CHL (89 shot attempts against/60).
THREE YEARS AGO I introduced the
Claude Giroux-Adjusted Points stat, which was used to demonstrate that Giroux would score 42 points if he were to play for the Carolina Hurricanes, while Eric Staal would score 137 points on the Philadelphia Flyers. It was suggested to me that I now introduce the Kevin Shattenkirk-Adjusted Points stat, however this takes too much effort and I now realize that my original Giroux-Adjusted Points stat was (somewhat) flawed, as can be evidenced by NHL.com declining to include it as part of their new advanced stats package (though I was assured that this was a very difficult decision for them). HOWEVER, after taking a brief glance at the numbers, I can safely say that gritty vetran jfaulko would score somewhere between 85 and 126 points were he to play for the St. Louis Blues and that Shattenkirk would probably be a healthy scratch on the Hurricanes.
As you may note, a point total anywhere in the range of 85-126 would almost certainly be good enough to lead all defensemen in scoring. Combined wih jfaulko's elite defense and puck possession game, I think that this is enough to secure him the Norris Trophy. Unfortunately, North Carolina has like four people in the PHWA and many voters inexplicably think that +/- is a good stat, so we'll probably see an inferior player win yet again.
In conclusion, the Flyers
should of ****ing kept Doughty and Steve Hartnell.
