Machinehead
HFNYR MVP
Evolving Hockey has released their GAR/WAR based player cards for the first "half" (sort of? almost half?) of 2023-24 and I've done the good deed of compiling them for all of you.
By no means is this the be-all-end-all but I think it's interesting to look at. I'm going to post each one, and my thoughts, basically in lineup order:
Yep, that's Chris Kreider. Moving on.
Not surprised he's kind of mid because he started out horrible, but he's been heating up.
Yeah, that sucks. Lower than I expected although some people won't be surprised.
Yeah, that tracks. Next.
Yep. About right.
NOW HOLD ON! Before you yell, I think Lafreniere has been good this year. I've ranted and raved about how I hate the line he's on. I hate the line because the line SUCKS defensively. That tracks. EH blames Lafreniere on the line sucking defensively. I don't necessarily agree with that, but it matches my apprehension about the line. Please put him on a different one.
I mean, yeah. If this seems low, it's not. Cuylle is better than about 35-40% of the league. I don't think that's a hot take. He's a third liner. He's a solid third liner with potential to be more.
This is probably the least surprising card on the roster. Bonino is legit elite at penalty killing and black death at everything else. Yeah. Nobody's surprised.
Kakko having a normal one. Solid at everything except for the small detail that his team would rather do anything besides score when he's on the ice. Turning into a really weird player. Another accurate card.
(Brodzinski doesn't have enough minutes to make a card yet).
Here's Tyler Pitlick. He exists.
Another elite penalty killer that should play 2 seconds a game at even strength. @McRanger92 was right that these guys are legitimately great at it tho.
This is why I wanna move him up. Without exaggeration one of the best even strength players in the league.
Even in a down year, Fox is well into a Norris-range percentile. Just a comically good hockey player. He is having a down year offensively. That might be because.......
Yeah, that's why. Lindgren might literally be the worst offensive player in the National Hockey League through 30-whatever games. Fun.
79 is an elite offensive defenseman now. His defense rating sucks. Do you wanna know why? I know why. I've seen them all already. This is why:
*Curb Your Enthusiasm theme*
Fun fact: Erik Gustafsson is listed as "Erik Gustafsson (D)" on EH because another Erik Gustafsson, who I didn't know existed, apparently plays forward. Another fun fact: he's f***ing excellent.
I'm actually really excited about this. His defense could still use some work but him looking like he's good at offense now is not a mirage. 65th percentile is better than almost every #6 defenseman. Schneider is one of the best players in the NHL playing his current roe. Isn't that wild? Good for him.
By no means is this the be-all-end-all but I think it's interesting to look at. I'm going to post each one, and my thoughts, basically in lineup order:
Yep, that's Chris Kreider. Moving on.
Not surprised he's kind of mid because he started out horrible, but he's been heating up.
Yeah, that sucks. Lower than I expected although some people won't be surprised.
Yeah, that tracks. Next.
Yep. About right.
NOW HOLD ON! Before you yell, I think Lafreniere has been good this year. I've ranted and raved about how I hate the line he's on. I hate the line because the line SUCKS defensively. That tracks. EH blames Lafreniere on the line sucking defensively. I don't necessarily agree with that, but it matches my apprehension about the line. Please put him on a different one.
I mean, yeah. If this seems low, it's not. Cuylle is better than about 35-40% of the league. I don't think that's a hot take. He's a third liner. He's a solid third liner with potential to be more.
This is probably the least surprising card on the roster. Bonino is legit elite at penalty killing and black death at everything else. Yeah. Nobody's surprised.
Kakko having a normal one. Solid at everything except for the small detail that his team would rather do anything besides score when he's on the ice. Turning into a really weird player. Another accurate card.
(Brodzinski doesn't have enough minutes to make a card yet).
Here's Tyler Pitlick. He exists.
Another elite penalty killer that should play 2 seconds a game at even strength. @McRanger92 was right that these guys are legitimately great at it tho.
This is why I wanna move him up. Without exaggeration one of the best even strength players in the league.
Even in a down year, Fox is well into a Norris-range percentile. Just a comically good hockey player. He is having a down year offensively. That might be because.......
Yeah, that's why. Lindgren might literally be the worst offensive player in the National Hockey League through 30-whatever games. Fun.
79 is an elite offensive defenseman now. His defense rating sucks. Do you wanna know why? I know why. I've seen them all already. This is why:
*Curb Your Enthusiasm theme*
Fun fact: Erik Gustafsson is listed as "Erik Gustafsson (D)" on EH because another Erik Gustafsson, who I didn't know existed, apparently plays forward. Another fun fact: he's f***ing excellent.
I'm actually really excited about this. His defense could still use some work but him looking like he's good at offense now is not a mirage. 65th percentile is better than almost every #6 defenseman. Schneider is one of the best players in the NHL playing his current roe. Isn't that wild? Good for him.
