That wasn't the criteria for the list. I was looking for players who played a physical style, were under 6' and were prominent players in their team's offense. Incidentally I never considered Mark Parrish or Darcy Tucker to be among the league's best defensive forwards.
Chris Drury, Mike Ricci and Michael Peca were. Tucker was a *******, but he was a pretty good defensive forward.
Would be interesting. I wouldn't anticipate that there are many players on the free agent market that will depreciate at the same rate as Callahan.
Plenty of the Rangers free agent signings over the years were NOT Callahan type players (Drury aside), and yet most of them had already depreciated by the time they got here.
The players immediately above or behind him played a lot of minutes too.
Yeah, just not as many as he did. Last season, Girardi was 8th in the league among defensemen in ATOI. Of the top 30 defensemen in ATOI, he had the lowest PPG. In 2011-12, Girardi was 4th in ATOI among defensemen. Of the top 30 in that category, only Beauchemin had a lower PPG. He was 14th in ATOI in 2010-11, and was 27th among the top 30 in PPG. Girardi plays a ton, and just by that virtue alone, he's bound to get a decent amount of points. He's a very good defensive defenseman, but he isn't strong in any offensive skill. In fact, the fact that he's on the ice half the game probably has had a little bit to do with this team's terrible offense in recent years, since his breakout passing leaves a lot to be desired. His lack of speed and inability to rush the puck up the ice probably factored in, as well.
Yes, but that's not close to the point I was making. You're saying Girardi is the Rangers #1 RD by default, who was challenging Callahan for #2 RW?
Are there many teams in the league that have 3 top six-caliber RWs? Callahan is a 2nd line player, he was playing where he should have been.
Yes, and All-Star voting indicated that Alex Ovechkin was the 2nd best LW in the league last year.
All-Star voting?
You must recognize that there is a difference between the Norris and the Selke, no? Do you think Girardi would rank higher if it rated defenseman only on "who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game"?
Sure, but it is rare that Selke voting is truly based only on defensive prowess. They usually tend to favor two-way players. And I have to say, I think being one of the top defensive forwards in the league while scoring 25-30 goals is a very significant accomplishment in the NHL. I think Callahan fills his role better than Girardi fills his, and I think Lundqvist plays a bigger role in Girardi looking good.. That's all I'm saying.
Hey, I'm a stickler. It's pretty easy to frame your opinions as such, IMO.
My niece wanted me to just assume that she meant to say please when she was asking for something, but I didn't do that, either.
Apparently you aren't, as per my previous example. Regardless, this is a forum for sharing opinions. The very act of posting implies that the thoughts being shared are the opinion of the individual posting them. Nothing more and nothing less.
