LOL.
Watch them play.
Seriously.
One shortened season can do weird things for stats.
How often do you watch these people play, huh? I doubt you watch them any more than I do. I don't have the luxury of watching them, so all I can do is base my opinion on statistics, and mighty fine and simple ones at that. And as for your accusation of small sample sizes, I'm not just basing my case against these guys on this season, I've gone back to previous seasons to make sure there isn't a significant gyration
And is Brendan Smith better defensively than Beaucheamin, Subban, Gorges, Seidenberg, Hjalmarsson, Brodin, Keith, McDonagh, Chara and OEL to name a gew? Is Smith one of the best dman defensively in NHL? Because his GAA indicates so.
There are plenty more stats I can pull up, but GAA is a pretty good one to go by when judging defensive play.
Of all the Dmen who played at least 500 minutes, he ranks in as ONE OF THE WORST IN THIS REGARD.
If you want to try and say Smith is better than Chara or Subban, be my guest. Both Chara and Subban aren't that far off, but both of them played way more minutes than Smith has. Context. Most hockey stats are very contextual in nature.
Scuderi has been for some reason the major shutdown player in two SC winning teams. If he was bad, how did they win those Cups with Scuder being their arguably most important shutdown player? He is older but it's not like it was ages ago, just won the cup last year with Kings and was GREAT in playoffs.
Scuderi's GAA numbers have been pretty good considering he is always there up against opponents top lines.
I'm not watching the playoffs. He was good in 2009, but 2009 was a long time ago. He wasn't nearly as good in 2011. But let's use very small sample sizes like the playoffs. Sometimes people look good playing the same team over and over again so they can adjust to them. Sometimes, they just get on fire over a short period of time.
Again watch him play. Vinny isn't even among the worst defenders on his own team. There is more to defense than GAA numbers.
This is incredibly ignorant.
I already did.
You can look here if you want. or here.
He is up there against top lines mostly
Not really...
with not so much support and scores almost much as he gets scored on. Somehow you have forgot to mention that.
I did. I stated there was a net goals against.
And again, he has been asked to do too much there, he wouldn't be doing the same carrying here, he would get easier assignments.
Baseless speculation.
There is also the thing how good he has been in playoffs. Actually had second lowest GAA 2 years ago of all forwards in Tampa. Only linemate Gagne had better.
Small sample sizes again.
Also you don't think his GAA numbers would go down if he played with Datsyuk or Z and get coaching from Babcock and actually play in solid system?
I don't, all I have is what he's put up. If he was a decent defender, then even in a bad system it would be noticeable, as in he'd be at the top of charts in defensive metrics. Yet he's not.
Nobody is saying Vinny is perfect but he certainly would help. Just saying 'well his GAA numbers are bad, don't want him', without even watching him play and thinking about how he could help the team.. that's something else. No one is confusing him for Selke winner but he could definitely improve this team. And I want him, depending on term.
By improving, then on the ice, you would expect there to be a net gain for the Red Wings side, and not for the other team. But that's what happens when Vinny is on the ice. The other team generates more chances. Net loss for the Wings. That doesn't benefit us.
Vinny is not a complementary piece. Vinny is a center, and is the type of player you SURROUND with complementary pieces. Holding the most defensive responsibilities on his line, he can impact it the most. But again, he's not.
OR maybe, possibly, the men making those moves think BEYOND few statistics. Like Jagr playing on line with one of the best possession player in the league. Or he's refusal to backcheck. Or he's puck hogging and then eventual giveaways. It's much easier to outshoot the opponent and look good in GA column when you come for a change immediately as the play goes to your own zone, too. Well, paraphrasing.
Puck Hog?
Yeah, what a puck hog... You can also stop talking about this "best possession player" BS. Remember, he spent most of the year with Dallas. And most of those stats are accumulated in Dallas. But screw that, he's a complementary piece. If he's generating more corsi/fenwick events (IE, generating more scoring chances and puck control), I don't give two rats behinds if he's not "playing the right way."
As Horton is walking, seems like they would have room for him, I think. Especially if they are trying to unload some more players.
Hindsight is nice when it's 20/20, huh? I like how you're making this assumption even though as far as we know that events have occured, the team was letting Jagr walk to resign Horton, and then Horton said "See ya!"
