Halfway mark team report card

[ZBBM]

Yes, grading players is kind of on the lame side, but still a thread like this gives folks a chance to share their thoughts on how the roster as a whole is doing.  Here's my take, by grade:

A+
Babcock.  I don't think anybody expected him to get the team pointed in the right direction -- which it undeniably is -- so soon.
Komarov.  Career year for him, may net us a 1st.

A
Parenteau. After a slow start, has been good most nights, real zip in his play.
Kadri.  Now that's he scoring his game is fully rounded, he's settling in to a long-term role as a 1B or 2C.
Hunwick. A few shaky games lately, but mostly has punched above his weight.
Reimer.  Except for his W/L record his stats are excellent.

A-
Phaneuf.  I've come to respect Dion this year, he's playing his best hockey since coming here and deserves the C, an effective leader.
Bozak.  Our best FO guy and has shown he can score w/o Phil.
Rielly. Still has more to give IMO but is really good most nights.

B+
JVR.  Conceivably deserves an A-.  Mostly does his job well on the offensive side of the puck.

B
Holland.  To me he's pretty "meh" but he hasn't been a liability.
Marincin.  Notice him much?  Me neither.  Well done MM.
Froese. Works hard and is probably playing as well as he ever will.
Gardiner.  Much improved, maybe we are seeing his ceiling?
Harrington.  I thought he has pretty good, though he's now been replaced by MM.

B-
Polak.  This year's whipping boy only deserves about half the criticism he gets.
Winnik.  Seems to have slipped a bit from last year IMO.
Grabner.  Coming on lately; if he keeps it up he'll prove to have been a good signing.

C
Arcobello, Clune, Spaling.  All pretty much nonentities achieving what is expected of them.

C-
Lupul.  I don't doubt his effort but he's invisible too often.
Matthias. Ditto.

D
Boyes.  Even with mere 4th line minutes, he needs to produce more.
Bernier.  Without the few stellar games he's put up, he'd be an F.

NG (small sample size)
Corrado, Leivo, Bibeau, Sparks.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Don't have time to respond to them all, but that ranking for Boyes seems mighty unfair to him.  At 5v5 he's leading the team in points per 60 minutes.  Seems like he's doing quite well with the 4th line minutes and linemates he's been given.

 

[Zee]

It says a lot about our expectations for this team when the coach of the 27th overall team in the league gets an A+, that being said, I can't disagree with this lol

 

[Kin]

Yeah, Boyes is 52nd in the league in points per 60 at 5v5. I'm not entirely sure what more could be expected of him. More production on the PP would be nice, I suppose, but that's pretty unfair to put on his back.

 

[Kin]

Here I'll throw a version into the ring although unlike ZBBM, I'm not grading each player on an individual curve that results in a garbage team winding up with 14 guys at a B or higher:

A+: Mike Babcock
A: Nobody
A-: James Van Riemsdyk, Morgan Rielly
B+: Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov
B: Tyler Bozak, Jake Gardiner
B-: James Reimer, PAP
C+: Matt Hunwick, Brad Boyes, Michael Grabner, Daniel Winnik, Peter Holland
C: Roman Polak
C-: Joffrey Lupul, Martin Marincin, Nick Spaling
D+: Byron Froese, Shawn Matthias, Jonathan Bernier
D: Arcobello, Clune, assorted nonsense
F-: Rogers Sportsnet

 

[L K]

Here I'll throw a version into the ring although unlike ZBBM, I'm not grading each player on an individual curve that results in a garbage team winding up with 14 guys at a B or higher:

A+: Mike Babcock
A: Nobody
A-: James Van Riemsdyk, Morgan Rielly
B+: Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov
B: Tyler Bozak, Jake Gardiner
B-: James Reimer, PAP
C+: Matt Hunwick, Brad Boyes, Michael Grabner, Daniel Winnik, Peter Holland
C: Roman Polak
C-: Joffrey Lupul, Martin Marincin, Nick Spaling
D+: Byron Froese, Shawn Matthias, Jonathan Bernier
D: Arcobello, Clune, assorted nonsense
F-: Rogers Sportsnet

I'm assuming Reimer lost points for having a groin made of shredded cheese?

 

[bustaheims]

Here I'll throw a version into the ring although unlike ZBBM, I'm not grading each player on an individual curve that results in a garbage team winding up with 14 guys at a B or higher:

A+: Mike Babcock
A: Nobody
A-: James Van Riemsdyk, Morgan Rielly
B+: Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov
B: Tyler Bozak, Jake Gardiner
B-: James Reimer, PAP
C+: Matt Hunwick, Brad Boyes, Michael Grabner, Daniel Winnik, Peter Holland
C: Roman Polak
C-: Joffrey Lupul, Martin Marincin, Nick Spaling
D+: Byron Froese, Shawn Matthias, Jonathan Bernier
D: Arcobello, Clune, assorted nonsense
F-: Rogers Sportsnet

I'm assuming Reimer lost points for having a groin made of shredded cheese?

I was jsut about to say . . . he's leading the league in Sv% and is 3rd in GAA. I'm not sure how that's only a B- unless he lost significant points for being hurt (or for putting in that kind of performance on a team that's should be bottoming out).

 

[CarltonTheBear]

My grades would be pretty similar to Nik's, a fair amount of overlap with ZBBM's as well, so I'll just post a couple of spots that are different to me.

B+: Gardiner. For my money Jake's been our best defenceman this season. I think that Phaneuf has really stepped up his game this year and I think a lot of that has been due to Jake's play. Just last night against Columbus I distinctly remember about 3 plays where Phaneuf bungled a play and Jake bailed him out. He's not perfect, but he's really settled into his game.

B: Phaneuf. There's no question this has been the best we've seen of Phaneuf in 2-3 seasons. I do think that the 2 biggest factors for that though are actually Gardiner and Babcock. And using that logic it's probably fair to suggest that his poor play in previous seasons could partly be chalked up to the poor partners and poor coaching he was exposed to.

B... trending to B-: Rielly. I don't know, is it just me or has Rielly been a little underwhelming this past month or so? It's kind of like a reverse-Phaneuf situation though in that I think his partner and coaching is partly to blame. Babcock decided to put Rielly through a trial-by-fire and I'm not sure it's working. That shutdown pairing with Hunwick was alright for awhile but now they often look overmatched to me. I also feel like he isn't looking as dynamic offensively as he could be, which again could be due to his instructions from the bench.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

My grades would be pretty similar to Nik's, a fair amount of overlap with ZBBM's as well, so I'll just post a couple of spots that are different to me.

B+: Gardiner. For my money Jake's been our best defenceman this season. I think that Phaneuf has really stepped up his game this year and I think a lot of that has been due to Jake's play. Just last night against Columbus I distinctly remember about 3 plays where Phaneuf bungled a play and Jake bailed him out. He's not perfect, but he's really settled into his game.

B: Phaneuf. There's no question this has been the best we've seen of Phaneuf in 2-3 seasons. I do think that the 2 biggest factors for that though are actually Gardiner and Babcock. And using that logic it's probably fair to suggest that his poor play in previous seasons could partly be chalked up to the poor partners and poor coaching he was exposed to.

B... trending to B-: Rielly. I don't know, is it just me or has Rielly been a little underwhelming this past month or so? It's kind of like a reverse-Phaneuf situation though in that I think his partner and coaching is partly to blame. Babcock decided to put Rielly through a trial-by-fire and I'm not sure it's working. That shutdown pairing with Hunwick was alright for awhile but now they often look overmatched to me. I also feel like he isn't looking as dynamic offensively as he could be, which again could be due to his instructions from the bench.

Rielly's definitely getting handed the tough assignments/zone starts.  Even still he's got the same 5v5 points as Doughty, Phaneuf, Weber, Stralman to name a few.  I think his usage is making his offensive contribution seem less than it maybe has been.

 

[Kin]

I'm assuming Reimer lost points for having a groin made of shredded cheese?

A combination of that and mitigating his stats slightly because of:

Some more crazy numbers from the analytics world:

@SteveBurtch 

TOR ranks 3rd in PP CF60, 1st in SCF60, 1st in HD-SCF60. They rank 1st in PK HD-SCA60, 3rd in SCA60, 3rd in CA60.

Basically these mean:
CF60 = Corsi For/60
SCF60 = Scoring Chances For/60
HD-SCF60 = High Danger Scoring Chances For/60
SCA60 = Scoring Chances Against/60
HD-SCA60 = High Danger Scoring Chances Against/60
SCA60 = Scoring Chances Against/60
CA60 = Corsi Against/60

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Rielly's definitely getting handed the tough assignments/zone starts.  Even still he's got the same 5v5 points as Doughty, Phaneuf, Weber, Stralman to name a few.  I think his usage is making his offensive contribution seem less than it maybe has been.

Yeah I did my classic "look things up after I hit post" maneuver and was actually surprised to see how many points Rielly has. On pace for just under 40, which is pretty great considering his lack of regular powerplay time. I'm just not seeing him carry the puck into the offensive zone or attack as much as I did in October. I mean, he hasn't forgotten how to do it, it still happens from time to time. Especially late in games when we're trailing. So again that would suggest he might have been told to play a little more conservative.

Rielly's probably the personification of the pain Babcock was talking about in the rebuild. He's being forced to adjust to top pairing, top competition minutes. Maybe it's hurting his play today but in the long-term he'll hopefully be better because of it.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Rielly's definitely getting handed the tough assignments/zone starts.  Even still he's got the same 5v5 points as Doughty, Phaneuf, Weber, Stralman to name a few.  I think his usage is making his offensive contribution seem less than it maybe has been.

Yeah I did my classic "look things up after I hit post" maneuver and was actually surprised to see how many points Rielly has. On pace for just under 40, which is pretty great considering his lack of regular powerplay time. I'm just not seeing him carry the puck into the offensive zone or attack as much as I did in October. I mean, he hasn't forgotten how to do it, it still happens from time to time. Especially late in games when we're trailing. So again that would suggest he might have been told to play a little more conservative.

Rielly's probably the personification of the pain Babcock was talking about in the rebuild. He's being forced to adjust to top pairing, top competition minutes. Maybe it's hurting his play today but in the long-term he'll hopefully be better because of it.

Yeah I wonder if it is partly due to Rielly slowing down a bit under the slog of those tough minutes.  That was something I thought negatively impacted Phaneuf the last few seasons offensively too.  I know someone has to play the tough minutes, but hopefully the team improves in the years to come to the point where those minutes aren't as difficult.

 

[dappleganger]

Here I'll throw a version into the ring although unlike ZBBM, I'm not grading each player on an individual curve that results in a garbage team winding up with 14 guys at a B or higher:

A+: Mike Babcock
A: Nobody
A-: James Van Riemsdyk, Morgan Rielly
B+: Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov
B: Tyler Bozak, Jake Gardiner
B-: James Reimer, PAP
C+: Matt Hunwick, Brad Boyes, Michael Grabner, Daniel Winnik, Peter Holland
C: Roman Polak
C-: Joffrey Lupul, Martin Marincin, Nick Spaling
D+: Byron Froese, Shawn Matthias, Jonathan Bernier
D: Arcobello, Clune, assorted nonsense
F-: Rogers Sportsnet

I'm assuming Reimer lost points for having a groin made of shredded cheese?

30% of the grade was participation. There was a couple weeks where Reims didn't show up for class.

 

[L K]

I think my list goes

Babcock <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Phaneuf <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Rielly <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Gardiner <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Kadri <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Reimer <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Bernier <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>

 

[Kin]

I think my list goes

Babcock <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Phaneuf <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Rielly <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Gardiner <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Kadri <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Reimer <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>
Bernier <Redacted by Lou Lamoriello>

It's about the name on top of the Report Card, not the letter grade beside it.

 

[rdowdall]

Here I'll throw a version into the ring although unlike ZBBM, I'm not grading each player on an individual curve that results in a garbage team winding up with 14 guys at a B or higher:

A+: Mike Babcock
A: Nobody
A-: James Van Riemsdyk, Morgan Rielly
B+: Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov
B: Tyler Bozak, Jake Gardiner
B-: James Reimer, PAP
C+: Matt Hunwick, Brad Boyes, Michael Grabner, Daniel Winnik, Peter Holland
C: Roman Polak
C-: Joffrey Lupul, Martin Marincin, Nick Spaling
D+: Byron Froese, Shawn Matthias, Jonathan Bernier
D: Arcobello, Clune, assorted nonsense
F-: Rogers Sportsnet

I'm assuming Reimer lost points for having a groin made of shredded cheese?

30% of the grade was participation. There was a couple weeks where Reims didn't show up for class.

I always hated the labs where you had to show up or else you failed.

 

[ZBBM]

Rielly's definitely getting handed the tough assignments/zone starts.  Even still he's got the same 5v5 points as Doughty, Phaneuf, Weber, Stralman to name a few.  I think his usage is making his offensive contribution seem less than it maybe has been.

Yeah I did my classic "look things up after I hit post" maneuver and was actually surprised to see how many points Rielly has. On pace for just under 40, which is pretty great considering his lack of regular powerplay time. I'm just not seeing him carry the puck into the offensive zone or attack as much as I did in October. I mean, he hasn't forgotten how to do it, it still happens from time to time. Especially late in games when we're trailing. So again that would suggest he might have been told to play a little more conservative.

Rielly's probably the personification of the pain Babcock was talking about in the rebuild. He's being forced to adjust to top pairing, top competition minutes. Maybe it's hurting his play today but in the long-term he'll hopefully be better because of it.

Yeah I wonder if it is partly due to Rielly slowing down a bit under the slog of those tough minutes.  That was something I thought negatively impacted Phaneuf the last few seasons offensively too.  I know someone has to play the tough minutes, but hopefully the team improves in the years to come to the point where those minutes aren't as difficult.

FWIW Carlton I had the exact same feeling about Rielly recently.  In my case it's because I am hoping he'll step up unto the very top tier of defensemen and he looked like he was going there soon, in October.

 

[hockeyfan1]

A
Reimer.  Except for his W/L record his stats are excellent.

D
Bernier.  Without the few stellar games he's put up, he'd be an F.

I'd give Reimer an A+ for his effort and for having adjusted his technique for a better outcome as his play's proven.

I'd have given Bernier that F, but to be fair a D- is more appropriate, mainly for having taken forever to correct whatever was ailing him.

 

[dappleganger]

I don't get all the Dion love.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08w-MsVM7xg[/youtube]

Jump to 55 second mark:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhGZM5RnacQ&feature=youtu.be&t=55[/youtube]

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Do you live in a world where you think other D, even top D, don't get burned during the season? 

Do you really think it is fair to cherry pick two plays to form an opinion on a player?

EDIT: I don't get all the Shea Weber love:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z4ql1PNZd0[/youtube]