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Bender said:Why didn't they just pickup Betts off waivers for free?
CarltonTheBear said:Bender said:Why didn't they just pickup Betts off waivers for free?
Woah woah woah, Betts was on waivers? I'd say 'Ziggy-who?' if we had claimed him. Damn.
Brian Glennie said:Burke the bottom-feeder. Why do all his deals hinge on him somehow outsmarting a rival GM?
Deebo said:Sudafederov said:Deebo said:From the coach:
coachrw63Ron Wilson
Steckel immediately improves our PK. Size is a huge bonus. Faceoffs are going to help bigtime in all areas. Can also help on the wing!
Zigomanis must be thinking "What do I have to do to catch a break around here?"
Be better at hockey.
Sudafederov said:Deebo said:Sudafederov said:Deebo said:From the coach:
coachrw63Ron Wilson
Steckel immediately improves our PK. Size is a huge bonus. Faceoffs are going to help bigtime in all areas. Can also help on the wing!
Zigomanis must be thinking "What do I have to do to catch a break around here?"
Be better at hockey.
He won 19 of 22 faceoffs on Saturday against the Wings, how much better do you want him to be?
Brian Glennie said:Burke the bottom-feeder. Why do all his deals hinge on him somehow outsmarting a rival GM?
Sudafederov said:He won 19 of 22 faceoffs on Saturday against the Wings, how much better do you want him to be?
Saint Nik said:I guess. I'd thought the general thought was that Frattin would be on the third line with Bozak and Armstrong and he'd basically be dogging it out with Lombardi for time.
Seems a little weird that there won't be any high profile rookies on the club but I guess that's maybe par for the course when jobs are on the line.
Saint Nik said:Corn Flake said:As you know I'm not a stats junkie but to me, when you have a guy who is over 60% in defensive zone or PK faceoffs, he's the guy you want on the ice with 40 seconds left while protecting a 1-goal lead. A few of those won and not lost can easily mean 1-2 extra wins, which can easily be the difference between post season or not.
I followed the links for a bit and one of the things I came away with primarily is that a lot of those writers seem to allow that while being good on face-offs is certainly a positive it's not as important as a player being good defensively. That's something we can all probably agree on.
One of the problems with most advanced hockey metrics is that there's always an element of subjectivity to them and, like fielding metrics in baseball, you have to be careful about throwing them around in absolute terms. Reading the data a lot of them also make the point I do about the relatively low split between the good face-off guys and the bad ones and that's probably the strongest argument here, especially when you consider the things that have to do with face-offs that have nothing to do with the guys taking them.
Either way, like I said, I wouldn't rush to say that players who have good face-off numbers are overrated but I do think it's an interesting question and, at the very least, we shouldn't use 50% as some magical threshold.
TML fan said:As if anyone needed any more reasons to hate the Leafs, they go out and get the guy who may have ended Crosby's career...
Potvin29 said:Brian Glennie said:Burke the bottom-feeder. Why do all his deals hinge on him somehow outsmarting a rival GM?
I prefer the GM whose deals hinge on being outsmarted by the rival GM.
Darryl said:Like stated earlier I assume this means another deal is in the works. Given the overload of 3rd/4th line centres.
Corn Flake said:Yeah I hear you, and I can see where its open for debate. 50% for sure makes no sense as the great pass/fail on faceoff stats, but to get a guy who has been top 5 in faceoffs and over 60% the past while is a bonus either way, even if in the grand scheme the numbers look marginal.
Corn Flake said:Darryl said:Like stated earlier I assume this means another deal is in the works. Given the overload of 3rd/4th line centres.
I think it spells the end for Bozak, but not directly because of the deal. I think the key tie to future moves is this brings in a role the Leafs didn't really have filled well - a big defensive centre who is great on the PK and has size.
The #2 and #4 centre jobs are solidified now. IMO, Lombardi is going to pretty much run Bozak out of town as soon as he is up to NHL conditioning standards. Bozak is out of a job if Connolly can fluke out 10 healthy games in a row.
Its not a knock on Bozak so to speak... its just numbers. He has value I think and will be moved for something decent I'm sure.