Phil Kessel
- Thread starter GhostofPotvin29
- Start date
Kin
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Bender said:
I'm not sure hockey has a singular ethos anyway but there are a couple reasons not to do it like that. For starters, I think that with dividing sticks you run the risk of there being a real serious talent imbalance between the two teams while that probably won't happen with the draft.
But also, and probably more importantly from the league's perspective, is that by doing it the way they do it they get to squeeze an extra couple hours of televisable content out of the event. Likewise you avoid logistical problems like figuring out a way to get the jerseys made up.
Mikhail Bloodnovsky
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Bender said:
It would funny to see a pile of sticks with a giant Chara canoe paddle lodged between.
J
Jalili
Guest
Saint Nik said:
I thought he looked incredibly uncomfortable and awkward being picked last, like he was really ticked off about the whole ordeal but wanted everyone to think he was totally cool about it.
Saint Nik said:
I thought about that, but TBH, they're all stars. If they're picking the best players from each team it should all balance out. And it's not like the East/West or N. America vs. World weren't unbalanced at times. And I don't really think the balance is solved by picking teams: imo the captain will pick players he likes the most first and foremost. Toews and Kane were a good example of that last year.
Logistically: I don't see it as much different than a fake draft in terms of getting the jersey's made up. The main thing is the league wants controversy and there will always be one when players pick sides.
Corn Flake
New member
Jalili said:
I think he handled it well on the outside, but on the inside I'm sure he was just pissed. It was on national TV for God's sake and he had already spent the last ... ever.. hearing the criticisms from fans and media and always tied to "the trade".. to be picked last had to be a big time shot to the ego.
How you could not be everything from angry to embarrassed... most human beings would be saying "fffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"""" on the inside.
Did that moment cause the real change in his game? I don't think that moment alone did but it would have at least added a little bit of a chip on his shoulder for sure.
Kin
New member
Bender said:
Like I said, it's a chance and one that the NHL probably wants to avoid. It's not the biggest thing in the world but it could stack up embarrassingly one year which would not be what the league wants.
Bender said:
Like I said, I think the main thing from the league's perspective is that the draft gives them an extra event to televise and, like you say, gets people talking. It's an entire weekend built on hype and this is more of it.
And I think any sort of stick dividing would cut down on the time the league had to get jerseys made up from two days to one.
Kin
New member
Corn Flake said:
I think the problem there is that you're kind of forgetting that we're not dealing with "most human beings" who probably would look at what happened to Kessel and equate it to the kid getting picked last in gym class. But Kessel, I'm assuming, is smart enough to realize that he wasn't watching a draft where things were being done strictly on merit and that in a collection of great athletes someone had to be picked last.
Add in that there's not a ton of evidence that athletes give the slightest crap about all-star games anyway and I think this may be more a case of projection than anything else.
J
Jalili
Guest
Corn Flake said:
No arguments there. I hated watching it, and I haven't always been his biggest fan... but after seeing that I gained a sense of respect for Kessel meanwhile losing some for Ovechkin.
I don't think it was a major event by any means, but it may have contributed to the semi-feud Kessel had going on with Wilson shortly afterwards.
pnjunction
New member
Zee said:
People have crunched the numbers and most elite scorers go through 6-8 game droughts pretty regularly (as in most seasons they'll have at least one).
While it would obviously be great to see Kessel consistently deliver points, I don't think we should be relying on it. What we should be able to rely on is that our scoring depth pitching in such that a Kessel cold-streak doesn't automatically turn into a team losing streak.
We're not there yet if you look back all but 2 of our 6 wins relied on Kessel's production. Actually those two were the first and most recent games, without his hot hands we come up short in all of games 2 through 8 and that is potentially a 7-game losing streak instead of a 4-2-1 stretch.
The good news is that 2nd line seems to be gradually heating up and depth players like Lombardi, Frattin and Steckel have looked pretty good. Bozak also notched quite a few assists on the top line and can hopefully bring some playmaking to the 3rd line while he's there.
pnjunction said:
This has also been going on kind of quietly:
Leafs D last year 139 points (including Kaberle & Beuachemin)
This year, they're on pace for 246 points. I would suggest that certainly has been assisted by Kessel's hot line and quick start but I think they deserve some credit themselves.
Last year the forwards scored 445 points. This year, they're on pace for 482.
Now the stats for 9 games is pitifully small to be relied upon very much. But on that basis and the obvious, we see three significant differences so far:
Kessel's line is carrying the brunt of the load in terms of scoring so far by the forwards.
Grabbo's line is well behind last year's pace (but starting to come on).
The biggest difference in scoring is in the points the team's D is racking up (when examining it that generally on such a tiny set of stats - which I would quickly concede is too flawed by inaccuracy from small data sample size to reliably project much). It's kind of just a loose idea at this point.
GhostofPotvin29
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Kessel is sporting a 29.4 shooting %, and already has 3 GWG (he had 6 all of last season, and 6 is his career-high).
bustaheims
Active member
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=598396
maplesyrup
New member
Congrats to Phil and yay us!
Corn Flake
New member
Take a picture of THAT, Ovechkin!