Wings re-sign Dekeyser [6 years, $5mil AAV]

[CarltonTheBear]

http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2016/7/26/12284462/red-wings-sign-danny-dekeyser

Danny Dekeyser was a pending RFA. He's a 26 years old, top-4 defenceman who scores at a decent rate but has pretty mediocre possession numbers. To highlight that here's him going up against Gardiner:

I really have no idea what Holland is thinking this offseason. It's just been a terrible summer for the Wings. This, Nielsen, Helm, Glendening, and earlier Abdelkader's contracts have all been pretty bad.

To make matters worse they're now over the salary cap limit and still have Mrazek to sign (although they'll get some LTIR relief from Franzen once the season starts).

 

[Bates]

I saw a comparable last week where Gardiner looks better in the same stats than Duncan Keith.  All that means is the stats need an eye test attached.  No opinion on DeKeyser.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I saw a comparable last week where Gardiner looks better in the same stats than Duncan Keith.  All that means is the stats need an eye test attached.  No opinion on DeKeyser.

No, it means people need to know how to read them better.

For starters, I don't really know how anyone would even just glance at this chart and come to the conclusion that Gardiner is the better defenceman. The gap between their point producing numbers is much greater in favour of Keith than the small edge Gardiner has on their possession numbers.

Second, it's a unfair to compare someone with a "top pairing" role designation to a "top-four" role designation. It should be blatantly obvious that that difference in usage would effect their possession numbers a little bit. So Keith having the possession numbers that he has while playing on the top pair is more impressive than Gardiner doing it in the top four.