I posted this earlier in the Nemisz thread, but I think it's more applicable here....
Regarding Irving, yes he has taken a bit of a step back stats wise, but the defensive core in Abbotsford is also much younger. This is important to factor into his progress.
Let's compare the D-core on the farm:
This year:
Keith Aulie - Age 20 - Rookie
Gord Baldwin - Age 22
Brad Cole - Age 22
Josh Meyers - Age 23 - Rookie
John Negrin - Age 20 - Rookie - 3 NHL games
Brett Palin - Age 25
Matt Pelech - Age 21 - 5 NHL games
Keith Seabrook - Age 21 - Rookie
That's an average age of 21 years, 9 months. With 4 AHL rookies and 8 NHL games worth of experience
Last year:
Gord Baldwin - Age 21
Brad Brown - Age 33 - 330 NHL games
Brad Cole - Age 21
Anders Eriksson - Age 33 - 552 NHL games
Brett Palin - Age 24
Matt Pelech - Age 20
Dan Spang - Age 25
Ryan Wilson - Age 21
That's an average age of 24 years, 9 months. With 0 AHL rookies and 882 NHL games worth of experience.
This year, Irving has had 680 shots on goal in 1365 minutes, averaging roughly 30 shots against per game. Last year, he had 1119 shots on goal in 2658 minutes, averaging 25.2 shots against per game. That's a relatively big jump. Yet he has a respectable 2.55 GAA and .915 SV% (which is better than last year's .912) As far as watching him live, I can't really comment much. He's looked fine in the sparse amount I've watched him via online stream, but maybe one of our Abbotsford guys can chime in.
Things to think about before everyone goes writing off Irving.
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