Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
But it is "objective" only insofar as ricardodw has selected those events that he has interpreted as indications of grit. I believe that his selection is arbitrary and impressionistic, and quite simply boils dow to this: When he watches hockey games "gritty players" are those players who hit, block shots, and are the beneficiaries of more take-aways than they are victimised for giveaways. It is a metric built on a handful of one observer's favourite qualities in a player to the exclusion of virtually everything else.
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I would like to be able to use dump ins from centre and going for a line change with 30 seconds into a 50 second shift .... but I just don't see that stat.
I would like to use puck battles lost Or non-contested when they could be.
I would like to see a stat on players circling away after their goalie has been run.
If my selection of these statistics are "arbitrary and impressionistic" then you must have some in mind to statistically evaluate the toughness or more specifically the softness of individual players.
I don't mind soft players and every team has a few and usually they are extremely skilled. The trouble with these players is that if they are not controlling the play AND scoring the goals they are not contributing to a team's success.
I think that I have stated my theory that there are no successful teams that have more than 3 soft players getting significant ice-time.
No matter how many Jackman's and Begin and even McGrattons you have playing gritty in their 8-10 minutes the overall lack of physicality of 3+ soft players hand-cuffs the teams ability to compete and win games.
The problem is that when I label Hudler as a soft player there are poster's that admire his ability to go into the tough areas. This is mostly anecdotal evidence... He went in the slot a few times and people were amazed that such a small player would venture in there.
When I said that 2011-12 Stempniak was soft people posted the greatest hits from his past. He did have the size and ability to move out of the soft category when he played like he did in 2012-13. Similarly with Stajan and Backlund.
I have never stated that Chicago wins because they are more physical than other teams.... contrary they as a team are not..... However they just have 2 soft players on their roster.... Kane and Keith who are off the charts skillful.
A great part of my concern was that when Gaudreau declares he wants to play in the NHL he would become the 4th or 5th soft player on the Flames roster.
My grit analaysis has changed my attitude.... The Flames have jettisoned 3 of their softest 5 players from last season.... Bouwmeester, Tanguay and Cervenka.
All that is left is Cammalleri and Hudler.
The statistics say that Brodie, Butler, Baertschi and Backlund are not as soft as they appeared from watching them playing on a too-soft team.
There will be room for Gaudreau and even Granlund if they show that they have the extreme skills that soft player should be expected to have. Byron never had a chance with the Flames NHL roster loaded with soft skilled guys...... Maybe this year.
Vancouver fans will say that the Sedins are not soft....... they are .... the Canucks understood this and have been successful but can't have Mason Raymond, Roy in the lineup along with the Sedins. ... It led to playoff disaster this year.
It seems that teams are using some sort of grit test when going after these small players..... It is not a question if Mason Raymond or Kyle Wellwood has top-6 skills..... it becomes do they have more skills than our softest 3 players.
Hodgson has way more skills than Kassian...... Buffalo was an unsuccessful team as they already had Vanek, Gerbe and Ennis... To get back down to 3 softies Buffalo bought out Gerbe.