Quote:
Originally Posted by Parallex
It's not "my" stat... I didn't even initially bring it up, Enoch did.
To make a more broad commentary I would more prefer that every individual player have about the same BS/TOI ratio. I don't expect our 4th line to be talented enough to play in the offensive zone all the time... I do expect that they overall provide a close to neutral shot differential (effectively either outplay or play to a draw with other fourth lines) especially for a guy like McGrattan who gets the easiest zone start on the team. When McGrattan is on the ice the puck moves in the wrong direction.
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This whole BS/TOI being bad argument is dumb.
It just isn't. Each blocked shot is a shot that is taken away from the other team, that's part of the goal for forwards put in a non-offensive position. You can argue for neutral shot differential all you want, but players playing in defensive/grinder/energy lines will always allow more shots than other lines. It would be ridiculous to put out your least talented line against a line with say, the Sedins, and say "ok, go out there and take as many shots as you allow". That would require equal puck possession, and in what fantasy world is your fourth line going to have equal puck position to the first line of the opposing team? That's a pretty pisspoor first line if you ask me.
Blocked shots are a valuable defensive tool, and if a player like McGrattan is blocking a lot of shots based on his TOI, that's a good thing. If you're putting up McGrattan against a player like, say, Erik Karlsson, or Datsyuk, or Kane, etc, you better HOPE he's going to block a lot of shots, because in no logical world is he going to be picking pockets or dominating puck possession. Same goes for Bouma, Street, Jackman, Butler, O'Brien, etc.
It's just naive to think any of those guys should have comparable puck possession to highly talented individuals.