[Caged Great]

Corsi numbers only tell part of the story. It's an efficiency rating, which is good, but it is without context to the player's overall abilities.

For example, Backlund is basically awesome according to corsi numbers. That's a good thing. However, you have to be comparing him with like to like. He does not have the raw offensive skill, namely his shot is below average, to be able to score 60+ points regardless of how much ice time he gets. At that rate, it would actually be better to have someone in those top two positions that while they might not be as efficient as Backlund, they can contribute more offense than Backlund. If you're comparing what he should be considered (3rd line C), then he's probably the best one in the entire league.

There is no context with corsi by itself. That has to be provided by the person watching and having an understanding of the game and players' relative abilities. It's just a good metric for saying "this 4th line guy is one of the top or one of the worst 4th line guys in the league", you have to have the ability to put in the qualifiers of what that actually means.