Quote:
Originally Posted by burnitdown
Are Ferland, Hamilton and Bennett our worst players? Are Backlund and Engelland our best players? I wouldn't read too much into +/-.
|
I didn't reduce the assessment of a player's worth to plus/minus. Do I think Iginla was the Avs' "worst player" this year because he had the worst plus/minus? No. But obviously, taking into account that he produced 13 goals and 9 assists out of his 22 goals and 47 points total, he isn't exactly tearing it up even-strength, and considering no other forward is close to his negative numbers, he is not strong defensively.
Whether or not that makes him worth putting on the Flames is not what I even started out disputing. What I'm disputing is that plus/minus is meaningless. Like I said, show me some other stats that contradict the obvious inference.
As for the Flames, I think the fact that Backlund is the forward with the best plus/minus is pretty indicative of the fact he is probably our best two-way forward; Bennett and Ferland still have a way to go and spent a lot of time on weaker lines. Hamilton, despite his point production still struggled defensively for much of the year. Engelland plays a lower risk game at lower minutes, and yes I think his positive plus/minus says something positive about his game that it would be foolish to ignore.