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ricardodw · 05-04-2016, 10:44 AM

I find it interesting that in this thread there is so much agreement on my basic hockey philosophy that so many here have brutally mocked.

RGI was my attempt to un-emotionally quantify the players according to the Grit that is part of their skill set. It seemed to me that just to say that Edmonton was a soft team from looking at them would be the same as saying that they have 5 Gio equivalents on defense.

After coming up with a ranking system based on the admittedly weak stats available and doing an analysis on all the teams I came up that there are basically no successful teams that have more than 4 players with a low grit rating. 3 is better but some successful teams get away with 4.

The exception to this was the Lidstrom Red Wings.... If you have a 30 minute D-man as skillful as Lidstrom you can be successful with a lot of low Grit players on the team.

This is not a break through thought..... every NHL GM understands this and follows it to some degree. Vancouver understood that even though Hodgson and Raymond were talented players they was no spot on team that already had the Sedins.

In the Flames situation they have Gaudreau, Monahan, Brodie who by any measure are traditional Lady Byng candidates.

Frolik has traditionally been a softer (at least a no-contact) player but he bumped up his hit totals on the Flames

Backlund has grown/matured from a soft player to the point where he is not in the soft list as has Stajan.

A problem is that under Hartleys system Gio has cut his hits in half and has moved to being a borderline soft player (age and Injuries)

The Flames with Hudler and Raymond were clearly over the 4 soft player limit.

Having the 3 most important players on the team being soft and the next tier Hamilton, Gio Frolik being borderline put the Flames in a spot where they will not be successful as a team if they add Shinkaruk and/or Nylander.

That is not that too big a of a problem compared to where they were in 2012-13 were they were one of the softest teams .... maybe of all-time.

Under a more traditional NHL coach, possession, cycle, defense.... look for Poirier and Jankowski, Pribyl, Arnold and Wotherspoon to get a better look than they would under Hartley.

05-04-2016, 10:44 AM	#102
ricardodw Franchise Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Exp:	I find it interesting that in this thread there is so much agreement on my basic hockey philosophy that so many here have brutally mocked. RGI was my attempt to un-emotionally quantify the players according to the Grit that is part of their skill set. It seemed to me that just to say that Edmonton was a soft team from looking at them would be the same as saying that they have 5 Gio equivalents on defense. After coming up with a ranking system based on the admittedly weak stats available and doing an analysis on all the teams I came up that there are basically no successful teams that have more than 4 players with a low grit rating. 3 is better but some successful teams get away with 4. The exception to this was the Lidstrom Red Wings.... If you have a 30 minute D-man as skillful as Lidstrom you can be successful with a lot of low Grit players on the team. This is not a break through thought..... every NHL GM understands this and follows it to some degree. Vancouver understood that even though Hodgson and Raymond were talented players they was no spot on team that already had the Sedins. In the Flames situation they have Gaudreau, Monahan, Brodie who by any measure are traditional Lady Byng candidates. Frolik has traditionally been a softer (at least a no-contact) player but he bumped up his hit totals on the Flames Backlund has grown/matured from a soft player to the point where he is not in the soft list as has Stajan. A problem is that under Hartleys system Gio has cut his hits in half and has moved to being a borderline soft player (age and Injuries) The Flames with Hudler and Raymond were clearly over the 4 soft player limit. Having the 3 most important players on the team being soft and the next tier Hamilton, Gio Frolik being borderline put the Flames in a spot where they will not be successful as a team if they add Shinkaruk and/or Nylander. That is not that too big a of a problem compared to where they were in 2012-13 were they were one of the softest teams .... maybe of all-time. Under a more traditional NHL coach, possession, cycle, defense.... look for Poirier and Jankowski, Pribyl, Arnold and Wotherspoon to get a better look than they would under Hartley.