Quote:
Originally Posted by Funkhouser
I keep hearing you mention him, what is it about Stone that you see as a good fit?
Granted, I know very little about him as he has never stood out to me in the AZ games I have watched (few and far between). His stat line is quite unimpressive. Are you falling in love with a random obscure player again?  |
Nah, I actually have a rationale for this one.
Stone had a real good year last year, but this year his numbers have dropped off. However, there's a quantifiable reason for this. Last season, Stone played on a pairing with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, a really good defenseman. That pairing had great possession numbers and great stats.
This season, Stone is playing with the much older Alex Goligoski, a much worse partner. In addition, his defensive zone starts have drastically increased, his PDO has dropped below 100... it may be just an off season, or it may be a result of a worse partner.
Brodie would be a pretty good partner for Stone. And Stone has a history here... he was a star for the Hitmen for a while.
Edit: he's also been injured for a while this season. I think it's just a case of a player having an off-year.