Quote:
Originally Posted by ThisIsAnOutrage
The consensus here seems to be that Wideman is pretty bad; I also admit I've seen him make some plays that inspire a solid facepalm. Still, if he's that bad, why is he only -2 when Brodie (whom he is often paired with and is reportedly bringing down) is -21?
I looked at at Wideman's stats at http://www.hockey-reference.com/play...-advanced.html
Other than getting 55/45 offensive zone starts compared to Brodie's near 50/50 split, I can't see anything that explains it and that difference alone does not seem to be enough. He regularly plays 18:00 to 23:00 mins. per game too.
If he's -2 on the Flames, surely he's +5 somewhere where he does not have to log as many minutes. There has to be some value there.
3rd rounder from someone looking to make a run? |
There's several reasons why Wideman is the concensus whipping boy:
1) Cognitive dissonance - Since Wideman is a UFA and he's been reported to be on the trade block for a long time, it's easier on the psyche to out-group someone who is predicted to be out of the group. When Wideman first signed and had 5 years left, he was the same old Wideman but people defended him and aligned with him because he was a Flame for a long time. One cannot both Hate the Flames and be a fan at the same time, hence former Flames (ie, Baertchi, Iginla) get hated on, while current Flames get embraces despite their downfalls.
2) Wideman-gate - Since fans can't both hate the organization and be fans at the same time, it's easier to blame Wideman for the Flames high penalty rate than it is to blame the organization in itself, even though the Flames are just as guilty of denying Wideman's actions as Wideman is. Wideman was arguably concussed and therefore not cognitively responsible, whereas the Flames organization was not, and therefore made the cognitive effort to create a Flames vs. Refs situation for themselves.
3) Wideman is a prototypical whipping boy - Highly paid, past his prime, has no long term future with the Flames, and is offensively underperforming, all makes him the easy target. It was Stajan when his contract was expiring due to the prototypical model, but then Burke signed him to half a decade and then fans must now cognitively associate with Stajan (see point 1).
If Treliving signed Wideman tomorrow for 5 years at 2 million, watch how many fans come out the woods showing stats that Wideman is not that bad. It happened after Brouwer was signed to an obviously overpaid contract, as well as Engelland too.