Quote:
Originally Posted by Kovaz
That implies a comparison with other teams, which you obviously didn't do. I guarantee no team has 32 goals ("quadrupling" our 8 goals) from their bottom 6. And there are a number of teams right where we are. Removing the top 6 scoring forwards, here's how many goals some other teams have from their remaining forwards:
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That type of analysis is just far too simplified that it's actually going to remove good bottom six players completely missing the point. While most teams don't always have such a clear distinction between the top 6 and bottom 6 like the Flames do, a lot of teams do get scoring from their "third liners" that can and often do sneak into the top 6 in scoring.
Take for example New Jersey. Miles Wood has 6 goals, just one less than Versteeg, Jankowski, Bennett, Jagr, Brouwer, Lazar and friends combined. He has played with Noesen, Coleman, Boyle. Hayes, Stafford and Zacha in a predominately bottom 6 role in terms of ice-time. Yet in your analysis, you removed him as he is currently top 6 for the Devils in scoring.
Chris Stewart and Marcus Foligno formed a pretty clear duo on the third line for a good majority of the season playing behind Koivu and Staal's lines. They have 10 goals between them but again, you've removed Stewart and his 6 goals from your analysis. (Staal, Zucker, Granlund, Koivu, Niederreiter and Ennis are the players who likely form the 'real' top 6 for the Wild except today Winnik is somehow on the top line).
It's far from black and white. Especially when you factor in injuries, PP opportunity, double shifting, and all that jazz but I think you've over simplified the idea completely missing the point. It's probably pretty fair for most NHL teams, but for some it's just not usable when talking about the bottom 6.