Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashasx
Defensive zone starts:
Monahan: 41.9% (lowest of any regular on the team)
Jankowski: 42.2% (second lowest of any regular on the team)
Backlund: 57.1%
How do you guys think Monahan and Jankowski will perform with that increased responsibility? They already face the easiest zone starts on the team. How will they perform when they are expected to undertake the toughest?
That is Backlund's value.
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Pretty good stat right here. Backlund is a very important player to this team and he does a lot of heavy lifting that Monahan and Jankowski haven't done or haven't shown they can do yet. I know the points aren't necessarily there, but night in and night out, Backlund shows a heck of a lot more than Monahan does. His ability to exit the zone and enter the zone are much better and he'd likely be a 60-70 point player if he played with Gaudreau instead. Monahan needs to show me more than a great shot and shootout prowess before I'd consider giving up Backlund.