Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
It doesn't say anything bad about Backlund. But even when you are trying to compare players in similar roles, there are still way too many variables.
ROR's situation is nothing like Turris' or Krejci's or Kadri's, even though they are all considered to be in checking roles.
ROR's stats are a function of Buffalo, not the player.
And we haven't even started on the fact that PP stats also matter for a player.
I know you will defend the stats until the cows come home. And I know that you can take them in context (More than most). But most people don't. Period.
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Like everything the whole picture does need to be looked at.
The one thing with PP stats is I think those really can be skewed by team, PP Coach, and opportunity.
In the 3 seasons prior to coming to Calgary Troy Brouwer was 15th in the NHL in PP goals, 1 behind John Tavares and tied with Giroux and Malkin, and 72nd in ES points.
In that same time period he was 142nd in the NHL in ES strength goals, and 178th in ES points.
Based on the results in Calgary I think one of those sets of stats is more telling of his true talent. The Flames were burned by a guy they thought was a good powerplay producer, who just happened to be playing on elite Powerplays in Washington and St.Louis.
On the flip side you have guys like Gaudreau and McDavid who are both top 5 producers at ES over the last 3 years, but then barely crack the top 50 on the PP. Are they bad powerplay players or are they stuck under bad coaches with terrible special teams systems?
Granted it was clear for Brouwer that playing with Backstrom and Ovy on that PP in Washington would skew things. It's less clear when you look at really skilled guys like McDavid, and Gaudreau that produce at ES but have poor PPs.
So what I don't know with ROR is if he's actually a guy who drives that Buffalo powerplay to be good, or if he's just an outcome of a good system like Brouwer was. Him, Eichel, & Ristolainen all have similar PP point totals over the last 3 years, and then Reinhart/Okposo have similar efficiency on the PP. The 5 of them also have identical p/60 on the PP. So tough to tell what/who is driving those results.