Quote:
Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald
Here's exactly what I said about him. "Garland is a decent player. He reminds me of Derek Ryan out there, except he doesn't go to the dirty areas as often. As a goal scorer, he's a garbage man. This past season he got a ton of breaks that resulted in goals, otherwise he would have been held to single digits for goals. What's worse, he's a perimeter player and does most of his best work behind the goal line or off the half wall. He's a good passer, but you need a finisher with him, which we sorely lack."
If there was only a way to prove this?
So what do we see a lot of in his highlights from the year? Scoring garbage goals where he catches a lucky break or has the gaping net in front of him after someone else's work. Where is he mostly driving his offense from? Off the half wall, down low on or beneath the goal line. He makes some good passes, but they are from the perimeter or in areas where he isn't a threat. But then again, the video is probably dead wrong. Probably doctored to make him look bad.
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I think you’re not 100% wrong but you’re kind of downplaying his strengths here.
Garland is player that’s not an elite finisher, he’s not going to beat with his shot from far out…that’s true. But he’s able to score those “garbage goals” because he does go to the dirty areas when the puck isn’t on his stick, and is good at finding that soft spot in the goal scoring areas to get those tap ins. That’s a skill.
Here is his goal scoring heat map, and he’s getting most of his goals in the dirty areas, not on the perimeter.
https://www.icydata.hockey/players/2...ap.png?goals=1
When the puck is on his stick he does tend to stick to the areas you’re talking about. He will play more on the half wall and beneath the goal line but that’s where most playmakers play when they have the puck on their stick. He’s not afraid to take the puck to the net when he has a seem to do so though.
To me he’s similar to Mangiapane a lot in these ways.
Not the biggest guy but not afraid to go to the dirty areas. Not the best finishers so need to generate a high volume of chances to get their goals. Have some puck skills with the puck on their stick as playmakers on the half wall and behind the net but maybe not their biggest skill. Both can tend to fall down a lot.