Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Pretty sure I'm the "someone" in your initial post but I think there were two things that Rooney's play really sparked in my mind last night.
1) The Goodrow-Gourde-Coleman line.
I remember being flabbergasted when Tampa gave up the picks they did to get Goodrow. This was a guy who had never scored more than 8 goals or 24 points in a season, didn't have amazing underlying stats, and they gave up a 1st and a prospect for him.
Rooney is a similar size to Goodrow, has similar career stats now to what Goodrow had when he moved from San Jose to Tampa, and think the could fill similar roles on a defensive shutdown line.
2) Garnet Hathaway
I think a big part of this was just the number 21, because I don't see Rooney being as physical or agitating as Hathaway but in terms of size and how they moved around the ice they looked really similar. Looking at the numbers and he throws about half the hits that Hathaway does (7.71 hits per 60, vs 15.24 hits per 60) but he's still somewhat physical (hit rate similar to Bennett, and Goodrow)
Hathaway really developed into a great role player and if Rooney can replicate that then he's a good fit on that line with Backlund and Coleman.
I'd be intrigued to see what he does with better linemates and more minutes this year too...his career shooting percentage of 10.2% is actually very strong for a bottom 6 foward. If he could generate more volume he could pop a bit.
They played 67 minutes together over their two seasons together in New Jersey, so they "played together" and would know one another but it's not like they were frequent linemates.
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Sure, they gave up a first and prospect for Goodrow.
But the prospect was a 25 year old undrafted player- basically just a contract.
And Goodrow came with a 3rd round pick.
They basically got Goodrow for moving down 50 ish spots in the draft. The trade was never lopsided to begin with.