Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
He isn't necessarily wrong.
Kadri: 26GP 8G 8A 16PTS
Huberdeau: 26GP 8G 7A 15PTS
Mantha: 13GP 4G 3A 7PTS - that's basically even with Huberdeau's production on a GPG, APG and PPG rate. He even was demoted to the 4th line for a while too. He was streaky, and you have to be careful of small sample sizes, but he is right there at the top of the Flames scorers for PPG. I don't remember where he was when he got hurt, however - so he could have been the most productive guy at the time of injury.
Kirkland has been a surprisingly productive - two more games than Sharangovich, but even in points. Just a point behind Kuzmenko, but having played 4 less games. Even in GP with Coronato, and just 2 points behind him. Considering who he plays with and the ice-time that he gets, he is a very surprising scorer that probably sees much better numbers than a lot of top 6 players in some metrics. Plus, his shootout goals don't count on his scoring stats. Kirkland has strangely become a very effective player for the Flames, even if his underlying metrics are poor (or were poor - not sure where he is at at the time of his injury, but they definitely were rather poor).
I get BigRangy's argument here, but I would have phrased it as: "... two of the most productive guys." rather than "down its two most productive guys." However, you can definitely form an argument to show that they were indeed two of the most productive guys on the team, especially if you use deployment, TOI and GP.
Either way, I would look at re-signing Kirkland as he seemed like a great team guy, exceeded expectations when it came to depth scoring (on a team that has a lot of trouble scoring) and helped win games in the shootout. An extension for another 2 years at a small raise would be about right to me.
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Mantha was a whipping boy until his injury. Looked great in a couple games then slacked right off. Kirkland was effective in his role.
But no, neither of them are the two most productive guys on the team. Not even two "of the" most productive guys on the team (at the time of Mantha's injury, Rasmus was, by a fair margin).