[Cali Panthers Fan]

Great thread Enoch,

I have one question. When determining the correlation numbers, did you just look at last season or have you looked back at multiple seasons over the last few years? The only reason I ask is that you might find the data varies a fair amount from year to year.

That being said, the teams with high end defensemen usually have success. Think of the teams that missed. How many really good defensemen do they have? How many guys that you could conceivably put on an all-star roster?

Buffalo: Ristolainen
Ottawa: Karlsson
Arizona: OEL
Montreal: Weber? (might be a stretch at this point in his career)
Detroit: ---
Vancouver: ---
Chicago: Keith (mostly defensively though)
Rangers: Shattenkirk supposedly, but he's pretty underwhelming now
Edmonton: LOL
Islanders: ---
Carolina: --- (plenty of talent depth, but no stars yet)
Calgary: Hamilton, Giordano
Dallas: Klingberg
St. Louis: Pietrangelo
Florida: Ekblad, Yandle (missed by 1 point)


What's weird is that when I look at that list, I see a lot of very talented offensive defensemen. I know that overall points by defensemen is the argument, and you need depth for that, but shouldn't some of those heavy hitters make up for it a little. Is PBD a product of good teams that score a lot of goals so the defensemen get more secondary assists etc., or is it a direct cause and effect?

At any rate, I agree in principle that the Flames have the talent both offensively and defensively from the d-group to be on the same level as Nashville. All it takes is a strategy that allows them to play to their strengths. Gio and Dougie both have great wristers and good offensive instincts. Brodie is a smooth skater and great passer. Stone has a cannon of a shot (needs to work on accuracy). Hamonic is a much better offensive player than he showed last year because he had to make up a lot for Brodie's questionable defensive play. Even Kulak showed that he has some offensive abilities at times later in the year. That's not taking into account some of the prospects like Andersson, Kylington, and Valimaki who all have displayed strong offensive games. The development system in the AHL needs to exploit this angle just as much as the NHL level needs to. I hope that a change is made in that regard to get as much offense as possible out of those kids, while still teaching them responsible defensive play.