Up And Down Years

[Goriders]

I always find it interesting that different players can perform so inconsistently from year to year. Was wondering what everyones thoughts were on players that have stood out one way or another this season. Taking into account that it’s still early in the year.

My thoughts on the best/worst offenders:

Up Years

Farabee has really started coming into his own. Wasn’t getting on the score sheet until lately. But that has started to come now.

Cooley. Amazing what he has been doing. Especially after the preseason he had.

Coleman. Has slowly been having a good year. Very consistent performances.

Kuznetsov. Has stepped into the lineup and looked like a vet. Tough to do as a young defender.

Andersson. Quite an improvement over last season. At times I thought he was our worst defender last year. Especially the second half of the season. He has rounded back into form this year.

Down Years

Weegar. Has struggled at times both defensively and offensively.

Wolf. Has not looked like the superstar he looked like last year. Maybe teams have more film on him now.

Huberdeau. Still an effective player. But he has disappeared off of the scoresheet.

Zary. Has been invisible at times. Not sure what he really is anymore. Don’t think the coaches know either.

[Vinny01]

When I saw this thread title I thought it could be a discussion on the Flames performance as a team basically from 2014-present. The flames were firmly in a rebuild after tearing it down in 2013. They picked 6th and then followed up that season finishing bottom 4 and getting the 4th pick. They seemed poised to be in the mix for McDavid in 2015 but that team makes the playoffs and wins a round. They follow that up with a bottom 5 finish, then back in the wildcard, then outside the playoffs, then win the division, they go back on the bubble, they miss the playoffs, they win the division, they finish 9th in the west, then pick 9th overall, back to 9th in the west, now are bottoming out.


When is the team going to be consistently good or consistently bad? When expectations are low they seem to do better but when they are high the team seems to fail to meet them.

When will that stop?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Those seem like pretty fair categorizations.
I would add Yegor to the down year. Last year he was much better in the 2nd half, so was hoping he'd pick up from there. But he's not producing.

Farabee, I think has been pretty consistent since acquired, but just wasn't getting any luck until recently.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

When I saw this thread title I thought it could be a discussion on the Flames performance as a team basically from 2014-present. The flames were firmly in a rebuild after tearing it down in 2013. They picked 6th and then followed up that season finishing bottom 4 and getting the 4th pick. They seemed poised to be in the mix for McDavid in 2015 but that team makes the playoffs and wins a round. They follow that up with a bottom 5 finish, then back in the wildcard, then outside the playoffs, then win the division, they go back on the bubble, they miss the playoffs, they win the division, they finish 9th in the west, then pick 9th overall, back to 9th in the west, now are bottoming out.


When is the team going to be consistently good or consistently bad? When expectations are low they seem to do better but when they are high the team seems to fail to meet them.

When will that stop?

Feels like you could discuss that in the 73 other threads about it than immediately trying to steer yet another thread that direction with the second post.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Those seem like pretty fair categorization.
I would add Yegor to the down year. Last year he was much better in the 2nd half, so was hoping he'd pick up from there. But he's not producing.

Farabee, I think has been pretty consistent since acquired, but just wasn't getting any luck until recently.

I debated Sharangovich. But I didn’t think he was any good last year. I think the same thing this year. So he is consistent.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Feels like you could discuss that in the 73 other threads about it than immediately trying to steer yet another thread that direction with the second post.

Fair I have thought about that topic a lot but haven’t hear too many other people’s takes on it but it does correlate with this thread in the sense that players not being consistent year over year are driving this.

Huberdeau looks a lot worse offensively this year vs last when he scored 30. Wolf not being as good as last year is a factor. His goals saved above expected were credited to X number of extra wins last year (Steinberg has talked about this) and he is not doing that this year.

This has been something that has plagued the Org for a long time not just this year.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Fair I have thought about that topic a lot but haven’t hear too many other people’s takes on it but it does correlate with this thread in the sense that players not being consistent year over year are driving this.

Huberdeau looks a lot worse offensively this year vs last when he scored 30. Wolf not being as good as last year is a factor. His goals saved above expected were credited to X number of extra wins last year (Steinberg has talked about this) and he is not doing that this year.

This has been something that has plagued the Org for a long time not just this year.

I think Huberdeau looks about the same but he’s playing with Frost and not Kadri.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I think Huberdeau looks about the same but he’s playing with Frost and not Kadri.

Agreed.

For Huberdeau to hit 55-60 points, he needs to play with a line driver like Kadri and get premium ice time and 1st PP time.

Stick him with Frost and he's on a 45 point pace.

Usage and linemates play a huge part in a players point totals.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Fair I have thought about that topic a lot but haven’t hear too many other people’s takes on it but it does correlate with this thread in the sense that players not being consistent year over year are driving this.

Huberdeau looks a lot worse offensively this year vs last when he scored 30. Wolf not being as good as last year is a factor. His goals saved above expected were credited to X number of extra wins last year (Steinberg has talked about this) and he is not doing that this year.

This has been something that has plagued the Org for a long time not just this year.

I don’t think it’s org specific. I would say consistency is one of the toughest things for any player in the NHL, and it’s also what separates certain players from others. Crosby and Ovechkin aren’t two of the best players in history just because they’re great, it’s because they are great with a rare consistently.

You’ve got players like that littered throughout lineups, it’s not always the best of the best. Some guys will get you 40-50 points year in year out for a decade. Some guys will be stellar defensively for the same.

But I think a lot of players across the league struggle with good years and bad years in close proximity to each other.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Agreed.

For Huberdeau to hit 55-60 points, he needs to play with a line driver like Kadri and get premium ice time and 1st PP time.

Stick him with Frost and he's on a 45 point pace.

Usage and linemates play a huge part in a players point totals.

TBF he does get PP1 (they still don't use him right though) and he has Coronato on his line (but Coronato only just got out of a slump).

I thikn Huberdeau and Frost are still getting to adjust to eachother. It took Huberdeau and Kadri a long time.

[Sainters7]

Wolf's sophomore slump was forecasted by lots of general NHL writers/bloggers in the summer as well. I didn't want to believe it, as you tend to write those types of writers off as not being plugged into the team enough. But here we are.

Still doesn't worry me, but there's something to be said for the ol' sophomore slump, especially with goalies. Yeah more teams having film on him is probably part of it.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Goriders

I always find it interesting that different players can perform so inconsistently from year to year. Was wondering what everyones thoughts were on players that have stood out one way or another this season. Taking into account that it’s still early in the year.

My thoughts on the best/worst offenders:

Up Years

Farabee has really started coming into his own. Wasn’t getting on the score sheet until lately. But that has started to come now.

Cooley. Amazing what he has been doing. Especially after the preseason he had.

Coleman. Has slowly been having a good year. Very consistent performances.

Kuznetsov. Has stepped into the lineup and looked like a vet. Tough to do as a young defender.

Andersson. Quite an improvement over last season. At times I thought he was our worst defender last year. Especially the second half of the season. He has rounded back into form this year.

Down Years

Weegar. Has struggled at times both defensively and offensively.

Wolf. Has not looked like the superstar he looked like last year. Maybe teams have more film on him now.

Huberdeau. Still an effective player. But he has disappeared off of the scoresheet.

Zary. Has been invisible at times. Not sure what he really is anymore. Don’t think the coaches know either.

I think hockey above most sports has so many variables when it comes to production.

I look more to generation from year to year and see who's changed how they play, as they can't control bounces and hot goaltending.

Farabee ... predicted bounce back. His numbers were great last year. They're great this year as well. His points/60 looks more like his career and less like the unlucky run in Calgary last year.

Weegar ... almost all metrics suggest he's doing more offensively this season than last year, and flat to the year before ... zero second assists this year (odd) ... points/60 way down even though he's generating more. ... he'll pop

Andersson ... all metrics suggest a better year compared to last year (individual and on ice) ... but certainly on a heater ... good timing!

Sharangovich ... playing similar to last season ... not getting a lot of puck luck ... seems to be bouncing back. ... Goal scoring way off from two years ago but a lot of his individual metrics are similar. ... Still think he gets to 20 by the end of the year.

[gvitaly]

I think that in most cases it comes down to linesmates and usage, or getting fully healthy from injury.

Farabee - That's an average season for Farabee. His career average is 41 points per 82 games. 3 year average of 38 points per 82 games. Meanwhile, this year he's on pace for 39 points. He does look much better now that he has found his scoring touch.

Cooley, Kuznetsov, and Honzek - Were all put in a position to succeed. All are playing with confidence, and developing nicely. Cooley started off against weaker opponents, Kuznetsov on a pairing with Andersson, then Weegar. Meanwhile Honzek got the spot on the Backlund line.

Coleman - Despite the increase in goal scoring. It's actually a down year offensively so far. He's only on pace for 33 points. His career average is 38, and his 3 year average is 46. He's definitely looking noticable out there on a nightly basis, and there's a rumor that his back is doing much better this year.

Andersson - is on pace for a career year. He's on pace for having a 55 point season despite only averaging 36 points in his career. He's a very streaky player when it comes to his offense, so hopefully it keeps up. He's looking much better defensively as well.

Weegar - He was trying to do too much to start. He was trying to carry his partner until Kuznetsov found a home on that pairing. He also really wore the losses on his shoulder. He's only on pace for 15 points, despite averaging 45 points over the last 3 seasons, and 36 in his career. I bet he has a much better 2nd half and finishes the year with around 25-30 points.

Wolf was great for a lot of games when the Flames couldn't score to save their life. Right now it seems like a case of trying to do too much similar to Weegar. He just needs a couple of good games to get his confidence back.

Zary/Sharangovich - their down years are connected to having too many top 9 forwards on this team. You play a very different game in the top 6 and bottom 6. Sharangovich even described it as a different mindset you need to have on the ice depending on your role. Both players have bounced around the lineup so much that they had a hard time finding a role, and have success.