[GDT] EDM (18-12-0) @ CGY (13-12-2). 7:00 pm on SNW and SN1.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Scheifele was on the ice for the most goals against at even strength, out of all forwards last season (78). Raisaitl was 2nd (77), and McAvi was 6th (68).

Scheifele was also 2nd in EV goals for while on the ice, behind only panarin.

Cool.

Does that mean he is the worst player in the league defensively?

Maybe his wingers were useless.
Maybe his goalie was a siv whenever he was on the ice
Maybe he had the worst matchups in the league
Maybe his coach is an idiot
Maybe he was unlucky
...

The stat doesn't prove anything because there are too many variables

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Scheifele, Connor, and Wheeler are again #1,2,&3 in EV goals against on ice this year, once you take away players on Buffalo, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Detroit.

lol

that is not how to defend a stat

[Roof-Daddy]

I'm the richest person that posts on this website, if you exclude all the people that have more money than me.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

lol

that is not how to defend a stat

I mean, they are way up high on the list anyway, 10th through 12th, and within 2 goals of all but three players.

The players on the terrible teams I listed, of course one can argue about whether those players have given up more goals because the team they are on is terrible, or the player themselves is terrible. (It’s obviously both to varying extents).

The point I’m making us that Scheifele has been terrible at not getting scored on for the last two seasons. How much of that is his fault is up for debate, but he’s clearly not “great at defense”.

[GioforPM]

I would imagine a good 2 way player gets put out against top opposition a lot, which means that, not matter how good at D you are, you are going to get goals scored against you. If, say, Bergeron played 80 games against McDavid, he’d probably have the a ton of ES goals against. He’d also have a lot for.

[Yobbo]

Originally Posted by Young Guns

Just hammer McStupid and Draisuckl every chance you get. To many times players have the chance to lay them out but let up. Neither one of them thinks they are allowed to be hit. Both complain to the ref every time they are touched.

This 1000%!

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Cool.

Does that mean he is the worst player in the league defensively?

Maybe his wingers were useless.
Maybe his goalie was a siv whenever he was on the ice
Maybe he had the worst matchups in the league
Maybe his coach is an idiot
Maybe he was unlucky
...

The stat doesn't prove anything because there are too many variables

It doesn’t mean he was the worst player in the league defensively, no.

But it very clearly does mean that he’s not good defensively.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

It doesn’t mean he was the worst player in the league defensively, no.

But it very clearly does mean that he’s not good defensively.

I don’t think it means that necessarily. It can mean that he plays a lot of minutes against players that can score lots of goals. And since Scheifele has never been a minus player, more goals have been scored by his team than the other way around when he’s been on the ice.

A guy that never plays lots of minutes against the Ovechkins and McDavids, but rather gets sheltered a bit, like Monahan, we’d all accept is not as good defensively as a Scheifele or a Horvat.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

I mean, they are way up high on the list anyway, 10th through 12th, and within 2 goals of all but three players.

The players on the terrible teams I listed, of course one can argue about whether those players have given up more goals because the team they are on is terrible, or the player themselves is terrible. (It’s obviously both to varying extents).

The point I’m making us that Scheifele has been terrible at not getting scored on for the last two seasons. How much of that is his fault is up for debate, but he’s clearly not “great at defense”.

That's the point - it isn't clear at all.

[Burning Beard]

I'm excited to see what this team does with Sutter in charge against the Oilers. Lord do I hate the Oilers.

[GioforPM]

The forecheck should work great against their sucky D. And moving it up quick worked great for Toronto against Edmonton because they sent two guys deep but they were no good, so they kept getting trapped.

[wired]

I really want to see any Flames player ragdoll Leon if he goes after lil Johnny tonight.
And if McJesus runs our goalie, smash the ####e out of him.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by wired

I really want to see any Flames player ragdoll Leon if he goes after lil Johnny tonight.
And if McJesus runs our goalie, smash the ####e out of him.

They haven’t had a guy on his line that can enforce crap against Johnny for quite a while. Ferland I guess. Bennett maybe, but he didn’t really do it in his few games, plus Ritchie is way bigger and tougher.

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by wired

I really want to see any Flames player ragdoll Leon if he goes after lil Johnny tonight.
And if McJesus runs our goalie, smash the ####e out of him.

And people say Sutter hockey isn't entertaining.

[Bingo]

Another angle in tonight's game is the Oiler powerplay or hopefully lack there of.

The two Sutter games have featured a total of four times short, and even some of those were questionable.

The Flames were averaging 5.6 minutes short coming into the Sutter games, and 3.1 in the two games with him behind the bench.

[djsFlames]

When you're tops in even strength goals against, I don't think your game is at a level where you're going to lead your team to PO success. With the exception of Schiefele who was out, how did those players fare in their respective play-in rounds?

They produced with the man advantage but bled goals at even strength. Both teams were eliminated in spite of their production, because they're as poor defensively as they are good offensively and were leaned on with TOI.

That is why teams like the Bruins led by players like Bergeron who don't produce the most but play complete games routinely beat the Torontos of the world when it comes playoff time. Problem with these superstars is they approach playoff situations largely the same way in terms of 200ft play. They may ramp up their effort level at what they do well but still don't commit to both ends of the ice.

[Jetfire]

If we somehow went 4-0 this week we'd be at 37 points with two games in hand on the Oil. We can make up a massive amount of ground this week.

Edit: Didn't realize the Leafs barely play this week so removed them from my above comment, still, catching/passing the Oilers would be fantastic.

[MrMike]

Well I wore my Monahan jersey last game, so I take full credit for his performance. Tonight I will be donning Gaudreau and expect similar results.

[Red]

Originally Posted by Jetfire

If we somehow went 4-0 this week we'd be at 37 points with two games in hand on both the Oil and Leafs. We can make up a massive amount of ground this week.

Well the Flames havent had a 4 gm winning streak this season so in that sense they are due. And then there is the new coach bump. And not just "a" coach, a great coach. So ya, totally due.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Another angle in tonight's game is the Oiler powerplay or hopefully lack there of.

The two Sutter games have featured a total of four times short, and even some of those were questionable.

The Flames were averaging 5.6 minutes short coming into the Sutter games, and 3.1 in the two games with him behind the bench.

Why is 5.6 surprising to me?

It really felt like it was 5 or 6 penalties against on a good night for this team pre-Sutter.

Either way, playing more with the puck and less time shorthanded coinciding is no coincidence.