G.I. Ben, A Real American Hero

Ben Smith finally got his chance to earn a permanent roster spot on the Blackhawks and he took full advantage of it.   This was the season we had been waiting for from Smith since he became a legend of Chicago sports folklore with his game winning overtime goal versus the Canucks back in 2011.  An elbow to the skull from Brendan Smith,of the Red Wings, the following preseason limited him to just 51 total games between Rockford and Chicago.  The fast pace and the good health of the 2013 season left Ben in Rockford for all but one regular season game and of course his cameo appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.

Smith had to earn Joel Quenneville's trust early on in the 2013-14 season but by the end of the year he was one of the most dependable players on the roster.  Smith was a healthy scratch for the season opening game versus the Capitals and again six more times during the first month of the season.  Once he gelled with Brandon Bollig and Marcus Kruger on the 4th line, he was a fixture in the Hawks lineup. Smith put up 26 points (14 G, 12 A) in his first full NHL season.  Not a bad tally for your 4th line winger.

Smith finished the regular season toward the bottom in CF% with his fellow fourth liners.  This isn't too much of a surprise considering Smith was third on the team in defensive zone starts at 47.7%.  Who were the two players ahead of him? If you guessed Kruger and Bollig, you'd be right! If you are playing the majority of you time in your own end, it is only natural that your Corsi number will be lower than those players who get the offensive zone starts.  It was Ben Smith's defensive responsibility that earned Q's trust and put the fourth line on the ice for numerous key shifts during the season.  Smith also contributed to the penalty kill as he averaged 1:16 of shorthanded time per game, which was fifth among the forwards.  The Hawks' penalty kill unit struggled to start the season as the coaching staff tried to figure out who would replace the departed Michal Frolik.  Smith was able to help stabilize the unit down the stretch and into the playoffs.  Smith had 58 blocked shots which was the second most by a forward and the sixth most on the team.

Smith added some much needed scoring depth in the playoffs as he scored four times, twice as many times as both Marian Hossa and Andrew Shaw.  Three of his four goals came in the Western Conference Finals against the Kings.  His time on ice increased about two and half minutes a game from his regular season totals.  He even got some time centering the second line between Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp.

Ben Smith will never be an All Star nor will he ever been in contention for the Rocket Richard or Hart Trophies, but he doesn't have to be.  He is an ideal bottom six forward for a team with plenty of firepower in the top six.  He is a bit undersized but he makes up for that with his fearless style of play.  He won't score many highlight reel goals but he will score a bunch by being willing to take the punishment getting to the front of the net.  He is a pretty good skater which will make him versatile and his low base makes him hard to check off the puck.  Smith was rewarded for his fine season with a new two year contract at the end of the season.  Look for more of the same out of Smith in the upcoming season. A lot of defensive zone starts and dirty goals.

Final Grade : B

Optimism. Cole down under. BC. Shootout moves. Sad news. Reducing fighting. Breakfast from the Cup. DEUTSCHLAND!!! Selfies. World Cup awards. Silly things. Chad Johnson being Chad Johnson. Legal weed. Naming the States. And Feel Good Inc. Monday.

Did anything happen while I was taking a week off, aside from my laptop being a gigantic asshole?

Oh, by the way . . . thank you, J-Mill, for covering the last week after I basically pissed away a whole weekend that you would've normally covered. Very much appreciated.

Onward to links!

BLUES NEWS:

• A crazy week in Blues land, but rminton618 gives us reason for a bit of optimism. (But let's all remember, no matter how many times we justify the signing, Steve Ott still blows.) [SLGT]
• Ian Cole is representing the United States in an exhibition series in Australia. Not only that . . . he's the Captain of the team! What the actual FUCK?! [SLGT]
• Tim and I recorded Episode 47 of Beyond Checkerdome yesterday, where we discussed everything that happened since after the draft. We also had the boys from the Blues Hockey Podcast on. It was a great recording, I thought. Should be coming your way Wednesday.

HOCKEY NEWS:

• The shootout is a horrible way to end a hockey game, but it's now a pretty essential skill because it IS used to end a hockey game. Anyway, here's the top five shootout moves from this summer's NHL development camps, according to Harrison Mooney. [Puck Daddy]
• Sad news . . . 32-year-old Russian minor league defenseman Artyom Sokolov passed away after suffering sunstroke while training for the next season. (This is literally the only English form of this piece of news I can find.) [Tumblr]
• Greg Wyshynski says the AHL has a more common sense reduction approach to the fighting "issue" (as it were). And if the aim is to reduce fighting, I do agree with him. [Puck Daddy]
• Here's Anze Kopitar eating breakfast out of the Stanley Cup and including his dog in the fun. I mean, fuck the Kings, but still . . . adorable. [Deadspin]

2014 FIFA DEUTSCHLAND DEUTSCHLAND ÜBER ALLES WORLD CUP:

• DEUTSCHLAND! Germany takes the World Cup for the first time since 1990 (under the West Germany flag) with a 1-0 win over Argentina, winning on a lovely goal by Mario Götze in extra time. DEUTSCHLAND DEUTSCHLAND ÜBER ALLES! [CBS Sports Eye on the World Cup]
• After the match, Lukas Podolski became international football's selfie Jesus. [SB Nation / Lookit]
• They handed out awards afterward. No Americans won anything, which happens when you get knocked out in the Round of 16. Some well-deserved winners, though. [Pro Soccer Talk]
• Not particularly about the World Cup, but definitely about soccer . . . if you're in St. Louis and need a soccer fix, there are some things you can do. (S/T to J-Mill) [Riverfront Times]

OTHER SHIT:

• Oh for fuck's sake. Is this really needed? [StL Today]
• The Artist Formerly Known As Chad Ochocinco, Chad Johnson, is now playing in the CFL for the Montreal Alouettes. He scored his first touchdown for the Als on Friday, and to celebrate, he hugged the official, who was having Goddamn none of it. [Deadspin]
• I mean, it's legal . . . so apart from breaking company policy, I have no clue what he's publicly apologizing for, aside from boasting about how he scored some legal weed. [Y! / Reuters]
• How all 50 states got their names. Pretty cool history read. [mental_floss]

VIDEO:

Not sure why this was sent to my attention now, but I fucking love this song. (S/T to Childhood Trauma):

"Windmill, windmill for the land . . . "

So yeah, I need to get back in the swing of this shit. Got some links or some videos? I'm all ears:

• gtdonutking AT gmail DOT com
• @KingDonutI

dCorsi Table

This table expresses Corsi as a rate stat; the numbers represent on-ice shot differential per 60 minutes (i.e., in 2013-14 the Kings attempted 17.34 more shots/60 than their opponents when Doughty was on the ice). Corsi On is just raw on-ice shot differential. A player's Expected Corsi is calculated based on the difficulty of their minutes, factoring in zone starts, quality of competition, and quality of teammates (you can read about the formula here). That number is then compared to how the player actually did, and the difference is dCorsi. I also included Corsi Relative (on-ice Corsi minus off-ice Corsi) if you prefer that to dCorsi. Except in cases of extreme deployment, the two are going to be similar.

Positives

Drew Doughty has a long track record of being a good possession player. He's driven play in the right direction every season since 2009-10. He's done that while playing a huge number of minutes; his 25:42 TOI/game this year was 7th in the league. Doughty must deal with more fatigue, over the course of both individual games and the entire season, than all but a handful of players. To post good Corsis year after year under those circumstances is impressive.

The Doughty-Muzzin pairing posted the highest Corsi% of any defensive pairing in the league this year. Doughty does much better with Muzzin than with other partners:

The idea that Doughty needs a stay-at-home partner is clearly wrong.

Doughty logged the most 5v4 minute on the Kings. The power play was about equally good at generating shots with and without Doughty (24.83 with, 24.54 without), but did score goals at a much higher rate with Doughty on the ice thanks to good shooting luck in that situation. That seems like randomness to me, so I can't say I'm wowed by Doughty's work on what was not an exceptional power play unit. He was very effective on the penalty kill, allowing shots and Fenwicks against at the lowest rate of all Kings defensemen.

Doughty's zone entry numbers are eye-popping, easily the most spectacular of any King. His 10.58 entries/60 led all Kings defenseman (and nearly doubles Robyn Regehr's rate), but what's really impressive is that Doughty carried the puck in on 59.59% of his entries. A carry-in rate of 60% is very good for a forward; it's just obscene for a defenseman. Doughty somehow managed that while rarely turning the puck over at the blue line (just a 15.12% failed entry rate). He's absurdly talented.

Negatives

37 points in 78 games seems, and is, not that exceptional for an elite defenseman. At 5v5 Doughty produced points at the 138th highest rate among the 200 NHL defenseman with at least 500 minutes. That's lower than guys like Mike Weaver and Brooks Orpik.

But I don't think people should care that much. For starters, Doughty's point total was unlucky. He only recorded a point on 24.1% of the goals they scored in that situation. That should regress back to his career average of 31.5% and get him another 4 or 5 even strength points next year.

More importantly, points are just not a very useful statistic for evaluating defenseman. In contrast to forwards, for defensemen individual point total and team goalscoring are not tightly correlated. I mentioned that Doughty produced points at the 138th highest rate among defenseman, but the Kings scored goals at the 85th highest rate with him on the ice. They attempted shots and Corsis at even higher rates (38th and 9th) and obviously excelled defensively with Doughty on the ice. All that is far more important than his point total.

Doughty's Corsi numbers, once adjusted for team quality, haven't been quite as amazing the past three years as they were from 2009-2011. Some of this is the result of ill-fated attempts to pair him with Robyn Regehr and an aging Rob Scuderi, which are thankfully over. Still, I think the possession numbers suggest that the Kings have become an elite hockey team over the last three years by improving the talent around their star defenseman, rather than by Doughty's own growth.

Highlight

Doughty celebrates a playoff OT winner as only he can.

Roman Emperor Comparable: Valentinian I

Valentinian (ruled 364-375) was an army officer in the right place at the right time when the sitting emperor Jovian unexpectedly died. The only person near the imperial court with an army, Valentinian was hurriedly declared emperor to fill the power vacuum. He ruled during an age of constant foreign invasion and internal rebellion, yet for the most part managed to stabilize the western half of the empire during his decade in power. His policy towards the common people was generally one of tax cuts and religious toleration, although he was brutally harsh towards barbarians beyond the frontier.

Valentinian is most remembered, though, for his temper. This proved his undoing when an embassy of the Quadi, a defeated German tribe, came to ask for peace terms. Unfortunately, the ambassadors had the audacity to criticize Valentinian's policy of building permanent Roman bases in Quadi territory. Valentinian began screaming furiously at this insolence. After a few minutes he had worked himself into such an uncontrollable rage that he ruptured a blood vessel in his brain and died.

Drew Doughty is also known for his outbursts. Let us hope he does not meet a similar fate.

Going Forward

Doughty's contract runs five more seasons at a team-friendly $7 million. He's still just 24. I bet we have yet to see his best.

Grade

I think Doughty might score more and do better Corsi-wise next year, but he was still an excellent top-pairing defenseman in 2013-14. A.

Linden Vey has accepted the Vancouver Canucks' qualifying offer that will pay him $735,000 if he plays in the NHL and $67,500 if he plays in Utica.

Given that it's a 2-way deal, here's a useful tidbit of information:

Vey's agent, Tim Hodgson, tried for one-way deal, but notes that Vey would have to clear waivers to be sent to minors. #Canucks

— Brad Ziemer (@BradZiemer) July 14, 2014

Hat tip to Canuck89 for posting that in the comment section.

Jim Benning acquired the 22 year-old right wing/center in this year's draft for a second round pick. Vey, primarily a playmaker, had 5 assists in his first 18 NHL games last season for the Los Angeles Kings while averaging 12:08 of icetime. One of those assists came against the Canucks (thank you, Province):

Quite impressive were his 14 goals and 48 points in 43 games for the Manchester Monarchs last season.

Here are some of his highlights from last season in the AHL:

Where Vey ends up in the Canucks' lineup is a hot topic for discussion. Some say second line center, which Benning has said goes to Nick Bonino. Maybe he anchors line 3. Maybe he goes to the wing if Bo Horvat cracks the club. But one thing that Tony Gallagher had pointed out is that Vey will be a huge asset as a right-handed center on defensive zone draws.

Vey averaged 55 seconds per game on the penalty kill with the Kings and 1:27 of power play time on ice. He had a shorthanded assist and power play assist. He won 44.4% of his 124 faceoffs taken with the Kings. He did not register many hits (2), blocked shots (1) or even shots taken (8) in his 18 games with the Kings.

Linden Vey's fancy stats can be viewed here at Extrastats.com.

Yankee Canuck had pointed out a couple weeks back in his post about Vey:

His WHL team (Medicine Hat Tigers) should ring a bell since our next best hope Willie Desjardins was his coach for four seasons, including their WHL championship season in 2006. Surely WD tipped the boss off on the new guy as the Canucks continue their team makeover.

Hockey's Future's take:

The Wakaw, Saskatchewan native is of average size and weight, but delivers above average results in most facets of the game. He is a leader and a grit player who inspires with a solid work ethic. His continued improvement in all three zones and special teams play has helped him raise his stock as a legitimate two-way center option.

Vey's career stats:

Middle fingers for everyone!

I can't remember the last time I was so wrong about a trade that the Rangers made. For those of you who have read me long enough on Blueshirt Banter, you know that I'm not a very big fan of guys who have to ice their knuckles after games and are best known for running their mouths and spending some quality alone time in the penalty box. When the Rangers acquired Dan Carcillo I thought it was a bad move, even though it only cost the team a 7^th round pick. I didn't think it was horrendous because, at the end of the day,  he was an NHL body and he was a pretty reasonable replacement for Derek Dorsett, but I was convinced that we were going to regret the trade even though it involved almost no risk whatsoever. Boy, was I wrong.

Dorsett Goes Down

Less than 24 hours after the news broke that Derek Dorsett had broken his leg in a game against the Penguins in early January, the Rangers moved a 7^th round pick to the Los Angeles Kings (of all teams) to acquire well-known pest Dan Carcillo. I was not alone in groaning about the move. I specifically remember thinking to myself, "watch that 7^th round pick become the next Henrik Lundqvist or Henrik Zetterberg."

To say that I expected very little out of Dan Carcillo would be a gross overstatement. I expected him to skate in one or two games and play himself off of the roster by taking costly penalties and/or by simply not being good enough at hockey. As it turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. When Carcillo came into the lineup for Dorsett it felt like the Rangers clicked a little bit better. Perhaps the team was just getting hot, perhaps it was just because a new face was in the locker room, or perhaps it had nothing to do with the Dorsett injury or Carcillo trade, but there is no denying that Carcillo instantly injected energy and physicality into the Rangers' bottom six. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Dan Carcillo was a lot more than a guy with a bunch of missing teeth and a black eye, he was a hockey player. He was helping the Rangers win games.

Stadium Series Hero

Carcillo scored 5 goals in his 39 games with the Rangers (playoffs and the regular season) and some of those goals were pretty darn significant. Just three games after being acquired by the Rangers, Carcillo scored against his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, at the Garden. Carcillo picked up 15 PIM and was named the 3^rd star of the game in that 4-1 Rangers win. It was a tough act to follow but on January 29^th, in the second Stadium Series game the Rangers played, Dan Carcillo scored the game winning goal against the New York Islanders in the third period and helped the Rangers sweep the Stadium Series.

If you had told me in September that one of my favorite Rangers' regular season moments involved Dan Carcillo scoring a game winning goal in an outdoor game I would have smacked you right in the mouth and called you a dirty, filthy liar. But it happened. Can you believe that it actually got better after this goal?

Middle Fingers in Philly

As great as the Stadium Series goal was, it simply can't compare to Carcillo's two goals in the 2014 Playoffs against the Flyers. The first goal is, of course, best known for the way in which it was celebrated and the reaction of a very unhappy Flyers fan. Instead of describing what happened, I'll just share the video with you guys so we can relive that magical moment.

Aw, someone was very, very upset. Carcillo's other playoff goal was scored at MSG in Game 7 against the Flyers. It was beautiful. It was the first goal of a huge game that was a must-win from the Rangers. That the goal was scored by a fourth line role player instead of a big gun says a lot about why the Rangers were as successful as they were in the 2014 Playoffs.  Just look at the pass by Mats Zuccarello on this play. Absolutely dirty.

Unfortunately, after that magical moment Carcillo played in just five more playoff games for the Rangers. He was often a last-minute scratch and was normally brought in only to shake things up and/or when Dorsett wasn't cutting it. The reason that we didn't see Carcillo in the Stanley Cup Final against the Kings was because he earned a suspension for being too physical with an official. In Game 3 against the Habs at MSG, Carcillo resisted being controlled by an official and it appeared as if he elbowed the official in question. The NHL threw the rulebook at him. Initially, Carcillo was suspended for 10 games but the suspension got reduced to 6 games after an appeal. After being suspended, Carcillo never saw the ice again in the 2014 Playoffs.

His year with the Rangers was chaotic, emotional, and memorable. It seemed that Carcillo was either rarely used (and therefore invisible) in a game, or he made a huge, often positive, impact on a game. I'm not sure what more you can ask of a fourth liner that cost your team a 7^th round pick. He succeeded in his role in a way that left me shaking my head and smiling.

Carcillo is currently an unrestricted free agent and might still end up playing for the Rangers next season if they can find a way to fit him in. He's a pretty good option for a fourh liner or a thirteenth forward, and he has shown that he is a lot more valuable than his reputation of being a guy who spends a lot of time in the penalty box. I'm not sure whether or not we'll see Carcillo come back but, at the right price, I'd happily welcome "Car Bomb" back (I really, really do hate that nickname) to the Rangers' bottom six.

What did you guys think of Carcillo? Do you want him back? Should the Rangers just bring him back for games against the Flyers?

From Beliveau to Brodeur, here are the top five NHL players with last names that begin with the letter 'B.'

Be sure to vote for the best of the five in the poll below, and follow along all month long as we run through the alphabet.

It's one thing to rank the best players in the history of the NHL. But that's almost too easy. Instead, we've decided to go letter by letter through the alphabet, then rank the best players based on the first letter of their last name.

Today, we start making some really tough decisions with the letter "B".

Here's how it works: I've gone through the history of the NHL and plucked the players I believe to be the best with "B" last names. But this isn't my decision completely. Each of these lists over the next five weeks will have a poll attached to it.

Look at the list and vote on the player you think is the best below, and (kindly) let us know in the comments if you disagree with our top five. The five players are listed in alphabetical order.

Jean Beliveau

I'd love to throw up a YouTube of Jean Beliveau's greatest moment, but you'd be waiting until August for me to narrow that down.

I don't care that there were only six teams when he played. Beliveau won 10 Stanley Cups as a player. He retired and won seven more as an executive, meaning his name is on the Stanley Cup 17 times. Let that sink in for a second.

The actual math is incredible, too. In 1,125 regular season games, he had 507 goals and 1,219 points, and 79 goals and 176 points in 162 playoff games.

Yes, it was a different era, but Beliveau's contributions to the game stand the test of time.

Rob Blake

If we were listing the best in-season trade acquisitions in NHL history, Blake would make that list, too.

After moving from Los Angeles to Colorado for the final part of the 2000-2001 regular season, Blake would play an instrumental role in the Avalanche winning the 2001 Stanley Cup. Blake scored six goals and finished the 23-game journey with 19 points. He posted four straight 45-plus point seasons with the Avalanche before returning to the Kings.

Blake would "only" win that one Cup, but he was one of the best two-way defensemen in league history, only overshadowed for a good portion of his prime by another great two-way defenseman who might actually appear on this list.

(SPOILER: He does.)

777 points, including 240 goals, from the blue line? Yeah, that's pretty good.

Mike Bossy

Simply put, Bossy is one of the best goal-scorers in NHL history. It only took him 752 NHL games to score 573 goals, and he added an incredible 85 in his postseason career.

Bossy is the only player ever to record nine straight 50-goal seasons (1977-1986). He topped 100 points in seven of those seasons, hitting a career high of 147 (64 goals, 83 assists) in 1981-82. Fifty-one of Bossy's 85 playoff goals came over three of the New York Islanders' four straight Cup titles, as Bossy scored 17 goals each in the 1981, 1982, and 1983 playoffs.

Bossy's name is on the Cup four times, and his goal-scoring records are not going to be broken in today's NHL. Not now, probably not ever.

Ray Bourque

Do I need to say anything?

If you don't have goosebumps on top of goosebumps, then you're just not prone to goosebumps, I guess.

One of the single most memorable Stanley Cup moments of the last 25 years (or, perhaps, ever) came in 2001, when Bourque's 22-year career was finally punctuated with a championship.

It was Bourque's last moment in the NHL, making it all the more special. It wasn't like he couldn't play anymore. He had 59 points in 80 games for the Avalanche that year. But he reached the top of the mountain. Who doesn't dream of going out that way?

Bourque's 410 goals and 1,579 points (most ever in either category by a blue-liner) are the stuff of legend. Even playing through a portion of the "dead puck" era, Bourque had at least a point per game 14 times, and he added 180 postseason points.

Martin Brodeur

Another part of this list where words are probably not needed. So we'll go purely with numbers.

Through the 2013-14 season:

• 688 regular season wins
• 2.24 lifetime goals against
• .912 lifetime save percentage
• 124 regular season shutouts
• 113 playoff wins
• 2.02 playoff goals against
• .919 playoff save percentage
• 24 playoff shutouts

Brodeur holds records for games played, minutes, shutouts, and playoff shutouts, among others. He won three Stanley Cups, Olympic gold and silver, and he won the Vezina Trophy four times. Oh, and he isn't necessarily done.

I love this man an awful lot, but I'll try to make an objective case for why he's awesome.

Marian Gaborik Corsi, 2008-2014

I'm just going to go ahead and straight up copy-and-paste Andrew's explanation for what these pretty numbers mean, since he can probably explain it better than I can anyway: This table expresses Corsi as a rate stat; the numbers represent on-ice shot differential per 60 minutes (i.e., in 2013-14 the Kings/Blue Jackets attempted 4 more shots/60 than their opponents when Gaborik was on the ice). Corsi On is just raw on-ice shot differential. A player's Expected Corsi is calculated based on the difficulty of their minutes, factoring in zone starts, quality of competition, and quality of teammates (you can read about the formula here). That number is then compared to how the player actually did, and the difference is dCorsi. I also included Corsi Relative (on-ice Corsi minus off-ice Corsi) if you prefer that to dCorsi. Except in cases of extreme deployment, the two are going to be similar.

Also it's worth keeping in mind that Gaborik moved around a lot over the last few years, which will make his dCorsi numbers a little less reliable. However, the numbers that it's actually produced don't seem to vary that much, save for that 07-08 Minnesota number. Throw that out and they actually look oddly consistent, given all the movement.

Positives

When you think of the Kings, I think one of the first things that probably comes to mind is "good possession team". Yes, obviously. What's another thing that might come to mind after that? "Stanley Cups", sure. "Clean and honorable", yes, following the pristine example of their captain. But eventually you'll probably get around to shooting percentage, and their struggles with it. The Kings are not exactly a shooting percentage powerhouse, that much is for sure. As you can see here with this excellent graph, the NHL average shooting percentage tends to fluctuate a bit, but in the current era it's usually somewhere in the high 8s/low 9s range. The Kings, on the other hand, often tend to fall below that average.

As you can see, that's 3 out of the past 4 years where LA's shooting percentage lagged below the league average (and the one year it didn't was the lockout-shortened campaign). Some digital ink has already been spilled questioning whether or not there's something about the Kings' system that suppresses shooting percentage, but that's not really the point here. If we've established that the Kings are a great puck possession team that tends to have trouble with shooting percentage, wouldn't you like to see them get a player with a recorded history of influencing shooting percentage in a positive way for his team? Hey, good news: this year at the trade deadline there was just such a guy available!

All those stats are regular season, of course. So going back to 2007-08, with the exception of 35 games with the Rangers in 12-13 (and hey, that's when he fell out of favor with their idiot head coach and got traded, how about that!), teams have consistently shot better with Marian Gaborik on the ice than without him. As you all should know by now, shooting percentage is a heavily luck-based stat and should be taken with a grain of salt, and it's always worth noting that some of these sample sizes are a bit small (and more on that in a second). But that's still such an impressive record over the course of six years, with three different teams, that you would have to conclude that Gaborik has a positive influence on shooting percentage when he's on the ice. This isn't something that's counter-intuitive, either; Gaborik is a three-time 40-goal scorer in the NHL, which would certainly imply a high level of shooting talent. And it's easy to picture teams taking extra care to cover him in the offensive zone, perhaps even drawing double coverage, opening up passing lanes for teammates to end up with high-quality shots. Gaborik is an immensely effective offensive weapon, and his past possession stats suggest he will not be anything close to an anchor for the Kings in that department either. In essence, he's exactly what the doctor ordered for the shooting-percentage-starved Kings. In fact, Gaborik's on-ice shooting percentage last year was a full point better than the next best player (Alec Martinez, at 8.6%). This is a skill set the Kings desperately needed, and they were clearly a better team for it after acquiring him. That makes his resigning good news in my book.

As for Gaborik's zone entry stuff, as Nick laid out in his post on the subject, Gaborik was fantastic in his short time with the Kings during the regular season. He lead the team by carrying the puck in with control in 73% of his entries, a figure that Nick described as "stunning" (second place was another tiny sample size guy, Linden Vey, at 66%, followed by Kopitar at 65%, so he was way above even the next few guys on that list). Unsurprisingly given how often Gaborik entered the zone with control, the Kings generated more shots per Gaborik's zone entries than any other player at 0.69 (second was Kopitar again at 0.59, so again he was far ahead). It is worth noting here that the Kings in general carried the puck in with control far more late in the season (i.e. when Gaborik was on the team) and it probably had something to do with their weak competition (they played such luminaries as Edmonton twice, Calgary twice, Toronto, Winnipeg, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Washington, etc) in that portion of their schedule. But even with those caveats, those are still very encouraging numbers, and it will be interesting to see what he does in this regard in a full season next year.

Negatives

That is, of course, if he plays a full season. I don't like blaming a player for injuries because I think it's usually not really in their control, but you can't really not mention his injury history. He's played a full 82 games just once in the past six seasons (though he did play 47 out of 48 in the lockout year), and last year was no exception there, as he played just 22 games for the Blue Jackets before he was traded to the Kings on March 5th, sitting out with a sprained left knee in November and then a broken collarbone in December. The only good news there is that neither injury seems to be related to his frequent groin problems that have plagued him off-and-on throughout his career. If both were just freak accidents, hopefully you cross your fingers and hope for the best. He's actually followed a pretty consistent pattern of alternating one year with frequent injury troubles/one year without as much over and over and over again, so perhaps he's "due" for another healthy year! Yeah!

Also, he's old and stuff- 32 to be exact, and he'll turn 33 in February of next year- so that's also certainly not a positive, especially since he's now under contract for the next seven years. I think it's safe to predict he should have at least one more season at a top level, maybe even two or three, but beyond that his decline could get steep in a hurry (especially if it's exasperated by yet more injuries).

Roman Emperor Comparable: Uhhh...

You guys, I don't know crap about Roman history. Andrew actually offered to pick an emperor for me, but that seemed just kind of fake and inauthentic to me, and we should probably avoid fake and inauthentic things in this article. This is my season review, so I shouldn't try to piggyback off of Andrew's impressive knowledge on another subject. I could do what Eric did for his review and just not compare him to anything at all, but that's boring (and this article clearly isn't long enough yet). So the real solution is to find some other subject I consider myself an expert on, like Andrew did with Roman history. Japanese rock bands? Yes, but none of you will know what the hell I'm talking about (not that you did with the Roman emperors either; put your hands down, readers, who are you kidding, you did not). Old pro wrestling? Aha, there we go, that should work. So, because 2000 WWF is the absolute peak of North American pro wrestling (and do not argue with me about this because you are wrong), here is your:

2000 WWF Superstar Comparable: Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho is a relatively easy choice for Marian Gaborik's comparable. Like Gaborik, Jericho came over from a poorly-run organization. If we pretend Jericho was traded for Jeff Jarrett, who debuted in WCW a few months after Jericho first appeared in the WWF in the second half of 1999, the analogy makes even more sense; I like Jarrett, but the difference between Gaborik and Matt Frattin is roughly equivalent to the difference between Jericho and "J-E-Double-F, J-A-Double-R, E-Double-T-HA!", no matter how many NWA World Titles he would later book himself to win. And like Gaborik's on-ice shooting percentage boost was exactly what the Kings needed, Jericho brought a much-needed dose of workrate to the WWF's famously bad undercards. Quick, try to name a great WWF undercard match in 1999 that didn't involve a ladder or Shane McMahon taking bumps through tables. It's a trick question, 'cause it doesn't exist. On the other hand, Jericho spent most of 2000 having phenomenal Intercontiental Title matches with a guy I'm not going to mention 'cause thinking about him makes me sad. His weird on-again, off-again feud with Triple H and his storyline wife Stephanie McMahon (thank god she wasn't really his wife, that would just be awkward and give him way too much backstage power) was another highlight, producing the infamous WWF Title reign that didn't count and culminating in the amazing Last Man Standing match on the undercard of Fully Loaded 2000 (a criminally underrated show, by the way; people were just mad at the time that none of the newer guys went over, but who cares about that now). He was a big reason why the WWF actually had good pay-per-views in 2000, instead of just good pay-per-view main events. Big difference.

Going Forward

As mentioned already, Gaborik is old, but unless he suddenly has a significant drop off next season, he should continue to be a great driver of offense and on-ice shooting percentage for the Kings. Of course, the big concern with him will always be whether or not he can remain healthy, but barring injury trouble, he should help the Kings produce more offense next season.

Grade

If you're willing to give his partial season a full grade, and let's just do it because who the hell wants me to say "incomplete" here, I fail to see how you give him anything other than an A. Of course, it helps that he scored fourteen freaking goals in the playoffs and was one of the primary reasons why the Kings won their second Cup in three years. We should probably give him some credit for that too, even though it's unlikely he'll shoot 20% every spring he spends with the Kings. Actually, you know what, let's just assume he's going to do exactly that, because why not?

What to make of Derek Stepan's 57 point season and solid postseason.

I think sometimes Rangers fans forget just how special Derek Stepan is and can be. We tend to get excited about our newer toys like Chris Kreider and by our other young guys that are already bona fide stars like Ryan McDonagh. But that often means we overlook Derek Stepan, who is still just 24 years-old. Stepan has now played in four seasons with the Rangers and even though he was on pace for some star-caliber numbers in 2012-13's shortened season, he put up a career best 57 points in 82 games this past season with the Rangers. Let's take a look at Derek Stepan's year with the Rangers and put where he is now into perspective so that we might better understand what to expect out of him next season.

Holding Out

New York Rangers fans were expecting huge things out of Stepan after what he showed he could do in the 2012-13 season. It looked like he had emerged as a true #1 center (and some were saying a "star" center) and with Rick Nash on his wing for a full 82 game season, we were all expecting Stepan to comfortably eclipse the 60 point mark, if not the 70 point mark. However, things got off to a rocky start when Stepan, an unrestricted free agent in the 2013 offseason, held out and eventually settled for a bridge contract at the 11^th hour. Stepan wanted to get paid like a star and Glen Sather made it very clear that he was going to get paid big bucks someday soon, but that day wasn't here just yet.

It created a lot of anxiety for Rangers fans. Did this mean that Stepan and Sather had a bad relationship? Were the Rangers mishandling their first homegrown center with the potential to be a star in more years than most of us could care to count? What would this holdout mean for Stepan's season and for the next time a key Rangers RFA wanted to get paid?

A Slow Start

Stepan had a couple of rough stretches early in the season where he struggled to get on the score sheet, and he didn't register a goal until he picked up a hat trick against the Carolina Hurricanes in early November. Stepan had just 7 goals in his first 48 games of the season (halfway through January). In the 48 game season of 2012-13 he had 18 goals. It was a bit unreasonable for Rangers fans to expect him to score at the torrid pace he scored at in the previous season, but there's no denying that Stepan's numbers were a bit of a disappointment in the 2013-14 regular season.

Most of us wisely credited Stepan's mediocre start to the fact that he missed training camp with his team and probably wasn't up to snuff in regards to his conditioning. He also wasn't as familiar with the new system being implemented by his new head coach, Alain Vigneault, as his teammates were. It also didn't help Stepan's numbers that Rick Nash and Chris Kreider were not regulars in the Rangers lineup due to injury (Nash) and playing in the AHL (Kreider). Stepan had an underwhelming start to the 2013-14 campaign and a lot of us were a lot more concerned about it than we would now like to admit.

Playoff Performer

Thankfully Stepan found his game towards the end of the season and was one of the Rangers' real standouts in the 2014 Playoffs. After a very strong start to the playoffs, Stepan was held to just one point (an assist) in the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Thankfully he returned to form and scored 7 points in 5 games against the Montreal Canadiens. But that isn't what most of us remember about Stepan and the Eastern Conference Finals.

Stepan missed the first game of his professional career after a late and dirty hit by former Ranger Brandon Prust broke his jaw in the third game of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Habs. In Stepan's first game back (Game 5) he scored two goals. The guy was eating dinner through a straw (probably) and he scored two goals in his first game back in the lineup. A lot of us forget that special performance because the Rangers were routed 7-4 by the Habs, but I'll never forget being so impressed with Stepan's heart and character in that game.

Steps had 2 assists in the 5 games that the Rangers played against the Kings. He ended the 2014 Playoffs with 15 points, which was good for second on the team (tied with Martin St. Louis). All in all, he had a very solid postseason and was a big part of what was right about the power play when it was clicking. On a team that really struggled to score goals, Stepan was one of the few Rangers who regularly contributed to the team offensively. His numbers weren't gaudy or outstanding but they were very solid. Stepan scored in the games that mattered most. He was a big part of the Rangers making it to the Stanley Cup Final.

---

It's easy to not be entirely sure what to think of Derek Stepan's year. A slow start, a lot of debate about whether or not he's a legitimate #1 center, and a strong finish that still felt like it was less than what we saw and got out of him a year ago. Is it unfair to call this season a disappointment considering that Steps still put up 57 points (second on the team behind Mats Zuccarello)? Or are we right to have expected more from the now de facto first line center? Let me know what you guys think in the comments section.

Let's go Rangers.

We're still talking Niskanen, Orpik and Niskanen/Orpik, as well as prospect development, Tom Wilson's truculence and more in this week's edition of "you ask, we answer."

Another big 'Bag, so let's get to it:

What can the Caps reasonably expect from Niskanen in the upcoming season. Though his PDO was high last season making it likely that he will regress offensively, it appears that he has been a decent possession player for several seasons now. #Japersmailbag - capsyoungguns

Anyone who's going to want to judge Matt Niskanen on point production is almost certainly setting themselves up for disappointment. As you noted, Niskanen has a high PDO last year (103.1) which was driven by a 10.1% on-ice shooting percentage, fourth-highest among NHL defensemen (thanks, Sid!). That's likely to regress to a more sustainable 8% or so, which means fewer points, all else equal (which it isn't, but it would take a huge spike in possession to offset the drop in on-ice shooting percentage). Add to that - or, more precisely, subtract from that - the fact that the he led all blueliners in ice time for the League's top power-play and figures to be further down the extra-man depth chart here in D.C., and he's going to have an awfully difficult time reaching his career-high 46 points from last year.

That said, there's more to hockey than putting up points (which maybe aren't offense, contrary to popular belief), especially for rearguards, and you're right - he's been a terrific possession player for several years. As Rob wrote in the wake of the signing:

Niskanen has been growing as a player, and even before his big season last year, he was already out-performing his team in terms of possession. Further evidence that Niskanen isn't being carried by his teammates, he makes just about everyone he plays with better. Whether you want to look at last season or the last three seasons, the story is the same: teammates put up better possession numbers with Niskanen than without him. He's not going to need to be heavily sheltered, but he clearly can take advantage of those situations.

And this chart (via Tyler Dellow) hammers home that possession point:

As Niskanen's teams have gotten worse around him, he's gotten better.

So what's reasonable to expect from Niskanen (who's still going to be working with the assistant coach he credits with saving his career)? Let's go with good two-way play, positive possession numbers and somewhere around six or seven goals and 25-30 points.

Next up, a question for Adam:

@JapersRink Are we wrong about Orpik in the same way the Kings fans were wrong about Regehr? http://t.co/i4y8F409Tc#JapersMailBag

— Xaroc (@XarocRF) July 8, 2014

I'm not so sure that Kings’ fans think they were wrong about Robyn Regehr... but I guess that is sort of besides that point. The main point of criticism for Brooks Orpik has been his lackluster possession and WOWY numbers, which Muneeb helped put into context last week. Based on the current strength of their defense corps, the Capitals should be able to utilize Orpik in a way that makes him an asset… or at the very least not a detriment. As Muneeb wrote:

[When Orpik has better possession numbers it is] undoubtedly thanks in part to Paul Martin, who is a solid defenseman in his own right, and it could also be partly a function of quirks in competition faced or other transient factors — but I think it also indicates that Orpik is far from bad enough to sink a good partner. Given the Caps' strength down the right side (Green, Matt Niskanen, and Carlson), Orpik should have a Martin-level partner for almost every shift.

Orpik is clearly a serviceable (top-six) NHL defensemen, but problems will likely arise if he is consistently put out against opposing teams’ top forwards on every shift. To get back to your original question, though, Orpik can definitely contribute to this team, and in much the same way Regehr did in L.A. - with relatively tough deployments and lots of time on the penalty kill, and that's not even considering the dreaded "intangibles."

It's hard to say what would constitute Capitals’ fans being "wrong about Orpik," but it's probably going to be important to differentiate between Orpik and Orpik's contract; there's a much better chance that people will be wrong about the former. And if any of Orpik's seasons in Washington end the way Regehr's 2013-14 did in L.A.... I don't think anyone's going to care who was right or wrong.

@JapersRink Should there be concern over the impact Orpik & Niskanen deals will have on future Capital UFA contract negotiations? #mailbag

— Jeffrey McDavid (@DCsportsFan85_) July 15, 2014

@JapersRink for ex. Bolland basically set his contract demand starting point at Clarkson's deal & tough to blame him. He's better IMHO.

— Jeffrey McDavid (@DCsportsFan85_) July 15, 2014

Having an internal salary structure and sticking to it is important... when it makes sense to. For my money, that's part of the reason the Caps had to let Alexander Semin walk - because how could you justify paying him more than Nicklas Backstrom? (I've gone and stepped in it, haven't I?)

But it's also important to be comparing apples to apples in terms of a player's status (restricted versus unrestricted free agency and such) and term (players typically give up dollars for term and vice versa).

In this case, will the home-run deals for Orpik and Niskanen be a starting point for negotiations for Mike Green (a free agent next summer)? Perhaps, though Green needs to prove that he can stay healthy and produce. If he does, he'll almost certainly be able to beat either of those deals on the open market, if he chooses to go that route; if not, he might slot in a bit lower. Regardless, I don't think the Niskanen deal (based on dollars or term) blew up the Caps' internal salary structure, and the Orpik pact... well, let's just say that it signals to the market that the Caps are open for business, and that's music to free agents' ears.

@JapersRink what prospects could we see in the lineup come October? Is it worth shipping out some vets to make room?

— Alex M. (@vamosCAPS) July 8, 2014

Assuming we're talking about kids who haven't yet made their NHL debuts, Andre Burakovsky (who Adam wrote quite a bit on here) is probably the most likely of the next wave of Caps prospects to break through, especially if he can show some ability at center. But he shouldn't be rushed and the team shouldn't ship out anyone to make room for him unless and until he forces their hand... which seems a long shot, given his age and experience.

@JapersRink Are you worried about Trotz' somewhat suspect record on developing young offensively gifted prospects? #JapersMailbag

— Kevin Funk (@CAPSneed2points) July 10, 2014

No, not really. I'd put more of that on Predators' general manager David Poile than anyone. I mean, do you see a ton of offensively gifted (and mentally stable) forwards that Nashville has drafted over the years? Colin Wilson may be the best recent example of a young, skilled forward not reaching his potential under Trotz, but on the other hand, Trotz had seventh-round pick Patric Hornqvist scoring 20 goals every year.

A lot goes into developing point-producers, and it's hard to lay failures (or successes) entirely at a coach's feet.

@JapersRink what day is the off season solstice (ie longest day of off season)?

— GL (@imgsl57) July 15, 2014

The Caps opened training camp on September 12 last year, so let's guess September 11 this year. The Caps played their last game on April 13. That would put the midway point at... June 27. If we're going Caps-game-to-Caps-game (regular season), it's July 11. And if we're measuring from the last game of the NHL season to the first game of next season, it's August 10. But with the playoffs, the Draft, free agency and Development Camp having given us plenty to talk about through the first half of the summer, the longest days of the offseason are definitely still ahead of us.

@JapersRink Over/Under on Wilson getting as many fighting majors at last year? Hopefully less, but the guy likes to throw fisticuffs!

— Bryan Adams (@Bryan_Adams06) July 15, 2014

First, let's clear up a commonly misused gambling phrase - an "over/under" is when a statistic is set ahead of time and bettors wager on whether the actual result is over or under the number that was set. So since Tom Wilson had 14 regular season fights last year, you could set the over/under at 14 or ask what the odds of him having 14 fights is.

Gambling geekery aside... I'm going to go with the under. 14 is too many fights for a kid with his skillset and upside, and Trotz will hopefully make sure he doesn't have as many in 2014-15 (the only Predator since the 2004-05 lockout to have as many as 14 fights was Rich Clune last year, who, coincidentally enough, got tuned up by Wilson in December).

@JapersRink why do the caps hate me?

— ameer (@ameer43) July 8, 2014

The don't. They love you. They just have a weird way of showing it.

***

Agree? Disagree?

If you've got something on your mind, go ahead and ask it here on the site, on Twitter (use #JapersMailbag), via email or on Facebook, and we'll try to get to them. As always, there are always a lot of question marks around this team... so let's talk about as many of them as we can.

Were you expecting her to make this announcement?

As some of you may know already, our new Sharks writer here at Battle of California is getting married. Good for her! Right? Let's say, "sure". Congratulations, hooray, blah blah blah zippidee-damn-doo. But that's not the important part. No, what is important is that I have been invited to this wedding! And I plan on going! I've been invited to a few lately, but I haven't actually attended a wedding since I was eleven when my cousin got married and then moved as far away as she could from the rest of our family. A brilliant tactical move, but I digress.

There is a conundrum though involved in attending these sort of events. Namely, that you typically have to bring a date. While I have more than enough time to trick a girl to go with me before she discovers I am a obnoxious, narcissistic asshole I think it would be better to open this up to people that know not just myself, but Stace also. Stace was a past contest winner (with her boyfriend) that won a chance to meet me at a Sharks/Kings game way back in 2013. Yes, only to meet me. Christ, you people are disgusting. And by "won" I mean she bugged me on twitter to find out when I was attending a game. (What a stalker, right?!) So naturally for her wedding I would turn to the hockey blogging world again.

So, ladies (and gentleman if you happen to be Alec Martinez or a close enough substitute), now is a chance to not only meet me IN REAL LIFE, but also attend a wedding where there is a 99% chance I will be consuming vast quantities of liquor. Also, Stace, apologies in advance for getting shit-housed at your wedding. I suppose I should clarify this isn't even really a "contest", per say, and is more of a chance to get yourself on Battle of California as I will be posting our discussions on here probably. Heck, even if you are a dude, apply anyways! I don't judge (based on gender, but I will judge you on other things). And if you are going to catfish me, have at it! I'm way cooler than Manti Te'o, seeing as I look like Dirk Nowitzki (who's ACTUALLY won something).

Now this wedding isn't for a while, but I'll keep you up to date with this whole process. Plus, it's your chance to be part of BoC history! One writer will get married! Jer and myself will have a slam dunk contest! I'll probably die from alcohol poisoning! (Note: At the very least you will likely by interviewed by the cops in regards to me)

Oh! And rules:

EMAIL ME

Sorry to say, but yes, you actually need to contact me. You can view my wonderful dating profile I assembled for this endeavor here. Or you can just say you want to go in the comments. And have no fear, I will read and carefully consider each and every one of your messages. Be sure to say why I should take you to watch Stace get hitched. Your best answer would be to meet Jer also, and to kick him in the groin.

THAT'S ACTUALLY THE ONLY RULE

Oops. Maybe tell other people. That would be funny maybe.

A look back at the season of Finnish goalie named Antti 2.0.

Antti Raanta was a pretty big get following the 2013 season. The highly touted international goalie dominated the Finnish elite league where he was named regular season and playoff MVP. The Blackhawks front office zeroed in on Antti last summer and they got their man. The netminder was expected to flesh out his game in Rockford this season, but the tragic death of Khabibulin thrust him onto the big club. He ended the year 13-5-4, 2.71 GAA with a .897 SV%.

Regular Season

There was a lot to like about Raanta during the first half of the regular season. He played bigger than he is, flashed some superb athleticism, and did an admirable job when Crawford went down in late December with a shit hip. It appeared that he could hold his own as a capable NHL backup, culminating with a 1-0 shutout of the LA Kings on December 30th.

But the capable label cracked once the calendar flipped to 2014. His 5v5 save percentage dipped from 90.6 in his first 15 to 87.4 over his final 9 appearances. He allowed 3+ goals in 7 of his last 10 appearances and cost the team points down the stretch. With the Olympic break, Raanta went a mind boggling 42 days in between starts. Raanta relies on his athleticism, hoping it masks his lack of awareness and positioning and that didn't happen at the end of the year. Being on the smaller side, he is going to have to learn how to see the angles and keep his crease with hulking forwards causing havoc in front of him. What he looked like this season was a raw, unrefined talent that wasn't getting the playing time to improve.

Playoffs

Raanta rode the pine pony for the duration of the postseason. Injury aside, there isn't a situation where you would want him over Corey Crawford.

Future Considerations

Raanta recently re-signed for 2 more years at 750k. With the cap crunch, it appears Raanta will be locked into the backup role. Depending on who hits the road in the coming week, it is flexible enough to send to Rockford, though the purse strings are tight this year (and the FA crop is abysmal).

His reasonable price tag could be a boon in the future if he can develop at a steady rate while only seeing 20-25 games. Rockford is better option to him at this point as he has a lot to learn about the North American game. Despite this, the Hawks seem happy to press on with Raanta. For what it’s worth, his quotes always point to a guy that knows he has a lot to learn and prove. Hopefully new goaltending coach Jimmy Waite aid him in his journey.

Raanta gets a C-.

Kevin Cheveldayoff has an...interesting track record as GM of the Winnipeg Jets. More on that and other stories in today's edition of the Tracks.

Coyotes News

The Arizona Coyotes' offseason, a GIF story - Five For Howling
We all know that there is no better way to convey human emotions than with an animated GIF.

Brendan Perlini Q & A Video - NHL VideoCenter - Arizona Coyotes
Coyotes prospect Brendan Perlini chats with Dave Vest of ArizonaCoyotes.com about his past, present and future.

NHL Offseason Review: Pacific Division - CBSSports.com
The home division of the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings will remain a gauntlet for the teams within it. Here's a look at how teams have restructured this offseason.

Sundogs News

Arizona Adds Young Talent to Roster in Scott, White - Prescott eNews
The Sundogs added two new players to their roster.

News From Around the Hockey World

Underlying Metrics Are Stupid... Stupid Easy - Arctic Ice Hockey
Showing how hockey statistics are easy to understand and use for both fan and media alike.

The top 5 NHL players whose names begin with 'C' - SBNation.com
From Chelios to Crosby, here are the top five NHL players with last names that begin with the letter 'C.'

Is Marc-Edouard Vlasic underrated? - Fear The Fin
It depends on who you ask, but it's undeniable that the Canadian is really, really good.

Brisebois to leave Habs’ front office | ProHockeyTalk
Where he spent the last two years as a player development coach.

The Dallas Stars' Quietly Critical Signing of Vernon Fiddler - Defending Big D
Vernon Fiddler was good for the Coyotes, and good for the Stars.

What does Kevin Cheveldayoff do, exactly? | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports
Evander Kane has never come right out and said that he'd prefer to be employed by a different NHL team, but I think it's a pretty safe assumption at this point.

Could Tomas Jurco Be a Future NHL Star? - Winging It In Motown
WIIM's Kyle McIlmurray takes a look at a bright prospect in the Wings' system.

Former Blackhawks top pick Kevin Hayes could be free agent soon - CBSSports.com
Kevin Hayes may pull a Blake Wheeler and not sign with the Chicago Blackhawks over cap and playing time concerns.

Value Contracts - The Copper & Blue
Do the Oilers' have a few diamonds in the rough? Can some of the fringe players they Oilers have on their current roster become legitimate NHL players with true value?

The Final Howl

Pfft, Tyler Seguin didn't even let this guy tee off his penis - SBNation.com
Yeah, it's about as weird as it sounds.

(I left out 2012-13 because Greene played 5 games; there are also sample size issues in 2007-08 and 2013-14.)

Positives

As you can see on the chart, Greene had a rather ugly 2007-08 season in Edmonton, posting a poor Corsi number on a terrible Edmonton team. Had I known what Corsi was back then, I would not have been thrilled to see LA trade for Greene and then lock him up for five years. Fortunately, Greene has worked out about as well as could possibly be hoped. He's had issues staying healthy, but that aside, these numbers suggest a very good third pairing defenseman.

While Greene is the beneficiary of a slight zone start push (+2.8% ZS relative), his minutes aren't soft. Compared to defensemen on the first or second pairing, Greene spends more time with Stoll, Lewis, and Clifford and less with the top forwards. Over the past three years Greene has spent about 29% of his 5v5 ice time with Stoll, 23% with Kopitar, and 20% with Richards. Over the same span Drew Doughty is at 37% with Kopitar, 26% with Richards, and 22% with Stoll. This relatively low quality of teammates makes Greene's positive Corsis impressive. (This is the big reason why dCorsi likes him so much.)

Alec Martinez seems to do better with Greene than with other partners:

It's been suggested that Martinez/Mitchell played more difficult minutes than Martinez/Greene. I don't think this is the case. Martinez's overall quality of minutes was basically the same in 2011-12 (when he played mostly with Greene) and 2013-14 (when he played mostly with Mitchell). So that doesn't explain the better results.

I'll also note that Greene/Mitchell was attempted this year and didn't go great (52.7% in 134 minutes). We know Greene can be effective in the right situation. A pairing with another non-puckmover is not the right situation.

Negatives

Thanks to Nick's work, we can quantify Matt Greene's offensive contributions this year. A microscope would be useful. Greene contributed to four scoring chances all year and carried the puck into the zone three times. Even given that he didn't play that much, those numbers are just awful. So yeah, no offense. But as I said in Doughty's review, regarding defensemen I care much more about the on-ice percentages of team shots and chances than the individual offensive contribution.

Greene was the victim of some bad puck luck this year, which is why he often found himself a healthy scratch even though he's much better than Robyn Regehr. He had a 987 PDO 5v5 because the team shot 5.31% with him on the ice (his on-ice sh%s have been normal in years past). But what probably really hurt Greene was that Kings goalies posted a .779 SV% during Greene's 97 4v5 minutes. That meant Greene allowed 4v5 goals against at a way, way higher rate than any other King. It's possible Greene was doing something wrong and leaving his goalies out to dry, but I'd bet on a sample size fluke. From 2011-13 Greene enjoyed the highest 4v5 on-ice SV% of any Kings defenseman. So it goes.

Greene also takes way too many penalties. His -14 in 38 games this year was ridiculous, although he did better in the playoffs (-5 over 20 games). It's probably inevitable; Greene will never draw many penalties, and I doubt he could stay effective in the NHL without playing a physical style and taking a bunch of them.

Finally, it should be noted that Greene has been limited to third pairing minutes for a while now, and that's an advantage. He is usually much more rested than his teammates. No one knows how Greene would do if he were asked to play 20 minutes a night. Fortunately, we probably won't find out.

Highlight

This hit on Nick Leddy is my favorite Matt Greene highlight. Sadly it occurred last season so I can't use it. This hilariously blatant interference on Matthieu Perreault will have to do.

Roman Emperor Comparable: Maximian

When Diocletian came to power in 284, the empire was so chaotic that one man could not possibly rule it. He therefore adopted his friend Maximian (ruled 286-305), raised him to the rank of co-emperor, and charged him with ruling the Western provinces. It's easy to see why Diocletian chose Maximian. Diocletian was an administrative genius but had little aptitude for commanding soldiers. Meanwhile Maximian was a tough and competent soldier, intensely loyal, and completely helpless politically. Maximian couldn't handle the subtle machinations of court politics or the minutiae of economic policy. But he could bash invading Germans with a club while Diocletian told him what domestic policies to implement.

It was a happy arrangement for nearly twenty years. After Diocletian retired in 305, though, things got ugly. Maximian initially retired along with Diocletian but grew unhappy and attempted to regain the throne. Without Diocletian's guidance Maximian was a disaster, and his attempt to seize power in 310 cost him his head.

That's Matt Greene in a nutshell. Limited, but very useful with the right partner in the right circumstances. His final days with the Kings are also not going to be pretty.

Going Forward

Greene just signed a four-year extension, so presumably he'll be on the third pairing a while longer. See this article for some thoughts on his aging.

Grade

There are many valid criticisms of Greene's play, but his possession numbers were excellent in both the regular season and playoffs this year. I'll give Greene a solid B. He'd even get a B+ if we had a more precise grading scale, but that's not in the JFTC budget this year.

From Damphousse to Dryden, here are the top five NHL players with last names that begin with the letter 'D.'

Be sure to vote for the best of the five in the poll below, and follow along all month long as we run through the alphabet.

It's one thing to rank the best players in the history of the NHL. But that's almost too easy. Instead, we've decided to go letter by letter through the alphabet, then rank the best players based on the first letter of their last name.

Today, we hit the letter "D" and remind you that there is no generational bias around these parts.

Here's how it works: I've gone through the history of the NHL and plucked the players I believe to be the best with "D" last names. But this isn't my decision completely. Each of these lists over the next five weeks will have a poll attached to it.

Look at the list and vote on the player you think is the best below, and (kindly) let us know in the comments if you disagree with our top five. The five players are listed in alphabetical order.

Vincent Damphousse

Over the course of the 25 letters of the alphabet we're going to cover here (no "X" players anywhere that I can find in NHL history), we're going to learn a lot about some great players of the past.

What stands out about Vincent Damphousee? Nothing. And that isn't a bad thing at all.

Damphousse played 18 years in the NHL, primarily with Toronto and Montreal. Despite playing in those hockey meccas, Damphousse was never a big-time star in the league. He made four All-Star teams, but never won a major individual award. Over 13 seasons in Canadian markets (five in Toronto, one in Edmonton, seven in Montreal), Damphousse played 993 games, scoring 340 goals and 916 points. He was part of Montreal's 1993 Stanley Cup team, scoring 11 goals and 23 points in 20 playoff games that year.

He was never a superstar, necessarily. But Damphousse had a very good career with more than 1,200 points.

Pavel Datsyuk

Is it possible that Pavel Datsyuk is underrated?

Look at what he's done in the NHL: 12 years, 824 games, and Datsyuk is not only nearly a point-per-game for his career, but he's also one of the best two-way forwards you'll find anywhere in the sport.

Datsyuk has 272 goals and 804 points in his career, he's scored 39 goals in the playoffs, and he won the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) three times. Frankly, he probably should have won it more than three times.

In addition, Datsyuk is a four-time Lady Byng winner and a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

It's the opinion of many that the Detroit franchise is falling off a little, but there's no doubt Datsyuk is one of the best around.

Alex Delvecchio

Alex Delvecchio keeps good company. He, Niklas Lidstrom, and Steve Yzerman are the only players in NHL history to play more than 1,500 NHL games while spending their entire careers with one team. They all played their careers in Detroit with the Red Wings.

Delvecchio came from a far different era than Lidstrom and Yzerman. While the latter two could have left multiple times in free agency had they chosen to, Delvecchio played before such things were ever really thought of. It still doesn't make his achievements less impressive. He played all or part of 24 seasons with the Red Wings from 1950-74, logging 1,549 games. He scored 456 goals in his career, totaling 1,281 points.

Delvecchio was a model of consistency in Detroit, with 13 seasons of 20 goals or more, and he hit double figures in goals every year except 1950-51 (one game played) and 1973-74 (11 games). He played in 13 All-Star Games, was captain for a dozen years, and won three Stanley Cups.

Marcel Dionne

Unheard of nowadays, but the Red Wings weren't very good when Dionne started his NHL career. He actually played with Delvecchio, but the team simply struggled, and Dionne got sick and tired of the losing. He forced his way out of Detroit and ended up with the Los Angeles Kings.

It was there that Dionne helped make the Kings franchise relevant before Wayne Gretzky arrived and really made it relevant.

While the Kings never achieved the success Dionne dreamed of, he became one of the best players in the league during his time there. Dionne scored 50 or more goals six times over a seven-year stretch, including five years in a row. He scored 731 goals in his career, finishing with 1,771 points.

Brother Gilbert won the Cup with the Canadiens in 1993, and that was as close as Marcel Dionne would ever get to it.

Ken Dryden

Just imagine the numbers Ken Dryden would have posted if he played through the prime of his career.

One of the most dominant goalies of his -- or any -- era, Dryden accomplished what he did in the NHL while only playing seven seasons. He won 65 percent of his nearly 400 NHL games, an incredible number (258-57-74). He added an 80-32 record in the playoffs, winning six Stanley Cups.

Dryden won the Calder Trophy in 1972 and won or shared the Vezina Trophy five times.

He retired at the age of 31.

Oh, and he was behind the mic for this.

Dryden wasn't a great commentator (though he was right to talk about Team USA's over-reliance on Jim Craig during the above game against the Soviets), but a legendary player, no matter how short his career ended up being.

J.T. Miller has had trouble finding consistent playing time in the Rangers lineup, but his potential and status as the Rangers top prospect has never been questioned.

J.T. Miller's NHL career has been an on-again, off-again career. The 21-year-old, formerly taken 15th overall in the 2011 draft, has all the promise in the world. And to build on that, he's still only 21, so while it's easy to get frustrated by the inconsistent glimpses he provides, he's nowhere close to a lost cause. Here's how his abbreviated 2013-14 season went.

Needed Early

It's fair to speculate whether Miller could have made the team out of training camp, but with the likes of Rick Nash, Ryan Callahan, and Carl Hagelin banged up, it was all hands on deck. Miller played eight games in the month of October, followed by seven in November. The Rangers as a team played 12 and 15 games in those stretches respectively, so Miller went from being in the lineup 75 percent of the time, to under 50 percent of the time. Miller wasn't producing in his appearances though. It took him until his eighth start of the year to produce a point, assisting on a goal during a Rangers win against Buffalo. He was getting steady starts, and scored four games later against Florida. (The goal really was the Rangers nicest of the season, and while Miller didn't have to do much, he was certainly rewarded for what was a strong game and stretch of play.)

Through this all, Miller was good, but not great. His overall Corsi% sat at an even 51 on the season, while his Corsi rel was a -2.4%.

The question with Miller up until now in his career is where does he fit? When there were injuries to key Rangers this season, plugging him in was quite logical. When there weren't, management was forced with either sticking him into a fourth line and diminished role, while possibly sacrificing opportunities for development. In 41 AHL games this season, Miller tallied 15 goals and 27 assists, making him more than a point-per-game player. Putting Miller's year into context really requires exploring his play in Hartford. It's strange to think that just two years ago, Miller was in the Rangers NHL lineup more times (26) than Chris Kreider (23).

If there was a time for Miller to really get his extended NHL tryout, with a chance to win a spot on the third line out of training, Miller has a great opportunity coming up later this summer.

But again, no one has or will ever question Miller's skill level, and if he has enough game to compete at the NHL level.

Commitment Questions

There's a lot that goes on behind closed doors, and there's an off-ice element to being a professional hockey player. When Miller was demoted to the minors late in the regular season, Alain Vigneault offered some pretty poignant comments about the top prospect.

Miller found his way back into the fold when the Rangers began to shake things up in the playoffs. Kreider was still on the shelf, and Miller, Derek Dorsett, and Daniel Carcillo cycled through a spot on the fourth line. In Miller's final appearance, Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Canadiens, he was injured during the second period, and never returned. When the Rangers season ended after getting eliminated by the Kings in the Stanley Cup, Glen Sather told the media Miller would have continued to play had it not been for the injury. There's a clear difference though between spending time on the Rangers fourth line in the playoffs (especially when Hartford's season had already ended), than doing it consistently during the regular season, with a diminished role and minutes. Another wrinkle in this hole story soon becomes, when does Miller stop benefiting from playing in the AHL. As a point per game player, is Miller approaching a stage in his development where going up against minor league players?

Highlight

Jones stops 9 consecutive Ducks in the shootout. I know, I know, it'd be more impressive if he did it against NHL caliber opposition. Still, not bad.

Roman Emperor Comparable: Theodosius I

Theodosius I (379-395) spent most of his reign in the Eastern Empire, rising to power after the Goths killed the emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Theodosius inherited a basically impossible situation - the Eastern field army annihilated, a massive Gothic horde loose in the empire - and did a decent job salvaging it. He was forced to allow many Goths to settle as a unified, mostly autonomous group within Roman territory, which would have major negative consequences down the road.

In 394 instability in the other half of the empire forced Theodosius to march his armies West. His army (at this point composed largely of Gothic mercenaries) met the forces of the usurper Eugenius in modern-day Slovenia. Theodosius's initial attacks were bloodily repulsed, and his position began to look hopeless by the second day. Then a massive windstorm called the bora kicked up, blowing straight into the faces of Eugenius's men and providing the opportunity Theodosius needed to crush his opponent. Theodosius emerged as sole ruler of the Roman Empire but died of dropsy just four months later.

The bora was incredibly lucky for Theodosius, and Martin Jones probably also had good fortune this year. Regression hit Theodosius pretty hard. Hopefully Jones fares a bit better.

Going Forward

Jones will be the backup goalie next year, and might have some extra work early in the season if Jonathan Quick is slow recovering from wrist surgery. Jones hit restricted free agency after 2014-15. I'm guessing his price will stay low enough that he could serve as Quick's backup for a few more years.

Grade

A. Jones wasn't given a chance to make a big impact this year, but in his few opportunities he performed about as well as could possibly be hoped.

A look at team defense by examining shot totals and comparing how many scoring chances the Penguins and the Kings gave up in recent postseasons.

Figuring out how well a team plays defense is a bit tricky. If we look at goals against, we end up crediting team defense when that number is due in part to goalie talent. Tuukka Rask makes Boston look better at defense than they actually are, and similarly, Ondrej Pavelec makes Winnipeg look worse. Additionally, we know that goaltender performance (and hence, goals against) can vary widely even over large samples. If we want to accurately measure team defense, we shouldn't use metrics that are vulnerable to so much variability.

We avoid these pitfalls by looking at shot attempts against rather than goals to evaluate a team's defense. Teams which give up fewer shots against than others are presumably better defensive units since they're limiting the scoring opportunities for the opposition. We see more consistency in these metrics as well, so they avoid the massive swings from trough to peak that you see in goal-based numbers. How this relates to the Penguins and the Kings and playoff defense is explained below.

The Backdrop

Some people object to using shots against as a measure of defense since those numbers don't account for shot quality. There are two things that need to be cleared up though before going any further. First, there is a difference between talking about shot quality as an individual talent and shot quality as a team talent. We have evidence that there are a few skaters who possess elite shooting talent, and in a sense have a "shot quality" edge to their game. Ilya Kovalchuk and James Neal are two of these guys. Technically speaking, we say this because we have models that can calculate the league average shooting percentage for a given shot after controlling for shot distance, shot type, whether it was a rebound, and a number of other factors. You'd look at all of Neal's shots, for example, and come up with an expected shooting percentage based on the characteristics of each shot. If his shooting percentage is constantly higher than what the model predicts, that would be evidence of a "shot quality" advantage at an individual level.

But just because there's shooting talent at the individual level doesn't mean that it exists at the team level. And this dovetails into the second point: no one disputes that a breakaway is a more dangerous shot than an unscreened wrister from the blueline. But in today's NHL, we don't see teams getting 25 breakaways a game while also limiting their opponent exclusively to weak shots from bad angles. If there isn't a meaningful difference, in the aggregate, between how often a team can generate dangerous shots, then we want to focus on the number of shots given up, not their quality.

There is mountains of evidence to support these propositions. On-ice shooting and save percentage heavily regress to 100.0, highlighting that teams can't maintain a consistent advantage in obtaining or preventing higher quality shots on average. There are possibly one or two teams that maintain a slight edge, but it's not significant over the long-term. This is largely why stat guys conflate PDO with luck. And we've known this for some time--early work by JLikens and Gabriel Desjardins confirmed that shot quality at the team level, assuming it even existed, was minimally important.

And at the individual level, we don't see any significant ability to actually diminish an opponent's shot quality on a regular basis. If teams were significantly affecting the shot quality of their opponents, we'd see tons of players with repeatedly higher/lower on-ice save percentages than average. But in this seminal work by Eric Tulsky, he highlighted how individual players have basically no control over their year-to-year on-ice save percentage. Here's the key portion, in my opinion, from that piece:

So while there may be a sliver of repeatable talent for defensemen preventing the opponents from getting high-percentage shots, after three years of data we aren't even close to being able to reliably tell who's good at it.

And like with forwards, making judgments about defensemen based on the number of goals scored against them is a mistake that ends up crediting or blaming the player for factors entirely out of their control.

These results have been confirmed elsewhere.

Scoring Chances in the Playoffs

I've been counting scoring chances in the playoffs this summer to better understand what happened to the Penguins the last two years. As expected, the team scoring-chance numbers hewed very closely to their FF% and CF% in each series, illustrating that scoring chances weren't adding much to the discussion. This is true across the league as well.

Nevertheless, I thought it would be interesting to compare the Penguins' scoring-chance numbers in the playoffs the last two years to the Los Angeles Kings' scoring-chance numbers from this year. The Kings are an indisputably great team, which is evident from their overall possession numbers and their Stanley Cup this year. Additionally, most consider them to be excellent at defense. They set the bar high, but I wanted to see how the Penguins stacked up against them.

There's a guy on twitter named Nick who is an avid Kings fan. He's also a generally awesome hockey fan, and I highly recommend that you give him a follow. He sometimes even posts pictures of adorable baby ducks.

Anyways, he tracked scoring chances in the Kings games during the playoffs this year using the same parameters that I did (shots on goal and missed shots from the home-plate area in front of the net). He sent me the scoring chance data for the Kings, which I'm very grateful for since this project wouldn't have been possible without that. I looked only at even strength scoring chances against (to measure defense) and calculated the number of scoring chances against per game for the Penguins and the Kings. Please click all images to enlarge them.

It's a bit crazy to me that the Penguins were giving up less scoring chances per game in the playoffs the last two years than the Kings were en route to the Cup this year. The idea that the Penguins were better at preventing dangerous shots than the Kings would probably strike many as nonsense, but that's what we have.

To avoid extra time in the playoffs skewing the results, I also calculated the number of even strength scoring chances against per 60 minutes of play for the Penguins and the Kings.

That doesn't change anything--the Kings still gave up more scoring chances against per 60 minutes of even strength play.

I also thought that there might be some difference in how often the Penguins or the Kings give up scoring chances relative to their total number of fenwick events against (shots on goal + missed shots). So I simply divided the total number of even strength scoring chances against in each series by the total number of even strength fenwick events for that series.

Both the Penguins and the Kings were tightly clustered together. Between 29% and 34% of the total number of fenwick events against in each series ended up as scoring chances for the opposition.

I imagine that some folks might object that the Penguins had easier playoff opponents the last two years than the Kings, which would, as a result, skew the numbers. That's fair. But if you just look at how LA did against their weaker opponents (Anaheim and New York), they still didn't limit scoring chances against as well as the Penguins did.

There could very well be some minor discrepancy in how Nick and I track these events. He might record something as a scoring chance that I wouldn't, and vice versa. But I doubt that would change much. Even if we generously add ten scoring chances against to the Penguins in the Boston series, they still only gave up 12.3/game, which is close to what the Kings gave up during their Cup run this year. And if we add fifteen chances to the NYR series, the Penguins are still giving up only 10.6/game, less than what the Kings gave up to the Rangers this year.

This sample is too small for anyone to confidently say that the Penguins are better at defense than the Kings. When you look at overall shot totals (which I think is advisable), the Kings have been better than the Penguins at limiting shots against over the last five years. But the difference isn't that much. And coupled with the scoring chance data above, the Penguins and the Kings probably give up dangerous shots at roughly the same rate.

Team Defense Under Bylsma

We saw above that it's best to evaluate defense in terms of shot attempts against. As such, the chart below contains the Penguins' regular season numbers for 5v5 shot attempts against under Bylsma, with their corresponding rank among the 30 teams (1st being the best). The data is from hockey analysis.

This is quite good. Their 5v5 shots against/60 were in the top 10 each year other than 2012-2013. As for Fenwick and Corsi numbers, the Penguins only dipped below 15th in the league once in the last five years. I'm personally most impressed with their numbers from this year; to have as many injuries as the Penguins did, especially to their defensemen, and come out with those defensive numbers is a testament to the entire coaching staff. (As an aside, the Penguins 5v5 close shots against/60 were very similar to the numbers above).

I also wanted to see if this held true for the playoffs the last four years (Hockey Analysis doesn't have playoff numbers, and Extra Skater doesn't have data for 09-10 yet). The Penguins' 5v5 playoff numbers are below with their corresponding rank among the 16 playoff teams (1st being the best).

This was surprising. I wasn't aware the Penguins had been elite at suppressing shots against in three of the last four playoffs. What's ironic is that they advanced farther in the Eastern Conference in their worst defensive year (2013), which I think is (not surprisingly) due to Fleury's benching in the first round of the playoffs. The fact that the Penguins have gotten awful goaltending in the postseason shouldn't be news to anyone.

***

To avoid any confusion, I'll reiterate the key claims above based on current research. We have compelling evidence that in evaluating team defense, we should focus almost exclusively on shots rather than goals. While team effects might exist, any effect they have is small and dwarfed by randomness. To avoid complex models and highly technical calculations, it's much easier (and correct) to focus on shot totals.

During Bylsma's tenure with the Penguins, they were almost always a good to very good defensive team in this regard. And in the playoffs, they put up some truly elite numbers in three of the last four years. Their defensive competence can be seen by breaking down the scoring chance data for the LA Kings and comparing that to the Penguins.

I'm not arguing that the Pens play defense as well as the Kings do; the scoring chance samples above are too small to support such a claim. But that data is more evidence that the Penguins and the Kings are much closer in terms of defensive competence than many (including mainstream media in Pittsburgh) like to give the Penguins credit for.

LA gets a noticeable bump in nationally televised games, but don't expect to see them too much on the big network.

We got our first look at the Los Angeles Kings' schedule exactly one month ago, and we were already preparing ourselves for the possibility that NBC would gloss over the Cup champs...

Finally: we don't know the American television schedule yet, but it looks like even a second Stanley Cup in three years won't convince NBC to give the Kings their due... only one Sunday game in 2015, and it's against Winnipeg.

As it turns out, the Kings didn't get much love from NBC, but they will get plenty of exposure on their secondary network, NBCSN. The Kings are tied for the league lead in exclusively nationally televised games, with 12. (It's misleading; Chicago, for instance, has 21 games across the NBC family of networks, but at least 10 of those will be blacked out locally.) The full NBC/NBCSN schedule is here, but below we've listed the Kings' appearances.

Takeaways:

• For context: after winning the 2012 Stanley Cup, LA played on NBC three times, with the banner raising game being shown regionally. That was a shortened season.
• A grand total of eight teams get an exclusive NBC game this season: New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston, Detroit, St Louis, Philadelphia. That's it. LA and San Jose share their single game (on April 11) with a St. Louis-Minnesota matchup.
• That's right: just one NBC appearance for the Pacific Division. Total.
  
• On the bright side, NBCSN paid enough attention to set up plenty of playoff rematches. The network will be showing four matchups with San Jose, two matchups with Anaheim, two matchups with Chicago, and one matchup with the Rangers. Get ready for lots of montages of the Kings winning playoff series in dramatic fashion!
• It's looking more and more like February 21 will indeed be the outdoor game.
  

On the bright side, every game that's not on NBC means less chance of this. Or this.

Thoughts on the schedule? Are you happy to still have Bob and Jim for most of the season? Do you think this is just a consequence of being on the West Coast? Let us know in the comments.

Martin Hanzal has been a Coyote for eight years. Have we seen the peak of his powers or is the best yet to come?

It's hard to believe, but this season will mark Martin Hanzal's eighth NHL season as a member of the Arizona Coyotes. He's going to be 28 before the season is finished. It seems like only last season some were predicting a break out year from the Czech pivot:

There are a lot of guys to choose from that should (or need) to make a leap forward this season, but I expect big things from Martin Hanzal. For the first time in years, he is not the defacto "top" center for this team and that should do wonders for him. He'll still see plenty of ice time against top centers and lines in his own end, but he should face much easier competition in the offensive zone. The Ribeiro signing has somewhat reduced the expectations for Hanzal and with a little less responsibility on his shoulders, I expect him to thrive. It doesn't hurt that some guy wearing number 17 will still be skating on his wing either.

Those were my own words regarding Marty in a preseason roundtable piece from before the start of last season, regarding whom to expect big things from in the coming year. While Marty had his best statistical season of his career last season, it wasn't a huge step forward in production or play.

In fact, you could easily make the argument that he played better in both the Coyotes division winning 2011 season and the following lockout-shortened season.

But do stats, whether traditional or new-age, tell the whole story? There are factors that go into any season that simply can't be calculated or quantified, and this coming season, Hanzal will face many new variables that could change how he plays.

For one thing, Hanzal enters this season without his long time linemate, countryman and offensive security blanket Radim Vrbata, who bolted for the lovely vistas of British Columbia. However, that may not be a bad thing.

There were long stretches of last season when neither Hanzal or Vrby were producing much at all and coach Dave Tippett's refusal to split the pair up may have worked against them. Without the Czech connection, Marty may be able to find chemistry with another not-so-young-anymore Coyote: forward Mikkel Boedker. Or maybe he gets to spend his ice time with Shane Doan, so Marty can be in front of the net instead of in the corners. Maybe Max Domi provides a reasonable facsimile of 2011 Ray Whitney and sets up Hanzal with plenty of easy scoring chances. Fans won't really know until camp starts, but for the first time in a few years, No. 11 has options galore in who could line up on his wings.

Also, the expectations for Hanzal may be lower now than ever before. He was probably passed on the expected depth chart last season with the impressive play of Antoine Vermette and if the newly acquired Sam Gagner stays at the center position, Hanzal may be best suited to a third line component this season. While Hanzal is clearly not a third line center, his production numbers might be best suited for it this season. Let's look at the numbers from the three Coyotes top centers over the last five seasons:

Hanzal has the worst shooting percentage, scores fewer points per game and maybe most importantly, finds himself in the lineup less often than the others. Hanzal misses games due to injuries and suspension far more than the other two, which is surprising considering Gagner's "injury-prone" reputation. Putting him on the third line would maximize the abilities of the other two players if Gagner stays in the middle. Hanzal on the third line would find himself getting potentially better matchups and more favorable zone starts than in previous seasons as teams would matchup more against the Vermette and Gagner lines.

Finally, going back to the games played point, Hanzal needs to stay on the actual ice. In Hanzal's first three seasons in the NHL, he played in more than 70 games in all of them, appearing in 227 of 246 total games (92.3 percent). In the five years since, he's only played in 310 of 376 possible games (82.4 percent). It's a mix of injury and suspensions and the suspensions speak to Marty's discipline problems. In three of the past four years, Hanzal has been a negative player in penalty differential (penalties drawn vs. taken) including a negative seven last season. Being big is an advantage, but for Hanzal it has also been a detriment as his size leads to the majority of the penalties he takes. If Hanzal can harness that size, his offense can improve, he'll play more disciplined and be on the ice more.

With a little less responsibility and new linemates, Hanzal could have his most productive year ever. While there is little chance he breaks out and becomes a 60-point offensive juggernaut, he does have an opportunity to become only the second Coyotes center to break 50-point plateau in the Tippett era. He may have reached his peak talent wise, but Hanzal could once again have a career best season in 2014-15.

Goalie chants are dumb.

Fresh off signing a much discussed contract extension, Corey Crawford came into the season looking to be a solid, consistent backstop to a puck possessing team. It’s inevitable that a goalie is going to spend his fair share in the attention crosshairs, and a goalie with new paper (even if it does not kick in until this upcoming year) gets a bulls-eye the size of a meteor on them.

Regular Season

Crawford started the year with a first class ticket on the struggle bus. His October and November were not particularly memorable. He has had early season yips in the past, so there was no need for alarm. The only real concern was usage, as there was not a plan B once Khabibulin returned to his home planet. The W’s still piled up, although aside from a late November stretch there were few games you could point to and say that Crawford made a definitive impact on the result. The fact that we weigh early season games as "less meaningful" could factor in here as well.

Following his comeback from an early December injury, Crow was outstanding. He appeared in 32 games with a .920 save percentage, a goals against barely above 2, and 2 shutouts. His play was a big reason it felt like chasing down St. Louis and Colorado was not impossible. Crawford has also grown to understand when he needs to be better. The quote unquote bounce back game has become part of his repertoire.

Playoffs

Crawford continued his trend of being a wall during the playoffs. The Blackhawks don’t get passed the first round without dynamic efforts like his 34 save shutout in game 3 or his game 5 performance on the road where he stood tall against a late effort from the Blues. Ditto closing out the Wild in the second round. His superb efforts in games 5

and 6 locked up the western conference finals appearance for the Blackhawks.

The Kings series did not go well as the torrid onslaught of the LA forwards was too much for Crow and the Blackhawks. As a whole though, Crawford turned in another sterling playoff performance. He faced nearly two more shots per game with only a slight dip in his numbers.

Future Considerations

With the big paper set to kick in, the contract crosshairs will firmly be on Crawford by national and local media and meatballs. Due $6 million per over the next six, his cap hit puts him along side netminders like Ryan Miller, Kari Lehtonen, and Semyon Varlamov (his top 3 cap hit comparables according to cap geek). All of them are right there statistically with Varly slightly ahead in5v5 Save %and Crow leading in GA/60. Suffice to say, Crow is going to get market value for a "just below the top guys" guy next year.

Expectations with Crawford should start with consistency. Ironing out some early season troubles might go a long way into silencing the Crawstink peanut gallery. He will get better as the season goes on and another solid playoff showing, which he has done every year save for 11-12, will mean another deep run for the Blackhawks.

Crawford gets a B.