JoeSchmoe

Sounds like me playing hockey. I really enjoy the game, but it hurts to play way more than it should thanks to my extra 60lbs and that I'm closing in on 50. Mentally, I still think I'm in my early 20s and under 10% body fat so I go as hard as I can. More shifts than not I'm thinking it's defibrillator time when I get back to the bench. I was nursing a knee injury last year and didn't sign up. This year, I missed the sign up deadline, but at the same time I don't miss that feeling where my heart and lungs were maxed out.

Now what? Corey Perry is available. His veteran presence will help this young squad. Just keep him away from Levi's mom.

I think the thing that has most people scratching their heads is that Quinn was likely the top guy out of the group you mentioned (or at worst 2nd) until he got hurt.

He's certainly looked like the best of a bad bunch so far.

That's my definition of playing not to lose. He's so worried about giving up the big play, that he exposes his defense to giving up small high percentage plays. If they're going to beat you, make them beat you.

I'll try to keep it positive. There are scenarios where goals will go in or chances are generated that aren't a players fault. However, with a large enough sample size, those instances equal out. In the scenario you describe though, if its 5 on 5, a truly elite defender will break up the cycling around the perimeter, gain possession, and limit scoring more often than a weak defender (4 on 5, they'd be happy to keep it on the perimeter... no defender will challenge). You're absolutely right that you have to watch the games, because there's a lot of reasons to take the advanced stats with a grain of salt. As I mentioned before, if a player has elite shooting talent, they will no doubt be better at winning games that someone with no shooting talent but a better expected goal %. Maybe someone with a better grasp on the stats than me can justify why EJ sits so low expected goals % wise. The best I can come up with is that he's been paired with Clifton a lot, who is also a trainwreck... But Clifton has actually been marginally better. Possible this is sample size. I still think whatever help his "experience" has brought, doesn't seem to outweigh him giving up as so many chances compared to what he creates... and I'll chalk this up as a major KA fail.

He loves to play not to lose.

Nice explanation. Though I'm not as far down the rabbit hole as some others here, I find that the stat doesn't necessarily account for how elite scoring forwards like Thompson and Matthews consistently put pucks in nets above what's expected. Someone also mentioned it doesn't account for zone starts. I can't think of any stat though that would justify Johnson's low numbers. We're just very likely to be outscored by the opposition when he's likely on the ice.

Maybe they're too hard for you to interpret. As Brawndo said, the top teams know how to use them.

This is 5 on 5. It stands to reason, Dahlin is getting the hardest matchups on the team. He helps put more pucks in nets than any of the others on his team, but so does his opposition when he's out there. Who's Johnson (in his protected minutes) getting for 5 on 5 matchups? But it's his experience, right?

Nice offseason KA.

All his "experience" doesn't seem to be doing 💩 both with his own play and with the team. Stats wise he's by far our worst d-man. The talking point is that he's the key guy for the PK, but he's also our 2nd worst there besides our other dud acquisition. I miss Kale Clague.

I think I've been his biggest detractor since we drafted him. Good on him for really stepping it up this year! I'm proudly wearing the egg on my face for this one... Hopefully he rises to the occasion!

Love this!

That felt pretty good!

F***....that looked easy!!! When will it sink in that when you take it in the zone at full speed, you get chances... Worked all last year! Lets go Buffalo!!!!!

Crosby is a runt.

I thought the PP looked good. Not going to score on them all, but they looked like they got good number of looks.

You're giving up already? Benson is great. Eventually we'll get Tage and Quinn back. Lets go Buffalo!!!!

Not to mention the 💩 going on here in Sabrespace.

Heartbreaker.

I'd tend to agree with you, but have you seen 100% Krebs?

As someone that's jumped back and forth on the idea, seeing Krebs crap the bed this hard has me thinking Patrick Kane would be a net help for the team. If he's available get him... He can't be any worse that Krebs. 🤠 In that case, hopefully even a 75% Kane, plus getting Quinn back will help us score a lot more than we are now.

I agree with this... Mitts and Thompson struggled but were never as useless as Krebs is right now. Both benefitted greatly though by going down to Rochester. I was thinking about it some more... Has there every been a non-tough guy who started the season with as many minutes with as little to show for it as Krebs?