That was a general refutation of a sweeping statement he made. It is a bit different in hockey due to its salary cap. But the point I'm making here is that expecting someone to perform at 100% whenever the club needs him otherwise he's an overpaid bum is unfair and baseless stupidity, especially when said player not even performing that bad. Barry Bonds was quite useless in the playoffs, but no one called him an overpaid bum. Peyton Manning holds records in the NFL and only has one ring. Even Miguel Cabrera has 0-4 nights. Why aren't they useless bums? Because we don't judge them over small samples of bad performance. We judge them because over a large span of samples they do really amazing things.
But, we are doing the exact opposite here and calling Rick Nash, normally an elite forward, an overpaid bum because of some small sample sizes.
gotta go so can't write a full novel. i agree with a lot of stuff you have said.
but there are some cases, like this imo, in which good corsi doesn't equal good performance. i don't think he's overpaid bum. he's had some good games these playoffs and some bad ones. over larger sample sizes, he should get more, even way more goals even if he does the exact same thing. he has been robbed few times.
he's doing a lot of things right which usually leads to good corsi and thus goals. but there have been definitely games where he hasn't played well and has done more of the stuff that leads to good corsi, rather than goals. taking weak perimeter shot instead of driving to the net. latter doesn't result in shot attempt but is more dangerous, harder for the other teams D, and it keeps them guessing and gives more options next time around etc. or pass to stepan who shoots it from weak angle instead of going to the net and paying the price. or firing shot and missing the net on a 3on1 or giving the puck away like last night. gets better corsi but less goals.
longer-term both sh% and corsi don't stay the same way. regular season, teams have less focus, usually on a single opponent. not so in playoffs. so nash gets more space there. there has been bad luck which will normalize. coach will fix the line combos, demote or promote players, use them differently etc. so he doesn't have 3 players who drive the possession on the same line, but can't score at all. shots go in more, corsi goes down a bit. all things that play a part normalizing the relationship with corsi and sh% long-term.
i think this slump/bad streak is overstated bc he shies away from contact, makes lazy plays and stays so much on the perimeter, combined with his lack of scoring and he's a 6'4 guy who can skate and is strong.
these things can't really be measured well yet (what leads to those corsi numbers, shot quality) as sh% has ton of randomness into it