Jets012
Registered User
- Oct 19, 2015
- 3,258
- 1,844
I'm just saying I've noticed him out there in just about every favorable offensive zone face off. Obviously with Moore, those two are our best weapons offensively so it's understandable. Obviously there aren't many stats to back it up, but it seems like every icing situation he's out there for the next face-off which has to be favorable to boosting his numbers even if those stats disregard the first 10 seconds.
Sure Hynes has been using him in more favorable situations the last 5-10 games, but that shouldn't be used as a rationale for his high CF% as everyone's said. There's long pieces done in the advanced stats community that Zone Starts actually have next to zero impact on CF% and Severson was consistently at the top of our team as well even when he was playing 20+ minutes with Greene against top opponents lines. He's just really really good and when this team as a collective hole gets better, he'll start looking better by the eye test.
Anyways....another thing that's been going unnoticed is how great Blandisi has been possession wise. I think we can all agree we need more centers that can drive lines possession wise. He's a 51.5 CF% relative to zone starts on the year which is third on the team (behind Hall/Bennett). Now he has played a ton of time with Bennett and that obviously helps, but his numbers are even average when he's away from DSP. But when you factor in Blandisi has scored at a solid rate, this has to be the most encouraging thing to have happened during this losing streak. He's becoming a legitimate third liner for us. If the points ever continue to develop, this guy could even be a 2nd liner.
By the way how bad is Lovejoy. Blandisi's stats with or without him on the ice:
Blandisi With Lovejoy: 44.3 CF%, 62 minutes on 5 on 5
Blandisi Without Lovejoy: 55.2 CF%, 120 minutes on 5 on 5
That's a massive difference.