We already know Bergie and Jaskin has chemistry together. So I hope Blais clicks well with those 2, plus Bergie and Jaskin should help overcome some of Blais' rookie mistakes. I really like that line makeup, I have no doubt Jaskin and Bergie will continue to cycling. This gives Blais opportunity to find shooting lanes and fire the puck. So much potential with that line.
They don't really. They can cycle the puck til Ragnorak between the two of them. In terms of putting it in the net, the driver when they were together was Stastny to actually take the puck off the boards and put it to someone in a scoring position. Jury's out on whether Slammin Sammy Blais can be that guy. Berglund can create for himself, so he is a huge upgrade. But he has never created for others, no matter how well the line did. Don't expect too much from his return or you are just setting yourself up for disappointment. He's an upgrade to be sure, but he is not going to make our 3/4th line tweeners look like scoring threats. He's never shown that to be in his skillset.
How do they not? Jaskin's rookie year was spent nearly entirely with Berglund (Except a handful of games due to Jaden being hurt). Yeah Stastny was on that line, but Jaskin and Pauly has proven they don't have it together. I don't expect Bergie to magically be a playmaker and stack up assists. He is no doubt the shooter on that line. So far this season that was the biggest void on that 3rd line, none of them are shooters. We all have already seen what happens when other teams are able to contain our top 6. We get shutout. So yeah I do think Bergie DOES make our 3rd line a scoring threat.
Advanced stats. During the 2014/15 season, Jaskin and Stastny without Berglund put up goals at 4.47 g/60 pace. Jaskin and Berglund w/o Stastny put them up at a 2.85 g/60 pace. When all 3 were on the ice together, they put them up at a 2.24 G/60 pace. The same can be said for almost all offensive stats, and % stats (Corsi, Fenwick, GF, Scoring Chances). Stastny+Jaskin+other > Berglund + Jaskin+other > All 3.
Taking Stastny out of the WOWY picture, Jaskin's numbers without Berglund were better, but Berglund's goals for numbers are worse without Jaskin. Jaskin played 1/3 of his ice-time away from Berglund, so it is not a insignificant sample size either. Last year, the trend was the same. Jaskin played better offensively without Berglund.
(Stats found on Natural Stat Trick).
No, they've had games in hand. They just won those games.The central division is nuts. I hadn't been paying that close of attention. I knew Winnipeg had been doing well, but man, the Jets and Predators are both just 2 points behind us right now... and that's crazy because the Blues haven't really stopped being hot.
Weren't the Blues like 7 points in the lead like 2 weeks ago?
Ahh yes, the joys of advanced stats. Its no secret Stastny made Jaskin look better in his rookie year. But we cannot put Stas in this year's equation for the 3rd line. Jaskin and Stastny might have put up that G/60 that year but haven't been able to recreate that scoring on the ice since then. The eye test that year showed Bergie and Jaskin playing well together. At the end of the day I'm gonna give it 10-15 games of them together before I'm ready to call it a no go. I'm still a firm believer in those two were impacted quite a bit by Hitch and Jaskin for example is looking more and more like he did his rookie year in the offensive zone.
They looked good because they dominated possession, but that doesn't translate to putting the puck into the net as often as you may think. I'm not saying that we shouldn't put them together, or that we should move Stastny down to the 3rd line. I am just saying to temper expectations. Berglund does not make other people better, he just doesn't. You can knock advanced stats if you want, but Goals scored with Berglund and goals scored without is fairly cut and dry. Berglund coming back will boost the 3rd line because we don't have 3rd line caliber players there currently and he is able to score. However, don't expect that suddenly Jaskin will look like a goal-scoring dynamo because of his chemistry with Berglund. There were many other and more important factors that led to Jaskin's goal-scoring prowess that season besides Berglund. Berglund and Jaskin are too similarly focused on possession. There needs to be someone there to put the puck in scoring position. That was Stastny, it will come down to Blais tonight.
The game's in Anaheim.Why is this a 8 PM start tonight?