rumrokh
THORBS
- Mar 10, 2006
- 10,108
- 3,285
For quite a while now, when the Blues need a goal late, in OT, or when their momentum is slipping, I find myself saying, "Please get the puck to Shatty." Especially when they're in the offensive zone and setting up a shot.
It's not just his offensive game. He has weird defensive mistakes every once in a while - who doesn't? But the guy is reliable and makes really good defensive plays. He doesn't cover the same ice that Bouwmeester and Pietro do, of course. But he's really good along the boards (especially for his size) and, very much like Pietro, magically swoops in to pick up loose change around the net and carry it right up the ice.
The rubric around HF is that he's "sheltered" behind Pietro. Even if there's truth to that, there's a lot more to it. Consider the way that people analyze high scoring forwards. Nobody ever says, "Yea, he's top 10 in scoring, but that's only because he plays against second-rate competition." Perfect example, compare the quality of competition stats for Steen-Backes-Oshie with Penner-Getzlaf-Perry, especially relative to their teammates. Nobody cares about that because POINTS.
The only time you ever hear that is when a rookie is having a good year and people want to defend their bet-hedging prediction that he'll have a sophomore slump, so, obviously, he's going to have a harder time when the league catches on and he gets worse match-ups.
I'm not saying hey, let's denigrate top scorers if they aren't also used as shutdown players. But to me, you can't say a defenseman gets sheltered defensive minutes unless you turn the same microscope on the scoring of forwards.
I have a feeling that Armstrong and Hitch think the same thing about getting the puck to Shattenkirk when the Blues need to score. Bouwmeester only has five fewer points, but in recent games, Shatty-Pietro hit the ice when things are dire. And if that's your opinion of a player, why wouldn't you want to use him surgically? To me, it seems that's exactly what Chicago does with Keith and he's the apparent Norris favorite.
Check out Shatty's even-strength points. He has only two points on plays with Steen and one each with Backes and Oshie. He spends very little ES time with those terrific two-way players. The dude is basically the designated quarterback for their secondary scoring, which is among the best in the league for that very reason.
It's not just his offensive game. He has weird defensive mistakes every once in a while - who doesn't? But the guy is reliable and makes really good defensive plays. He doesn't cover the same ice that Bouwmeester and Pietro do, of course. But he's really good along the boards (especially for his size) and, very much like Pietro, magically swoops in to pick up loose change around the net and carry it right up the ice.
The rubric around HF is that he's "sheltered" behind Pietro. Even if there's truth to that, there's a lot more to it. Consider the way that people analyze high scoring forwards. Nobody ever says, "Yea, he's top 10 in scoring, but that's only because he plays against second-rate competition." Perfect example, compare the quality of competition stats for Steen-Backes-Oshie with Penner-Getzlaf-Perry, especially relative to their teammates. Nobody cares about that because POINTS.
The only time you ever hear that is when a rookie is having a good year and people want to defend their bet-hedging prediction that he'll have a sophomore slump, so, obviously, he's going to have a harder time when the league catches on and he gets worse match-ups.
I'm not saying hey, let's denigrate top scorers if they aren't also used as shutdown players. But to me, you can't say a defenseman gets sheltered defensive minutes unless you turn the same microscope on the scoring of forwards.
I have a feeling that Armstrong and Hitch think the same thing about getting the puck to Shattenkirk when the Blues need to score. Bouwmeester only has five fewer points, but in recent games, Shatty-Pietro hit the ice when things are dire. And if that's your opinion of a player, why wouldn't you want to use him surgically? To me, it seems that's exactly what Chicago does with Keith and he's the apparent Norris favorite.
Check out Shatty's even-strength points. He has only two points on plays with Steen and one each with Backes and Oshie. He spends very little ES time with those terrific two-way players. The dude is basically the designated quarterback for their secondary scoring, which is among the best in the league for that very reason.
I played defense for a long time. Something has to be wrong with that stat. There is no way I can see going an entire game on defense without hitting somebody. What truly constitutes a hit? That can't be possible...
