Nick Schmaltz finally breaking out?

[ColdSteel2]

At the risk of sounding dumb, what does it tell you? Does Schmaltz leading the league suggest he's a top level defensive forward?

It's a stat I haven't paid much attention to as I said. Looking at last year, Panarin lead the Hawks, which seems odd to me. I think most would agree that Panarin was not good defensively last season.

I look at takeaways and giveaways together. 46 to 22 last year, 59 to 18 this year. Panarin was 57 to 55 last year.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

No but it suggest he is an impactful defensive player. Personally, I look at both takeaways and giveaways because if giveaways are also high then it indicates the players is sloppy/risky, this is more of what AP was. Last season AP and JT both had a higher number of both , AP is a risk taker and Toews was just sloppy. Schmaltz has solid defensive potential (I think being a good defensive player but not a Selke type would be his ceiling). Right now Schmaltz is a solid to good defensive player but he is inconsistent. Takeaways can also be used to judge board work (but to a much lesser extent). Like all numbers they are just piece to the puzzle for me.

Make sense?

Yeah, I mean, it makes sense, but I don't know how much stock I put into it. It's a single data point (or two if your including giveaways) and the subjective nature of what qualifies as a takeaway/giveaway makes me skeptical I guess. Are they scored by the hometown scorers like hits are?

To be clear, you obviously aren't saying it's the be all end all of stats, just something worth watching.

Like Toews has 39 Takeaways and 27 giveaways and Bergy has 40 takeaways and 28 giveaways. Everything I read says that Bergy is having another Selke quality year and I watch Toews enough to know he's not close to that level this year. I'm obviously cherry picking, but you get the point.

 

[hawksfan50]

Well my eye test impression is that Schmaltz may be good inGV-TK ..but if they mostly no current in the o-zone and neutral zone it dies not indicate anything about his d-zone effectiveness. The eyeball test tells me he is weak in d-zone e coverages for a C ...also weak whenever the puck gets down low at our goal crease ..To ve a great defensive player you gotta be goidbinnGV alk 3 zones ..2 9f 3 does not cut it ..especialky in tge VRUCIAL d-zone ..does he lose his check there?Does he support welk in tge d-zone e..Does he anticipate how the play is developing in our zobecasvtye opps attack or he bis slow to realize and react by getting to proper pistions? AGREED...being a goid defensive zone C with all that responsibility is hard..amd experience is the best way to improve. HE shoukd get better with ore experience ce ..but toll then he is learning on the job....and nd s9xat times he faiks tge eyeball test as a defensive stalwart to shutdown attacks in our d-zone..There bis extra burden on him because as we all know Kane is no great defensive player and the otgercwubgerscthey have used have not exactly excelled either in their defensive enthusiasm on that line.

 

[BK]

Yeah, I mean, it makes sense, but I don't know how much stock I put into it. It's a single data point (or two if your including giveaways) and the subjective nature of what qualifies as a takeaway/giveaway makes me skeptical I guess. Are they scored by the hometown scorers like hits are?

To be clear, you obviously aren't saying it's the be all end all of stats, just something worth watching.

Like Toews has 39 Takeaways and 27 giveaways and Bergy has 40 takeaways and 28 giveaways. Everything I read says that Bergy is having another Selke quality year and I watch Toews enough to know he's not close to that level this year. I'm obviously cherry picking, but you get the point.

100% agree. Winning a Selke is so much more. Unfortunately they favor centers because I think Hossa would have 1-3 Selkes if they didn't.

 

[BK]

Well my eye test impression is that Schmaltz may be good inGV-TK ..but if they mostly no current in the o-zone and neutral zone it dies not indicate anything about his d-zone effectiveness. The eyeball test tells me he is weak in d-zone e coverages for a C ...also weak whenever the puck gets down low at our goal crease ..To ve a great defensive player you gotta be goidbinnGV alk 3 zones ..2 9f 3 does not cut it ..especialky in tge VRUCIAL d-zone ..does he lose his check there?Does he support welk in tge d-zone e..Does he anticipate how the play is developing in our zobecasvtye opps attack or he bis slow to realize and react by getting to proper pistions? AGREED...being a goid defensive zone C with all that responsibility is hard..amd experience is the best way to improve. HE shoukd get better with ore experience ce ..but toll then he is learning on the job....and nd s9xat times he faiks tge eyeball test as a defensive stalwart to shutdown attacks in our d-zone..There bis extra burden on him because as we all know Kane is no great defensive player and the otgercwubgerscthey have used have not exactly excelled either in their defensive enthusiasm on that line.

While he is not good defensively in his own zone, he is far from weak. He is average to solid in the defensive zone and has improved since becoming a pro. (Terrible> bad > weak > average > solid > good > great/elite)

otgercwubgerscthey VRUCIAL especialky goidbinnGV alk zobecasvtye

Honestly are you too lazy to fix your spelling?

 

[hawksfan50]

Saltz had better not break out too fast. .the Cap raise to g9bto him..got a not go overboard too quick ..not when we got the big albatross cap hits still draining our ability to ice a Co tender team again. IF WE raise him lije Saad to $6 mil a year ...not going to be able to afford good depth on the team..cheap support group equals poor resukts. ..noted better cap gap balance than the big 'stars" at exaggerated pay plus more cheap grunts causevtgey is all we can afford...Besides once Schmaltz is officially a "star"....pass Go collect $6 million per yr. ..then we know he will immediately go Country Club on us. They mostly all do with high pay lengthy deals and fill NMC cause Stan must "lock up his stars" ...oy very, here we go again!

 

[AmericanDream]

Saltz had better not break out too fast. .the Cap raise to g9bto him..got a not go overboard too quick ..not when we got the big albatross cap hits still draining our ability to ice a Co tender team again. IF WE raise him lije Saad to $6 mil a year ...not going to be able to afford good depth on the team..cheap support group equals poor resukts. ..noted better cap gap balance than the big 'stars" at exaggerated pay plus more cheap grunts causevtgey is all we can afford...Besides once Schmaltz is officially a "star"....pass Go collect $6 million per yr. ..then we know he will immediately go Country Club on us. They mostly all do with high pay lengthy deals and fill NMC cause Stan must "lock up his stars" ...oy very, here we go again!

Fiddy, I don't think the Hawks will have much choice in it to be honest. He has 1 year left at under $1mil, then after that he is going to get the contract he has earned, and he is outperforming everyone else not named Kane.

By then, we will have 1 or 2 of those bad contracts gone - somehow. We will easily have room for Schmaltz and his $5mil plus per year deal that will be coming. I have absolutely no problem paying good money for young talent. You lock Schmaltz up for 5-6 years just like Saad - just like every other damn team is doing to not only keep their young players but keep them at a consistent and reasonable market cap hit moving forward. Some times those guys struggle or have a down year like Saad, others simply continue to perform and earn that pay. I happily take that risk as at least at their ages you can move them for other assets without much difficulty.

We do not need to sign Schmaltz now, or give him a damn NMC, but after next year, pay the kid what he is worth and be happy as hell we did so for the next 5 years.

 

[AmericanDream]

delete

 

[Blue Liner]

You're going to pay what the market bears for him, too, cuz he ain't likely taking any discounts. (nor should he)

 

[kmwtrucks]

Nothing wrong with extended him in July on a 3-7 year deal. that is what I would do and I would have done the same with SAAD a year prior to trading him. He is going to keep getting better IMO so do it now.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Hometown-discounts are a myth. Unless you're talking guys on their last go-round (Sharp), 4th liners (Kruger) or very rare exceptions (Sedins/Crosby), they don't happen. Players want to get paid.

 

[BK]

Hometown-discounts are a myth. Unless you're talking guys on their last go-round (Sharp), 4th liners (Kruger) or very rare exceptions (Sedins/Crosby), they don't happen. Players want to get paid.

Crosby was a superstition. 8.7 AAV

 

[x Tame Impala]

Yeah it was a very rare exception.

 

[LordKOTL]

Not being a jerk and legitimately asking...

Is that a stat you put a lot of stock in? Takeaways?

It seems a bit subjective like hits. So, I'm not sure what qualifies and don't really know what to do with it, personally.

If you're not scoring, you should be preventing the opposition from scoring. If Schmaltz is doing a good job in wrenching the puck away from the opposition it's not a bad thing. It may not be the end-all-beat-all but being tops in takeaways at least somewhat negates the loss of Hossa who excelled at wrenching the puck from the opposition...and it's not like Saad or Toews are doing much of that anymore (for whatever reason).

Plus, if Schmaltz can wrench the puck away from the opposition on Kane's line it helps drive that line's possession--and out of all of our players Kane does drive the O, so the more that line has possession the better chance we have scoring (on paper).

Further, Schmaltz is also low on the giveaway chart as well, so he has more of a tendency to get the puck from the opposition more than turning it over.

With the team playing as it is, I'll take whatever silver lining I can find.