Player Discussion Radko Gudas

Hockey Duckie

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Jul 25, 2003
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The Athletic released their Top-20 Shutdown D-men article based on Evolving Hockey's RAMP (Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus) tool. Gudas ranks #1 overall. From the names I recognize, the Kings have two ranked in Doughty and Roy (who is set to become a UFA). The Bruins also have two ranked in Carlo and Lindholm (usually pair mates), but, surprisingly, McAvoy isn't ranked or an honorable mention.


This is why whoever plays with Gudas have their stats look better. Great job on Verbeek correcting his personnel choices on defense between 2022 off-season and this past off-season.
 

Hey234

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May 7, 2010
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The Athletic released their Top-20 Shutdown D-men article based on Evolving Hockey's RAMP (Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus) tool. Gudas ranks #1 overall. From the names I recognize, the Kings have two ranked in Doughty and Roy (who is set to become a UFA). The Bruins also have two ranked in Carlo and Lindholm (usually pair mates), but, surprisingly, McAvoy isn't ranked or an honorable mention.


This is why whoever plays with Gudas have their stats look better. Great job on Verbeek correcting his personnel choices on defense between 2022 off-season and this past off-season.

I think this article is an interesting detail to add to the debate on Vaakanainen vs Lindstrom. Lindstrom has been good without the aid of someone like Gudas while Vaakanainen has been just okay without Gudas IMO.

If Gudas is making his partners that much better, then he probably should be playing with someone who could benefit from that more than Vaakanainen. In my mind, that's either Mintyukov or Zellweger.

I think it also shows why some are so keen on Matt Roy. Plays the most minutes on Kings's 2nd ranked PK, blocks shots, defense focused, and already lives in Southern California. But the contract he'll get will probably be too long for the Ducks.
 

Hockey Duckie

Registered User
Jul 25, 2003
17,606
12,495
southern cal
I think this article is an interesting detail to add to the debate on Vaakanainen vs Lindstrom. Lindstrom has been good without the aid of someone like Gudas while Vaakanainen has been just okay without Gudas IMO.

If Gudas is making his partners that much better, then he probably should be playing with someone who could benefit from that more than Vaakanainen. In my mind, that's either Mintyukov or Zellweger.

I think it also shows why some are so keen on Matt Roy. Plays the most minutes on Kings's 2nd ranked PK, blocks shots, defense focused, and already lives in Southern California. But the contract he'll get will probably be too long for the Ducks.

Others have pointed out that Lindstrom is playing without Gudas, since they're both RD's.

Gudas needs his playing time set to 19 minutes max to be most effective. Anything above that and Gudas' play suffers, as we have witnessed when playing with Mintyukov and over 20 minutes per game. Therein lies the caveat with Gudas' play.

As for Roy, I don't think the Kings would let him go because he's part of the reason they're a playoff team. He's 2nd on the team for skaters' TOI, 8th in team scoring, and 3rd in +/-. Plus, Doughty will be 35 year old next year. If Roy isn't there, then you've got two youths as the fail safe in 24 year old 5'10 Spence and 21 year old Clarke. That's a scary proposition for a team that is supposed to be playoff bound.
 

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