Despite what he brings in "intangibles", tangibly he has been terrible. There has been quite a bit of data mining lately on Neil's background numbers, they are very bad this season. He really has been dragging down his linemates in possession metrics.
Weird being that guy, but I'm not at all into metrics when it come to hockey, makes my eyes glaze over when y'all start talking about corsi and crap. There are sooooooo many immeasurable aspects as to render the stats next to useless in my opinion.
To me, Neil's value is plain to see when you watch him play. No metric is going to measure it, but your eyes can.
I hate that I have to defend our longest serving, and largest hearted player to so called fans. The lack of loyalty towards our players as fans is baffling to me, I wonder if it's a age thing. To me it means you're missing half the point, and half the enjoyment of being a fan of a team.
Whatever, perhaps it's just me now...