Leaf Army said:
When have I ever said that Colaiacovo should be considered top 10? Personally I don't care if he is or not.
I was responding to people calling him overrated because there is no logical reason to call him overrated.
I brought up his preseason stats to show that he has had success at every level he's played at so far.
These stats were dismissed as "meaningless" which we've already determined is nonsense.
Well, the fact that 10 out of 14 pages of discussion on the top 10 offensive d-men prospects has been spent talking about Carlo probably adds to the fact that people feel he is overrated. On top of the fact that repeatedly, his pre/regular season stats and his AHL / OHL stats are being brought up to make him look like an elite defenseman help add to the fact that people consider him overrated.
Stats aren't "completely" meaningless if that's what you're saying. But for the most part, they have to be taken with a grain of salt. You have to look at:
-who they were playing for
-who is on their line
-what kind of minutes they are getting
-whether they are getting powerplay / penalty killing time
On top of that, you have to take into consideration their individual attributes (speed, acceleration, size, mobility, puckhandling) and their team attributes (chemistry, adaptation to a new environment, coachability, leadership skills, etc..) and see how well the entire package will translate once it is used in the NHL.
All this just to say that stats aren't everything but they are also not "meaningless". They just help gauge potential but some people take stats into consideration too heavily therefore making others feel like they are overrating players.