2014-15 Rangers Forwards

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

And people vastly overestimate the importance of faceoffs. Hayes needs to make improvements so that he wins a respectable amount of them, but it would be nuts to move him off center when he shows real potential at the position.

Funny that a person who treats puck possession as the holy bible doesn't think faceoffs are all that important.

 

[Mac n Gs]

I think there was a study that shows faceoffs don't have as great of an effect on possession as people would believe. However, I think all of the centers (including MSL), minus Moore, really needs to improve their faceoff skills. It's so frustrating watching this team get a powerplay, just to lose the draw and have the puck cleared out of the zone. They also need to work on zone entries on the power play, but that's a matter of coaching and not player skill. Look at what the Devils did against us. They had that set play where the center would drop it back to a streaking defender who would weave around the three forwards stacked at the blue line to enter the zone. Right after that, they set up quickly into their modified umbrella formation.

A few little coaching tweaks by AV and Arniel could help this team big time, especially when it comes to the power play set up. Idk if anyone watched the Boston game last night, but Lucic's powerplay goal was a result of a beautifully designed powerplay. Idk why Arniel doesn't try to switch up the formation a bit because his 1-3-1 hasn't necessarily been lighting the world on fire lately, and teams with aggressive PKs are making us look abysmal on the power play.

 

[Gardner McKay]

I love having a troll on your team that gets everyone riled up. It really helps deflect pressure from your stars when everyone is focused on your troll. I was hoping Glass would be that guy..but he sucks at hockey, and doesnt agitate enough. Id definitely try to get a troll at the deadline if we can. Not sure who fits the bill...Ott would be a good troll, but his salary is high isnt it? and hes got a few years left?

Chris Neil might be the best troll in hockey, but we cant afford him, and he clearly wants to stay in Ottawa.

Ott just has nothing left in the tank. I really thought Carcillo was the perfect troll. Speedy, isn't 100% offensively inept, and finally learned to not cross the line (I don't see the referee incident in the playoffs as a big deal because I think it was BS).

Other guys like Rinaldo just bring nothing to the table. I would actually prefer Glass to Rinaldo.

 

[Zil]

Funny that a person who treats puck possession as the holy bible doesn't think faceoffs are all that important.

Funny how you couldn't be bothered to do a smidgen of googling before firing off that potshot. I believe faceoffs aren't that important because studies show they're not:

http://www.trendingbuffalo.com/sports/buffalo-sabres/the-unimportance-of-faceoff-wins/

http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/puck/article.php?articleid=101

http://www.arcticicehockey.com/2013/10/9/4817802/lies-damn-lies-and-faceoff-percentages

http://kuklaskorner.com/index.php/psh/comments/the_importance_of_faceoffs

Winning your faceoffs is certainly helpful, but think of how many puck battles happen on the average shift. The faceoff is just the very first of those puck battles. It's a very, very small fraction of the play and doesn't really correlate with overall possession numbers. Derek Stepan posts consistently strong corsi numbers despite regularly losing more faceoffs than he wins.

 

[Thirty One]

Funny that a person who treats puck possession as the holy bible doesn't think faceoffs are all that important.

Faceoffs are one of many ways in which a team can gain possession. Yet in many circles they're treated as more important than puck possession itself. #logic

 

[Ail]

Faceoff wins are certainly over blown here. I was guilty of it during the 2012 and 2013 playoffs. It was one of the things I was killing the team for prior and citing as one reason for their imminent failures.

 

[Thirty One]

Faceoff wins are certainly over blown here. I was guilty of it during the 2012 and 2013 playoffs. It was one of the things I was killing the team for prior and citing as one reason for their imminent failures.

I've never had an opinion I cared about too much to change.

I railed on Gaborik about his playoff failures many times before coming to a different conclusion about sample sizes. And then there was this season, and yeah.

 

[Ail]

I've never had an opinion I cared about too much to change.

I agree, except for my opinion on Tanner Glass.

 

[Inferno]

i think faceoffs, when youre talking about going 4/10 vs 6/10 arent a big deal.

when youre talking going 0/10 vs 6/10...then its a HUGE deal.

 

[Thirty One]

i think faceoffs, when youre talking about going 4/10 vs 6/10 arent a big deal.

when youre talking going 0/10 vs 6/10...then its a HUGE deal.

Yeah, and 40% tends to be the floor and 60% the ceiling.

 

[Kakko]

The thing with faceoffs is, that you see the puck going to the team that technically lost the face-off anyways quite often.

 

[habitants9_4]

Duclair

Is he staying/Has it been announced?

 

[Gardner McKay]

Is he staying/Has it been announced?

It hasn't been announced but with 5 points in 7 games I can't imagine them sending him back down any time soon.

 

[Thirty One]

The thing with faceoffs is, that you see the puck going to the team that technically lost the face-off anyways quite often.

Is true.

Fun exercise: track one centerman's faceoffs in the next game. After the game compare your total to NHL.com's. Bet they won't be the same.

 

[silverfish]

Tanner Glass is bad:

Traditional stats:

13 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points, 9 PIMs, -7, 7 SOG

#Fancystats 5v5 (without PK numbers bringing him further down):

-7.4% corsi relative (that's worst on the team); 67 for, 81 against

-8.76% fenwick relative (that's worst on the team); 51 for, 65 against

0 goals for when on ice, 7 goals against. -62.5% relative to team. Only Malone is worse.

19 Ozone starts, 43 Neutral zone starts, 15 defensive zone starts

Tanner Glass - continuing to give 24 year old silverfish hope that he too can one day play in the NHL, despite only skating on ice 3 times in the past 20 years.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

Oh come on he's not that bad and he fills a role!!!!!!!!

 

[OverTheCap]

Glass fills a role alright... that of the "useless 4th liner" previously held by the likes of Patrick Rissmiller, Todd White, Kris Newbury, Brandon Mashinter, and Pyatt early last season (although even Pyatt may have played better than Glass currently is).

I really thought we had turned a corner with this issue after having the ability to roll 4 lines with Boyle, Moore, Dorsett, and Carcillo as our 4th line last year. And while we have seen players such as Kotalik traded away during the first year of a multi-year deal, I have a hard time imagining the same will happen with Glass due to his relationship with AV.

 

[Raspewtin]

Tanner Glass is bad:

Traditional stats:

13 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points, 9 PIMs, -7, 7 SOG

#Fancystats 5v5 (without PK numbers bringing him further down):

-7.4% corsi relative (that's worst on the team); 67 for, 81 against

-8.76% fenwick relative (that's worst on the team); 51 for, 65 against

0 goals for when on ice, 7 goals against. -62.5% relative to team. Only Malone is worse.

19 Ozone starts, 43 Neutral zone starts, 15 defensive zone starts

Tanner Glass - continuing to give 24 year old silverfish hope that he too can one day play in the NHL, despite only skating on ice 3 times in the past 20 years.

Not a single goal has been scored with Glass on the ice. In 13 games in which we scored 3+ in 9 of them. That's ****ing embarrassing.

 

[Thirty One]

The last time Tanner Glass was on the ice for a goal for:
Gas was $4.88 per gallon
The #1 song on the charts was Happy by Pharrell Williams
Top movie at the box office was Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 

[Raspewtin]

The last time Tanner Glass was on the ice for a goal for:
Gas was $4.88 per gallon
The #1 song on the charts was Happy by Pharrell Williams
Top movie at the box office was Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I lived in ****ing Paris the last time Tanner Ass was on the ice for a goal for. Lmao.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

Oh come on he's not that bad and he fills a role!!!!!!!!

What does he fill it with? Jelly?

 

[YoSoyLalo]

Psh, stats, watch him, he's not that bad

 

[Tawnos]

It's cool. List only stats about a player that are negative and mostly have little to do with what's being asked of him.

Don't list the numbers that put him in a better light, like 4.77 GA/60 on the PK, which is in line with our better PKers from last season (Stepan was 5.25 GA/60, Moore was 4.67 GA/60). Granted small sample size. And yes, I know that goals against on the PK is highly influenced by the quality of the goaltending behind the player. His on ice SV% is significantly higher than other players on the team, but that was the case with him last year too. Is it luck or is it positioning? Still, goals against is the most important PK statistic, as evidenced by how we calculate a team's effectiveness on the PK as a percentage of how many they kill off without a goal.

Or 39 hits in 13 games, which is a pace that would put him top-10 league-wide in hits last season. On hits: I get the idea that hits generally indicate that you don't have the puck, but if you aren't being asked to play a possession game and are being asked to play a physical one, the hits indicate whether or not you're fulfilling your role.

The point is that, for me anyway, it's not right to judge the player using stats that aren't a concern of his, due to instruction by the coaching staff. I'm curious to see whether or not they continue to place value in his role or if they move in a different direction in the long run. We're starting to get towards the point in the season where a decision like that would be made.

 

[Cassano]

His good GAA is due to the higher quality of goaltending when he is on the PK (save percentage). His possession numbers on the PK still are weak.

 

[Tawnos]

His good GAA is due to the higher quality of goaltending when he is on the PK (save percentage). His possession numbers on the PK still are weak.

Is it just the goaltending? That number is consistent with his seasons in Pittsburgh. Are both Fleury and Lundqvist somehow better goalies with Glass on the ice? Or is it possible that, despite seeing more shots, Glass has become effective at limiting the higher quality chances when he's PKing?

It'll be interesting to see if the trend continues this year. If it does, 3 seasons of those numbers with two different starting goalies starts to look more like he's having some effect.