Andersson is better than either of those players. I understand Glendening and Callahan play with a physical edge, but they're both not very good. I mean, maybe Callahan is good, we never really gave him much of a look at the NHL level, but I assure you that Andersson is better than both them. That said, Andersson is BARELY an NHLer.
I appreciate your attempt to assure me, but it'll take more than that to be convincing
Glendening offered more value to the team last year than Andersson, and is a year of NHL experience behind with a greater chance at improving. I'll still take him over Andersson.
The numbers beg to differ. He's a better PKer, he drives possession better, he has better fenwick corsi numbers, and wins more faceoffs.
Corsi, fenwick.... usually garbage when implemented to evaluate talent. They're like +/-, useless without context and a large enough sample size. They are constantly misused on message boards. Glendening simply hasn't played enough NHL games for those numbers to be meaningful without significant context.
Andersson is not a better PKer; he's, at best, at the same level at the moment. And while he's a better faceoff guy, he's had an extra year to develop that skill at the NHL level; Glendening was better in the dot last year than Andersson was the year before, in
his rookie year. And if Andersson drives possession better, it's a negligible amount, since he doesn't really drive possession at all. He
is a better puck handler and passer than Glendening though.
Glendening is better defensively, a better skater, more physical, has a better motor/compete level, is an effective agitator who draws penalties, is a better shot blocker, better forechecker and has the better leadership traits.
While Andersson is barely an NHLer, Glendening is not an NHLer at all.
If that didn't fly in the face of reality, I'd offer a more extensive rebuttal than pointing out that it flies in the face of reality
Andersson can actually carry the puck, Glendening is forced to always chase and forecheck it. Which isn't good. It's probably why people "think" he's better, because he's always moving and checking. Doesn't mean he's better though.
Andersson can't carry the puck, he's too slow. He handles it for a brief distance and then is pretty decent at moving it. But yes, Andersson does handle the puck better, which is preferable to dumping and chasing.
To be clear though, forechecking isn't always to get the puck back after a dump. It's a method to regain possession, whether that be because you lost a faceoff, you took a shot and there is a rebound, or you simply turned it over in the offensive zone. And Glendening is much better at it.
He did get 56 games in last season! I think as Glendening gets more confident and experience at the NHL level we may see more points from him, may be surpass Andersson.
