Around the NHL XIII: Off Season Edition

[silverfish]

Bought a Del Zotto T-shirt after his rookie year. Just cut the nameplate off the back. Unusable, but can't throw it out if it says Rangers on it

Just going to pretend it was a Greschner shirt and the name plate fell off

I wouldn't have minded rooting for him, but now, can't wait 'til our forwards are torching him

 

[Ail]

Haha, Flyers.

Maybe I'll get to see DZ play on the Phantoms this year sometime at the new arena when he blows in Philly.

 

[Tawnos]

Ugh. I'm not sure where DZs head is, so who knows what will happen with him this year, but I'm not a fan of Philly getting more mobility on its blueline.

 

[eco's bones]

Timonen is on the old side. Blood clots can be a long term health problem. That might be the end of him.

DZ takes a big pay cut. IMO he's not an upgrade over Timonen. Maybe it works out for him in Philly--we'll see--but I doubt it. The potential is there for him to have big games against us though.

 

[GFiP*]

Lmao @ philly fans trying to spin this into something positive. This is a massive downgrade and Del Zotto will be on an ahl squad at the end of the year.

 

[Nyrvana]

Lmao @ philly fans trying to spin this into something positive. This is a massive downgrade and Del Zotto will be on an ahl squad at the end of the year.

He already is with the Flyers

 

[SauceCheese91]

This may not mean much, or it could be a question of his character. I have not posted here in a few months, but thought a few of you guys would find this amusing. Two players that I know personally who played with Del Zotto in London (1 of them in the NHL currently) and another guy that played with DZ in Nashville, who I don't know personally (Heard through a friend) said that the guy is a serious sex-addict.

I mean I know what you're thinking...what guy doesn't like sex, but apparently it was so serious that he was leaving team dinners and functions early to meet up with girls and staying out late past curfew on the regular to do the same. The number of girls that I have heard he has slept with is insane, no idea if it is true or not, but it's actually mind blowing.

Makes you wonder if this could be true or not and atleast had somewhat of an impact on his NHL playing career, as it certainly seems like his head is in the wrong place at various times on the ice.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

14:45.

37/48 is about 80pct of the season.

You guys love to tap dance. It went from one playoff series to the minority of a postseason to small sample sizes.

It's a flawed stat. Go look up the individual numbers. There are dozens of scrubs over 80 games who had better CF% than some of the games best players.

Oh, I forgot. They can't be stars if their CF% is not in the top tier.

Brassard AKA the 175th best forward in the NHL.

So a small sample size in a season that was, itself, a fairly small sample size. I'm not sure what you're arguing here?

You should look up zone starts and QoC before you disregard the concept of Corsi.

 

[frozenrubber]

This may not mean much, or it could be a question of his character. I have not posted here in a few months, but thought a few of you guys would find this amusing. Two players that I know personally who played with Del Zotto in London (1 of them in the NHL currently) and another guy that played with DZ in Nashville, who I don't know personally (Heard through a friend) said that the guy is a serious sex-addict.

I mean I know what you're thinking...what guy doesn't like sex, but apparently it was so serious that he was leaving team dinners and functions early to meet up with girls and staying out late past curfew on the regular to do the same. The number of girls that I have heard he has slept with is insane, no idea if it is true or not, but it's actually mind blowing.

Makes you wonder if this could be true or not and atleast had somewhat of an impact on his NHL playing career, as it certainly seems like his head is in the wrong place at various times on the ice.

He came into the league and NYC at 19 with millions in his pocket. This off-season might of been enough of a gut check for him to grow up a bit. Here's an old gem:

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/the_essentials/delzotto/index.html


1. Blackberry BBM
"I take pride in my response time when someone texts me. Addicted to bbm. Lots of people are switching to iPhones, so chances are we won't speak if you don't have bbm or 'whatsapp'."

2. First car (Audi S5)
"Nothing better than danglin' through the streets in a freshly shined whip, getting second looks from everyone!"

3. Family
"Wouldn't be anywhere without my family. Sacrifice, dedication and unconditional love they give to me is second to none. Don't know what I would do without them."

4. Words with Friends
"My favorite game on my iPad. I have multiple games daily with my brother, David. I like to break a mental sweat."

5. Titleist (golf clubs)
"Nothing like waking up at sunrise for 18 holes with three of the boys."

6. Beats by Dre, iPod dock
"It's where I pump my favorite house music. I went to Vegas for my 21st birthday at the end of June. The DJs there are unbelievable. Always listening to house music no matter what time of the day."

7. Yankees cap
"When the flow isn't where it needs to be, it's always good to rock the hat that Jay Z made famous."

8. New York City
"Nothing but 10s everywhere you go in NYC. Wonderful place to be living."

9. Dinner/Event Crew
"Prusty (Brandon Prust), Boyler (Brian Boyle), Emmy (Steve Eminger) and I always go for dinner together. On days off, we love switching it up with our intense bowling matches at Lucky Strike, or riding bikes through Central Park. We live in a crazy world and you can't trust too many people. Other than my family, there are only a few guys I can trust, the boys!"

10. Shooting fish in a barrel
"I asked Prusty (Brandon Prust) for some help with No. 10 because I was stuck and his quote was: "shooting fish in a barrel, DZ!" So... "

 

[TheTakedown]

This may not mean much, or it could be a question of his character. I have not posted here in a few months, but thought a few of you guys would find this amusing. Two players that I know personally who played with Del Zotto in London (1 of them in the NHL currently) and another guy that played with DZ in Nashville, who I don't know personally (Heard through a friend) said that the guy is a serious sex-addict.

I mean I know what you're thinking...what guy doesn't like sex, but apparently it was so serious that he was leaving team dinners and functions early to meet up with girls and staying out late past curfew on the regular to do the same. The number of girls that I have heard he has slept with is insane, no idea if it is true or not, but it's actually mind blowing.

Makes you wonder if this could be true or not and atleast had somewhat of an impact on his NHL playing career, as it certainly seems like his head is in the wrong place at various times on the ice.

If your friends could point out when this started happening then perhaps we could finally turn over the stone that we have been looking for since his insane 1st and 3rd seasons were followed up by some downright awful hockey.

 

[Boruto]

Honestly, DZ wasn't bad. On LD, he was behind McDonagh and Staal who are both defensive pillars that no #4/#5/#6 guy should be even if they're a prototypical shut down d man. 2011-2012 was a delightful season and 2012-2013, he was an average #4 defenseman for us. Now all of a sudden, due to one bad season where he was a victim to a lot of factors that did nothing except highlight his shortcomings, he's an AHL player? Please. The trade options, Moore's value and cheaper contract plus AV's bias made him expendable and didn't allow him that luxury of bouncing back.

Del Zotto is slow to learn and doesn't learn well. That's primarily the problem with him. His defense hockey IQ is somewhere just above a defensive prospect that fails to establish a thriving career in the NHL. Under Torts, he took a lot of time to learn and had that awful second year and was sent down. Seasons 3 & 4 with Torts went well because he finally learned and learned well. Torts trusted him defensively. With AV, it was the same problem all over again. In Nashville, it probably is the combination of not learning quick enough on ice to impress and the off ice issues. Man on man required too many defensive reads and snap decisions. The McDonaghs and Staals will adapt and perform exceptionally but the MDZ and Moores stand to struggle and fail to learn quickly.

I think his success in Philly* won't be apparent until at least AFTER, say, January or February. A reason why he signed, I'm guessing is that Philly has a **** defense and that alone will afford him time to learn slowly.

 

[eco's bones]

Honestly, DZ wasn't bad. On LD, he was behind McDonagh and Staal who are both defensive pillars that no #4/#5/#6 guy should be even if they're a prototypical shut down d man. 2011-2012 was a delightful season and 2012-2013, he was an average #4 defenseman for us. Now all of a sudden, due to one bad season where he was a victim to a lot of factors that did nothing except highlight his shortcomings, he's an AHL player? Please. The trade options, Moore's value and cheaper contract plus AV's bias made him expendable and didn't allow him that luxury of bouncing back.

Del Zotto is slow to learn and doesn't learn well. That's primarily the problem with him. His defense hockey IQ is somewhere just above a defensive prospect that fails to establish a thriving career in the NHL. Under Torts, he took a lot of time to learn and had that awful second year and was sent down. Seasons 3 & 4 with Torts went well because he finally learned and learned well. Torts trusted him defensively. With AV, it was the same problem all over again. In Nashville, it probably is the combination of not learning quick enough on ice to impress and the off ice issues. Man on man required too many defensive reads and snap decisions. The McDonaghs and Staals will adapt and perform exceptionally but the MDZ and Moores stand to struggle and fail to learn quickly.

I think his success in Philly* won't be apparent until at least AFTER, say, January or February. A reason why he signed, I'm guessing is that Philly has a **** defense and that alone will afford him time to learn slowly.

His first season I thought 'This guy is going to be a star'--but he's not a good defenseman. There are worse in the league for sure but to be honest I even liked Diaz better last year. He doesn't belong on our D. Moore settled down when Klein came along. DZ went to the Predators and by the end of the season he was a healthy scratch more often than not. At this point even his offense is overrated. His shot is average--not good enough to blow by a decent/average NHL goaltender from the point. It's not all that accurate anymore. Defensively he's always chasing the puck round--between panicking and bad positioning and brain farts he's a nightmare always waiting to happen in his own end. He's not big, strong or an especially good skater. His hockey IQ sucks.

He'll be in Europe pretty soon if he doesn't turn his game around and it probably won't be in Sweden and Russia where the surfaces are larger and more importantly almost everyone can skate. He'll wind up in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France or Britain. For his sake I hope he realizes that if he ***** the bed in Philadelphia there are not going to be very many NHL teams left willing to take a chance on him because he finally struck out in NY--he very quickly struck out in Nashville. Teams weren't knocking down the door to sign him this summer despite how young he is--despite how much upside some posters think he still has. I don't think he's a bad guy but this is his job and if he wants to keep it he's going to have to be more serious about it.

 

[Vickers8]

Timonen has blood clots in his legs and lungs. WTF?

The Flyers defense is horrendous.

And it just got even worse...

 

[AHB*]

Timonen is on the old side. Blood clots can be a long term health problem. That might be the end of him.

DZ takes a big pay cut. IMO he's not an upgrade over Timonen. Maybe it works out for him in Philly--we'll see--but I doubt it. The potential is there for him to have big games against us though.

He's a massive downgrade from Timonen. The guy is one of the most underrated players in the league. MDZ is not in the same stratosphere as him.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

He already is with the Flyers

That team took us to 7 games and to the brink. And if Mason was healthy I'm not sure if we win.

 

[Nyrvana]

That team took us to 7 games and to the brink. And if Mason was healthy I'm not sure if we win.

It's weird though, I never thought we would lose that series. We absolutely dominate Philly at home. Also, I was making a pro Rangers, anti Flyers joke there.

 

[TheDirtyH]

That team took us to 7 games and to the brink. And if Mason was healthy I'm not sure if we win.

Then again, if McDonagh is healthy I'm not sure that series makes it 6 games.

EDIT: also totally forgot Kreider completely missed that series.

 

[Fitzy]

Does this mean that the "Del Zotto > Klein" argument is over and done with?

 

[Doctyl]

Then again, if McDonagh is healthy I'm not sure that series makes it 6 games.

EDIT: also totally forgot Kreider completely missed that series.

McD was horrible that series, I've never seen him so bad.

Also yea our comeback/finals run started with the motivation for Marty and Kreider coming back. Our GF/G is like a full goal higher with CK in the lineup than it is without him.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

It's weird though, I never thought we would lose that series. We absolutely dominate Philly at home. Also, I was making a pro Rangers, anti Flyers joke there.

Oh yeah I totally got the joke part lol

 

[FJB]

I think DZ will be fine in Philly. Their scapegoat is always the goalie anyway.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

So a small sample size in a season that was, itself, a fairly small sample size. I'm not sure what you're arguing here?

You should look up zone starts and QoC before you disregard the concept of Corsi.

I've been looking at all the stats and filtering the last few months. Too many bad examples/randomness to get a telling analysis as to whether a guy is a good player or not.

I want advanced stats that tell me the following:

1) how many times a dman takes a hit to move the puck safely
2) how many times a dman doesn't take a hit and turns the puck over
3) pass and SOG conversion numbers on odd man rushes
4) shanked one timers
5) converted one timers
6) poor pinches by dmen that lead to odd man rushes
7) pinches by dmen to keep a play alive
8) a lazy backcheck stat
9) players minor penalties that led to goals on ensuing power play
10) goals that tied or gave the team a lead
11) breakout passes connected leading to scoring chances
12) breakout passes intercepted leading to opposing chances

These are the stats that give me a better understanding of a guy's skill set. Not how often his coach uses him, where he uses him, against who, and shots directed at the net.

Quality of competition is a good stat, but again a lot has to do with coaching. Coaches already match lines. Hockey is a fluid sport. It's not Batter vs Pitcher.

If a coach see's that Brassard destroys 3rd and 4th liners, but is a nonfactor against top players, the opposing coach will try to trump it off a last change or on the fly.

I like advanced stats. Some are useless to me.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Sex has nothing to do with Del Zotto's issues.

He's a dumb player. Hockey IQ is terrible. Positioning, reads, joining the rush etc.

McDonagh, Stepan, Dubinsky, Anisimov, Hagelin, Kreider and Del Zotto all came up and treated/schooled the same way. Everybody turned out fine except Del Zotto.

It's like school. You have kids who are smart because they study, kids who are smart because they're gifted and kids who are smart only when they want to be. Then you have the not-so-smart ones who try but can't become smart, and then you have the lost souls who don't give a ****.

Del Zotto tries but he's not smart, and he eventually stops giving a ****. He's a young millionaire to us, but among his peers he's a big fat zero.

 

[Inferno]

playing with that group of forwards, MDZ is going to put up some offensive numbers. I think that was the point of htis contract. play with a borderline elite offense, put up points, and then cash in next year.

very smart, and very shrewed move.

people can laugh all they want about MDZ and beign minus a million or what not, but if he puts up 40-50 points, even if hes playing mediocre defense, he'll get paid next year.

i think its a very smart move for both teams.

 

[frozenrubber]

playing with that group of forwards, MDZ is going to put up some offensive numbers. I think that was the point of htis contract. play with a borderline elite offense, put up points, and then cash in next year.

very smart, and very shrewed move.

people can laugh all they want about MDZ and beign minus a million or what not, but if he puts up 40-50 points, even if hes playing mediocre defense, he'll get paid next year.

i think its a very smart move for both teams.

Matt Carle 2.0

We see the same recycled drumbeat of "Hockey IQ" being thrown about. Michael Del Zotto is a player that plays a MUCH better game when provided reliable icetime to get in a rhythm. When Staal was out, MDZ played solidly in a top-four role. However, in a super scrutinized 3rd pairing, new system role, he's slow to adapt. MDZ plays a lot better w/ swagger (even a player like Subban has struggled when trying to play too conservatively).