I like him quite a bit.
I think his presence does a lot of things that are beyond his actual abilities.
He's a reminder to every player on the Marlies who has more talent than him that HE is with the big club and they aren't which should remind those players that they just need to work hard and they can be in his place.
Same thing with the Leafs - 5 or 6 minutes left and we get a penalty (Grabner) in a game we are still in and MB puts out Froese because MB trusts him to take face-offs and kill penalties and not stay out too long.
Both these scenarios should (if they don't) make players who have more talent and who are making a lot more money realize they need to WORK harder and they need to be better than Mr. Froese.
His biggest strength is his work ethic and his character and these are the things that the Leafs are all about at this moment in time.
Plus, he's learning; don't be surprised if he when he comes back next season that he steps up his game another notch. If he can improve his offense a little bit, he becomes much more valuable. He is also improving because he is playing. Sometimes I think when we focus on a player's abilities or in his case the fact he has has less ability than others, it makes it hard to notice that he's also improving. He is improving and growing from the experience he is getting by constantly being played in the most crucial situations. I think he is in fact getting better.
I thought we had (mostly) decided that plus/minus wasn't a very good stat.
I will say that we are down something like almost a half a goal a game (.45) goals against per game - which is a team stat. While he might have a poor plus minus, he is also a big part of the reason we are significantly better in goals against per game.
2.68 ga per game this year;
3.13 ga per game last year;
His cap hit is just 550/year I think. He's tremendous value compared to Lupol or Phaneuf - for starters and I'd even go so far as to suggest that if we lost Lupol to injury that he would be missed less than Froese was when he hurt his foot (forget the exact injury).
I think his presence does a lot of things that are beyond his actual abilities.
He's a reminder to every player on the Marlies who has more talent than him that HE is with the big club and they aren't which should remind those players that they just need to work hard and they can be in his place.
Same thing with the Leafs - 5 or 6 minutes left and we get a penalty (Grabner) in a game we are still in and MB puts out Froese because MB trusts him to take face-offs and kill penalties and not stay out too long.
Both these scenarios should (if they don't) make players who have more talent and who are making a lot more money realize they need to WORK harder and they need to be better than Mr. Froese.
His biggest strength is his work ethic and his character and these are the things that the Leafs are all about at this moment in time.
Plus, he's learning; don't be surprised if he when he comes back next season that he steps up his game another notch. If he can improve his offense a little bit, he becomes much more valuable. He is also improving because he is playing. Sometimes I think when we focus on a player's abilities or in his case the fact he has has less ability than others, it makes it hard to notice that he's also improving. He is improving and growing from the experience he is getting by constantly being played in the most crucial situations. I think he is in fact getting better.
I thought we had (mostly) decided that plus/minus wasn't a very good stat.
I will say that we are down something like almost a half a goal a game (.45) goals against per game - which is a team stat. While he might have a poor plus minus, he is also a big part of the reason we are significantly better in goals against per game.
2.68 ga per game this year;
3.13 ga per game last year;
His cap hit is just 550/year I think. He's tremendous value compared to Lupol or Phaneuf - for starters and I'd even go so far as to suggest that if we lost Lupol to injury that he would be missed less than Froese was when he hurt his foot (forget the exact injury).
