I have no idea what every GM thinks and no idea what our coaching staff thinks.
But yes, he was that effective.
He played 15 minutes/game on a high leverage checking line next to Sutter that sawed off goal differentials despite having the toughest usage in the NHL. That line was the biggest bright spot in the 2nd half of our season.
He scored at a 27-point ES pace which is exceptional for his usage (Baertschi just got $10 million for scoring at a 30-point ES pace from the #1 line).
He was a PK unit regular who generated amongst the better results of our teams' forwards.
He was on pace for 243 hits/82 games which would make him one of the most physical players in the league and our most physical forward by a mile (that's more than the two 'tough' wingers we signed yesterday *combined* by the way).
If you can look at that mountain of evidence that this player was an effective 3rd line NHLer and then conclude he isn't even 4th line caliber ... I'm not sure what to say.
And I give zero ****s about your appeals to authority about the market. These are the sort of idiots who traded 2/3 of one of the best #1 lines in the NHL to Vegas so they wouldn't lose a healthy scratch 7th defender.
Those are some good stats, but I think that could be more indicative of the fact that stats do not tell the whole story.
To me, the eye test will always take precedence over advanced stats, and perhaps this is where I differ from the JD Burke Army.
As a guy that watched the games, I saw a guy that was simply too slow for the NHL. After starting off inpressively, I think Archie’s lack of speed was evident.
Hence - management’s decision.
I know that you’re going to use the ‘appeal to authority’ argument against me, but here’s what I have to say in response to that:
IF Archibald is even half as good as you say he is.....or was......then he’ll go back to the American League and tear it up. I mean if he “magically” took such a quantum leap while he was here, he’ll surely go back to the American League and start tearing it up over there will he not? Like you said - he was on a 27 Point ES pace up here so lord only knows what his ES pace will be in the AHL.
IF Archie’s really that good, then a smart GM will (or already would have) low ball(ed) Benning for Archibald right? I mean do you REALLY think that Archie will go unnoticed by every single GM in the league if he was that effective?
And I know that you’re going to use the ‘Vegas’ example again to illustrate your thesis here, so I’ll leave you with this:
1) Did YOU predict that Vegas would be that good after Vegas assembled their roster last year?
2) Did JD Burke or any other “advanced stats” guru’s accurately predict the success of Vegas last year?
No. Absolutely no one predicted, or could have predicted, Vegas’ success last year and so for anyone to sit there on their high horse and claim that all GM’s in the league are idiots is extremely pretentious.
