Dustin Byfuglien and On-Ice Save Percentage

[Bear of Bad News]

Interesting article here:
http://www.arcticicehockey.com/2014...nse-dustin-byfuglien-ondrej-pavelec-blamebuff

On whether it's fair to call Dustin Byfuglien a poor defender.

Click to read more...

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Dave Tippet once said this:

We had a player that was supposed to be a great, shut-down defenseman. He was supposedly the be-all, end-all of defensemen. But when you did a 10-game analysis of him, you found out he was defending all the time because he can’t move the puck. Then we had another guy, who supposedly couldn’t defend a lick. Well, he was defending only 20 percent of the time because he’s making good plays out of our end. He may not be the strongest defender, but he’s only doing it 20 percent of the time. So the equation works out better the other way. I ended up trading the other defenseman.

I'm sure we can figure out who Tippett is talking about, right?

 

[Beef Invictus]

Without a doubt a poor goalie is going to make a defense/defenseman look worse than they actually are. I watched that with Bryzgalov in net in Philly.

But it's not like a dman like Buff does that goalie many favors if he often finds himself out of position leaving scoring areas and shooting lanes open, so it's a bit of a two-way street there. It's an interesting writeup but I don't believe it absolves Buff a whole lot.

 

[Romang67]

Without a doubt a poor goalie is going to make a defense/defenseman look worse than they actually are. I watched that with Bryzgalov in net in Philly.

But it's not like a dman like Buff does that goalie many favors if he often finds himself out of position leaving scoring areas and shooting lanes open, so it's a bit of a two-way street there. It's an interesting writeup but I don't believe it absolves Buff a whole lot.

But that's the thing. Two of his four seasons as a D-man, he has had fairly high on ice Sv%, despite playing in front of Pavelec. His first season as a D-man (when he actually was truly awful defensively, just had Enstrom covering his big butt all the time), he had almost .92, which was among the highest on the team.

He still isn't the best defensive player, but he is a lot better than he gets credit for. He even improved his transition defense noticeably, starting to pick off a lot of passes on rushes by the other team.

Unfortunately, Pavelec may just have doomed his future as a D-man for the Jets, which is a shame.

 

[Beef Invictus]

But that's the thing. Two of his four seasons as a D-man, he has had fairly high on ice Sv%, despite playing in front of Pavelec. His first season as a D-man (when he actually was truly awful defensively, just had Enstrom covering his big butt all the time), he had almost .92, which was among the highest on the team.

He still isn't the best defensive player, but he is a lot better than he gets credit for. He even improved his transition defense noticeably, starting to pick off a lot of passes on rushes by the other team.

Unfortunately, Pavelec may just have doomed his future as a D-man for the Jets, which is a shame.

He strikes me as a Dman who needs a reliable partner so he can do his own thing; basically, as a great complimentary guy, but not someone you want taking the defensive lead. That's only based on a handful of games I watched to scout him as a potential partner for Coburn, though, so it's not a well-researched position on my part.

 

[Romang67]

He strikes me as a Dman who needs a reliable partner so he can do his own thing; basically, as a great complimentary guy, but not someone you want taking the defensive lead. That's only based on a handful of games I watched to scout him as a potential partner for Coburn, though, so it's not a well-researched position on my part.

Yeah, that's fairly accurate. It's not clear what kind of partner he needs. I mean, obviously he does well together with Enstrom, but everyone does. He also did well with Clitsome, despite neither being a stalwart defensively.

But he did take some massive steps. I truly hope that, if (when) he's traded, the next team will play him as a D. I want to see how good he can become.

The first year in Atlanta, he could take over games offensively. Before he got switched back to W, he could take over games period. He is really good defenesively with his stick, and he obviously has a physical advantage over pretty much every player in the league.

Unfortunately, he was inconsistent, and had Pavelec behind him.

 

[DTMAboutHeart]

Big Buff is one of the most underrated defenceman in the entire NHL. He is no more defensively irresponsible than any other top end d-man

 

[John Belushi]

I'm sure we can figure out who Tippett is talking about, right?

Was he talking about Sergei Zubov and Derian Hatcher?

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Was he talking about Sergei Zubov and Derian Hatcher?

Hmmm, its possible, but if so, Tippett gave incorrect details. Dallas let Hatcher go as an UFA; they didn't trade him

 

[Beef Invictus]

Yeah, that's fairly accurate. It's not clear what kind of partner he needs. I mean, obviously he does well together with Enstrom, but everyone does. He also did well with Clitsome, despite neither being a stalwart defensively.

But he did take some massive steps. I truly hope that, if (when) he's traded, the next team will play him as a D. I want to see how good he can become.

The first year in Atlanta, he could take over games offensively. Before he got switched back to W, he could take over games period. He is really good defenesively with his stick, and he obviously has a physical advantage over pretty much every player in the league.

Unfortunately, he was inconsistent, and had Pavelec behind him.

Haha, glad to hear I haven't been completely off-base. Because of that I've been really opposed to the Flyers trading for Buff since the rumors tend to involve Coburn. Replacing Coburn with Buff is a bad move for the Flyers. The ideal move would be finding a way to get him and pairing him with Coburn.

 

[Tiranis]

Hmmm, its possible, but if so, Tippett gave incorrect details. Dallas let Hatcher go as an UFA; they didn't trade him

This quote is referring to his pre-NHL days, as far as I remember.