zonestarts mean a lot. It means that even the Devils coaching staff doesn’t think as highly of Butcher as you do and see fit to coddle him by starting him as far from his own net as possible.
Weird you started your comparison in a year Butcher wasn’t even in the NHL. Everyone knows Butcher was bad last year, but hey, coast on his rookie year all you like.
the DEVILS were terrible last year?
did you miss the fact that the Oilers iced an AHL group of forwards outside of the big three guys?
I’ve already told you where Nurse is better - virtually all non-points measures of a defenceman. If you want to disregard physicality and defensive play that’s on you. It’s why he sees much tougher zonestarts and competition than the butter soft stuff Butcher gets. He brings an entirely different physical element to his game, while bringing every ounce of offense Butcher does at even strength. You just continually ignore it and keep throwing up spreadsheets as if they mean anything regarding a defenceman‘s in zone play.
Want Nurse, don’t want Nurse, I don’t really care. He’s not for sale for your spare parts.