Former Ducks, 2019-20

[Paul4587]

One dimensional but very good at that dimension.

 

[HanSolo]

One dimensional but very good at that dimension.

He's gotten much better defensively. Third in the league in takeaways by a defenseman, eighth in blocked passes, 1st in CF% by a defenseman with more than 15gp. He's most certainly not one dimensional anymore.

 

[Paul4587]

He's gotten much better defensively. Third in the league in takeaways by a defenseman, eighth in blocked passes, 1st in CF% by a defenseman with more than 15gp. He's most certainly not one dimensional anymore.

Blocked passes and takeaways are about as useful in analysis as blocked shots or hits. They can tell a story but most of the time they’re just noise as all arenas track them differently and so much is missed by those tracking them.

Corsi % as a raw stat with no context is completely meaningless. His high corsi % is more driven by his offense than defense. His relative xGA is basically 0 which means defensively Vegas is no better or worse off without him on the ice despite him getting favorable deployment (60 percent of his starts are in the offensive zone). He doesn’t penalty kill either. I would say that’s fairly one dimensional. I’ll give him credit though, he’s very good at that dimension.

And stats aside I actually watch Vegas quite a bit. He definitely has improved defensively but his compete level is still off at times, he’s lacklustre in front of the net and can be way too casual moving the puck which results in bad situations. He’s gone from being a trainwreck in his own end to below average but he’s still not someone I want out there protecting a lead late in the game.

 

[HanSolo]

Blocked passes and takeaways are about as useful in analysis as blocked shots or hits. They can tell a story but most of the time they’re just noise as all arenas track them differently and so much is missed by those tracking them.

Corsi % as a raw stat with no context is completely meaningless. His high corsi % is more driven by his offense than defense. His relative xGA is basically 0 which means defensively Vegas is no better or worse off without him on the ice despite him getting favorable deployment (60 percent of his starts are in the offensive zone). He doesn’t penalty kill either. I would say that’s fairly one dimensional. I’ll give him credit though, he’s very good at that dimension.

And stats aside I actually watch Vegas quite a bit. He definitely has improved defensively but his compete level is still off at times, he’s lacklustre in front of the net and can be way too casual moving the puck which results in bad situations. He’s gone from being a trainwreck in his own end to below average but he’s still not someone I want out there protecting a lead late in the game.

Well stats aside, as you make fair but somewhat arguable points, I'd say you're not totally off the mark with the criticisms in the third paragraph. He does have his lackadaisical moments at times and isn't much of a crease clearer. I disagree about the casual puck moving. Sure he has stinker passes every now and then (but so does literally everyone on the Vegas roster and they still manage to have some of the best O-zone rel to d-zone possession in the league) but he's generally the most reliable player on the team at zone exit passing.

All the same I'd say he's certainly not elite or what you can call 'strong" defensively but I'd agree to disagree that he's below average and certainly continue to protest that he only has one dimension. As Vegas' defense goes I trust him far more in his own zone than anyone not named Schmidt or Martinez. Personally I'd say he's very slightly above average in his own zone. I don't look at him and think he's one of the liabilities or worry much when I see him defending. McNabb, in spite of a penchant for making big and timely defensive saves is far more likely to blow coverage. Whitecloud shows promise but has the same level of consistency as McNabb which isn't terrible for a rookie. Holden, Merrill, and Engelland in respective ranked order tend to be nightmares in the d-zone far more often than they have competent nights. Engelland in particular may as well be retired at this point. He lost Gallant's trust and DeBoer hasn't given him a shot.

Rambling aside, to me, offensively one dimensional defines a player who is a talent on offense but an active liability or at the very least a low to non factor defensively and I don't agree that Shea falls into such a category. You can say a guy like Teemu was one dimensional. Not Theodore.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

best of luck to Hiller!

 

[JabbaJabba]

Happy retirement to Hiller! He had the ability to stop everything when he was on. Too bad that the vertigo thing happened, could have played a longer career in the NHL without it.

 

[MMC]

 

[Kalv]

Screw that vertigo. Happy retirement Hillsy. Man, the possible goalie duet of Hiller and Miller would be hillarious. I`m ok having Gibson as well tho

 

[mightyquack]

Crazy, doesn't feel like long ago he was just establishing himself as the #1 here. Was a great goaltender for us, shame he was never quite the same after the vertigo.

 

[Frosted Tips]

You could always count on him having a sweet mask too. Happy retirement!

 

[Terry Yake]

hiller was playing the best hockey of his career when the vertigo happened. just terrible luck. thanks a lot letang

and he was never the same after that

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Hiller is 38 and with his season in europe cancelled, he'd be 39 during next season.
Seems like yesterday that Hiller and Miller were these late 20 something goalies in the NHL.

 

[Paul4587]

Dustin Penner has gone batshit crazy. I didn’t realize I was following him on twitter until recently where he’s been on an absolute rampage full of conspiracy theories and nonsensical tweets.

 

[Terry Yake]

Dustin Penner has gone batshit crazy. I didn’t realize I was following him on twitter until recently where he’s been on an absolute rampage full of conspiracy theories and nonsensical tweets.

has gone?

he's been batshit crazy for years now

 

[Paul4587]

has gone?

he's been batshit crazy for years now

well worse than what I remember...

 

[Los Patos de Anaheim]

well worse than what I remember...

Right wing politics does that to people

 

[The Duck Knight]

Right wing politics does that to people

Penner's well past just taking a political stance. He's clearly lost a vast majority of his marbles.

 

[mightyquack]

Penner's well past just taking a political stance. He's clearly lost a vast majority of his marbles.

And Penner never stuck me as a person who could afford to lose many marbles

 

[Kalv]

Oh Boy, Penner has gone real hardcore there - kids, don`t do coke.

Just funny that with all that nonsense there is the LA Kings logo in his profile pic. But he`s not getting much support from his followers, it seems.

 

[Frosted Tips]

I don't understand half the stuff that is going on in his Twitter, but it sure looks wild! I haven't gotten into good conspiracy theories in ages, I wish I had more time to really look into what he's on about

 

[Terry Yake]

Oh Boy, Penner has gone real hardcore there - kids, don`t do coke.

Just funny that with all that nonsense there is the LA Kings logo in his profile pic. But he`s not getting much support from his followers, it seems.

yeah the kings can have him

definitely not someone i want associated with this franchise

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Dustin Penner has gone batshit crazy. I didn’t realize I was following him on twitter until recently where he’s been on an absolute rampage full of conspiracy theories and nonsensical tweets.

What a f***ing clown. Glad he doesn't like Getz, that's a good litmus test.

 

[PaddyMcStackin]

Going full Tom Delonge is never a good look.

 

[dracom]

Penner needs to be committed at this point. That twitter account is full on psycho.

 

[Exit Dose]

Is he in Lyndon Larouche territory?