Frederick Gauthier looks good as the 4th line center

[Al14]

It sounds like you're comparing Sparks to other goalies. We're comparing Sparks to Gauthier.

Both about the same level of experience but one has the most recent AHL player of the year at his position award and one doesn't. I'll take the one with the award over the one without it.

Gauthier can play in goal? I didn't know that! LOL

 

[White Shadow]

Gauthier can play in goal? I didn't know that! LOL

Good job following along.

 

[Al14]

Good job following along.

 

[authentic]

He's had a few rushes out there where I almost mistook him for Matthews.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Slow and steady, Frederik Gauthier is making his case with...

Anyone who’s listened to my podcast over the last few years knows that I haven’t been the biggest believer in Freddy the Goat. When I watched him play, I saw a player who provided limited to no offensive upside, had no puck skills, couldn’t skate, and would never be able to transition the puck up the ice at the NHL level. Then this season happened, and it forced me to re-evaluate my position.

I started looking for answers, and I came across this fantastic Kyle Dubas clip from 2015.

It’s such an interesting quote that I decided to transcribe it.

"He’s a better player [defensively] and that’s kinda the interesting thing. There’s a couple players in this year’s draft that were eligible, and then there’s a guy like Frederik (Gauthier) where people who are ‘pure analytics’ people would say “well you know, he’s not the type of guy you would suggest taking in that spot”, but if you look at the shot attempts and possession parts of it, he’s a guy who charts out extremely well."

So, it’s just an interesting kind of paradox in where we’re at in hockey and advanced statistics. Frederik is a guy who’s a prime example; he’s a polarizing player in that regard … and it’s interesting because baseball’s gone through this already. People who’ve got really strong defensive value — in hockey, how do we measure that? And for us, he charts out very well in that regard."

There’s a lot to unpack here, but it really comes down to one word: defence.

As Dubas mentioned, this is an area that’s been tricky to quantify in other sports (baseball), and hockey’s no exception. It’s much easier to measure a player’s offensive contributions (goals, assists, shots), whereas there are so many team effects impacting the defensive side of the game (the system, your four teammates, whether or not you have to cover for someone who’s blown their assignment, etc.), it makes it really difficult to isolate a player’s defensive contributions.

Bringing this back to Gauthier, he’s a player whose calling card has always been his defensive game. We know he isn’t a very talented offensive player, but if he’s a strong defensive player at the NHL level, how do we go about measuring that? Personally, I’m of the opinion that the best way to measure defence at the player level is by looking at how many shots and chances you allow (after adjusting for usage). This is where a metric like expected goals can come in handy, since it takes shot quantity and shot quality into account.

 

[Joey Hoser]

+/- would pretty effectively show the impact of a guy like Gauthier over time.

Yeah that's right, I said it.

 

[Prominence]

Cf rel % of 8.0 with defensive zone starts of 60%. Post faceoff possession numbers look great too. That fourth line has nasty possession numbers.

Recent athletic article discussed how he was a defensive stalwart who while does not generate scoring opportunities allows even fewer scoring opportunities against the leafs while on the ice.

 

[Battle Lin]

always knew gauthier had it in him, hes among the biggest players in the nhl maybe top 5-10? which is a huge plus and plays good D, only had to improve his speed a bit more and he has

after all our top guys get paid, we aint got much money left...players like gauthier are who we need to fill in the rest of the roster, our bottom pair D and bottom 6 forwards, strong defensive guys, that wont score much so wont get paid too much, but good enough defensively to at least not give up many goals against

 

[Hockey Crazy]

Hes making me eat crow right now.... didn't think he'd ever crack the NHL

 

[djdev]

IIRC AJ does not need to pass waivers.

i read like 10 different articles saying he does need to pass through waivers

 

[Lauro]

Time to change the thread title to 'very good'.

 

[Morlu]

Perfect 4th line centre if he can get 20-25 points a year I’d be happy.

 

[Luminiferous]

I knew Goat would make it. Thought it was shitty seeing folks dump on him over the years. So happy he is playing on the big squad

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

He looks much more capable offensively than I thought (despite not showing up in points). He creates chances on the forecheck and wins battles.

He's gotta improve that face off percentage though. It's atrocious. That's like a bare minimum skill you have to have as a 4th line center.

 

[Jyrki Lumme]

He looks much more capable offensively than I thought (despite not showing up in points). He creates chances on the forecheck and wins battles.

He's gotta improve that face off percentage though. It's atrocious. That's like a bare minimum skill you have to have as a 4th line center.

He's only taken 63 faceoffs this year. That's too small of a sample size to draw many conclusions. If he won his next 7 faceoffs. he'd be at 50%.

 

[Gallagbi]

He looks much more capable offensively than I thought (despite not showing up in points). He creates chances on the forecheck and wins battles.

He's gotta improve that face off percentage though. It's atrocious. That's like a bare minimum skill you have to have as a 4th line center.

He's always had a half decent set of hands on him. Getting time and space to use them is his big issue.

Once we're healthy he should move to the press box though and Lindholm can be the 4th line C he's best suited for

 

[Joey Hoser]

Perfect 4th line centre if he can get 20-25 points a year I’d be happy.

Considering the minutes and usage he's going to get when we're healthy, that's almost certainly never going to happen. I'm not saying that to bash the guy, I think he can be great contributor without it.

 

[BAM]

If he can be Brian Boyle type 4C the Leafs are laughing long-term. And he'll be cheap too

Matthews
Tavares
Kadri
Gauthier

 

[Ratboy]

I just want a tiny bit of scoring ability on display.
And one bone crushing check per game.
And a coke.

 

[LeafGrief]

Very pleased with how Gauthier is playing. Not expecting him or that line to score much, but they're spending time in the offensive zone and generating pressure + momentum that the rest of the team feeds off of. They'll bang a couple of pucks in eventually, but those are just gravy to their overall solid play.

Major Kudos to the Goat, I had completely written him off in September

 

[The Iceman]

He doen't win may faceoffs, below avg skater, doesn't see the ice particularly well, horrible offensive instincts. based on production he would be so far gone if he wasn't 6'5" ever day and a former 1st round pick. Zero points, people seem to be contenet just to not get scored on like that is a massive accomplishment.
Leafs released their best 4th line centre option early last year.
6'4" Eric Fehr who isn't lighting it up but does have 6 points in 13 games.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

He reminds me of Roberto Duran, "Hands of Stone". Well certainly around the net he lacks puck luck. But he can carry the pucks, win face-offs and can cycle the puck. He might be a better NHLer than in AHL. NHL is more structured, and maybe Freddie knows plays his role better as a Leaf.

 

[DarkKnight]

He's only played 6 minutes a game last two.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Leafs released their best 4th line centre option early last year.
6'4" Eric Fehr who isn't lighting it up but does have 6 points in 13 games.

Yea, I don't know Fehr was released by the Leafs last year. A steady 4th or 5th line right shot could have been used last year.

 

[Rude Dog]

Not a fan. They need a 4th liner with some grit to be part of an energy line banging bodies while sticking up for teammates if needed.