GDT: Game #14 - 11.08.14 - vs Sharkies - 7:00 PM - FS Southwest - 1310 AM - 96.7 FM

[David Castillo]

That's why I keep adding the huge caveat that I wanted him on that 3rd pairing. I question my own stupidity 24 hours a day, but give a newbie a little credit.

It's not silly to say he was competent. Unfortunately analytics haters can't use this (close your eyes, skeptics), but I can. In his small sample size, he had the highest percentage of successfully exiting the defensive zone. Again, 15 touches is way too small to conclude anything, but worth noting all the same. However, I would argue it's blatantly silly to say he would make a "massive difference" right now.

 

[Klockis]

That's why I keep adding the huge caveat that I wanted him on that 3rd pairing. I question my own stupidity 24 hours a day, but give a newbie a little credit.

I would but I'm broke.

Seriously though, you're a great poster. Nice to have here you joining the discussion!

(that came off extremely cheesy, I'm actually proud of that)

It's not silly to say he was competent. Unfortunately analytics haters can't use this (close your eyes, skeptics), but I can. In his small sample size, he had the highest percentage of successfully exiting the defensive zone. Again, 15 touches is way too small to conclude anything, but worth noting all the same. However, I would argue it's blatantly silly to say he would make a "massive difference" right now.

I have a massive man crush on Nemeth so keep that in mind. I think one more competent D would actually make a huge difference for us when we barely have NHL defensemen.

 

[hairylikebear]

I don't think Nemeth looked amazing by any means. He was solid and handled his sheltered minutes easily, but the entire team looked completely different back then. They were actually possessing the puck, out-chancing their opponents, and committing way fewer turnovers. It would be really silly to suggest that Nemeth's injury is responsible for this dropoff, and it would take a lot to convince me that Nemeth wouldn't be right there struggling with them if he was still playing right now.

Young teams have growing pains like this. It always makes me laugh when people suggest that the solution is to throw even more young players on the ice. It's clearly working wonders for Edmonton.

 

[txomisc]

I'm an analytics fan but Nemeth was amazing. You are doing a mistake that A LOT of people do, taking advanced stats in small sample sizes. 18 games is not enough, and I think most people would tell you that Nemeth looked amazing. Plus almost every (good) NHL teams have better stats available than Corsi and Fenwick (eg. Kings and Hawks), I'm sure the Stars do too and they seem to love the guy.

Amazing is really too powerful of a word for how Nemeth looked. He looked solid and unspectacular which is about what you want from him.

 

[Henderson33]

So... no Eakin, Nichushkin, & (likely) Roussel for next game. Who gets the next call-up?

I want Ritchie.

 

[Frozen Failure]

So... no Eakin, Nichushkin, & (likely) Roussel for next game. Who gets the next call-up?

I want Ritchie.

Me too.

Benn-Seguin-Eaves
McKenzie-Spezza-Ritchie
whatever
whatever
Ruff does what he wants.

 

[Klockis]

Amazing is really too powerful of a word for how Nemeth looked. He looked solid and unspectacular which is about what you want from him.

mancrushmancrushmancrush

Again I'm baised when it comes to Nemeth.

 

[Henderson33]

Me too.

Benn-Seguin-Eaves
McKenzie-Spezza-Ritchie
whatever
whatever
Ruff does what he wants.

I think it's still a little premature to break up Spezza-Hemsky, the last two games have been the best they played together (Not that there is much to compare it too), but they actually had some offensive zone time and were creating some chances. Hemsky was weak on the puck at times and gave it away, but at this point, with the Stars lack of "real" top 6 F's, you have to hope it's a confidence issue with him and be patient in hopes he can get back on track.

If he doesn't, not like you missed much because Ruff would likely play Cole in his place anyway.

 

[Stars99Lobo37]

 

[beepeearr]

Me too.

Benn-Seguin-Eaves
McKenzie-Spezza-Ritchie
whatever
whatever
Ruff does what he wants.

Benn Seguin Ritchie
McKenzie Spezza Hemsky
Garbutt Fiddler Eaves
Cole Horcoff Sceviour

Would be nice to see, but if Ruff isn't going to play Ritchie in the top 6 I would rather see Faksa called up with Eakin out and see how he does defensively in the NHL. The Pitbull line just hasn't seemed as effective as last year, they seem to get awfully scrambly at times, wouldn't mind seeing the line with Faksa instead of Eakin while he's out. Its not like the current status quo is winning us a bunch of games might as well get some questions answered.

I just hope we don't leave Eaves with Benn Seguin because Seguin got a trick last night, Seguin scored three goals last night and Eaves wasn't on the ice for any of them.

 

[Primetimey*]

Don't worry Nill will call up Morin over Faksa or Ritchie.

We don't need big prospects gaining experience we need tiny AHL lifers.

 

[Hull Fan]

Yeah this Eaves experiment needs to die. He's a bag of nothing and doesn't help Seguin or Benn.

 

[beepeearr]

Yeah this Eaves experiment needs to die. He's a bag of nothing and doesn't help Seguin or Benn.

Putting Ritchie on the Benn Seguin line and McKenzie on the second would give both our top two lines a skilled grinder type forward with size on those line (both with better hands the Cole) Benn can fill that role too, but Ritchie allows Benn to use his skill instead of having to plant himself out in front. With Eakin and Nuke out, seems the best time to experiment. And if it works out, you can always try a third line of Roussel Eakin Nuke once everyone is healthy or back from suspension. Just think some added size to add to our speed could really help us right now.

 

[David Castillo]

I would but I'm broke.

Seriously though, you're a great poster. Nice to have here you joining the discussion!

(that came off extremely cheesy, I'm actually proud of that)

I have a massive man crush on Nemeth so keep that in mind. I think one more competent D would actually make a huge difference for us when we barely have NHL defensemen.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I do like Nemeth though. Unlike most so called "defensive defenseman", he skates well and seems to read the game well. It's not about Nemeth being a bad defender. It's about whether or not he can be a successful stay-at-home defenseman in a league that is endangering stay-at-home defenseman.

Course, that's just theory. If Gonchar, Connauton and Benn are gone this season, I hope the season ends up with something like this when Nemeth comes back:

Daley-RHD free agent
Dillon-Goligoski
Nemeth-Klingberg

That to me, wwould seem like a reasonable three pairs, if a bit wet behind the ears. Hell, I think it would make our D a bagillion times better than what it is now, and frankly that's all this team needs to make the playoffs: a defense that is only average as opposed to mediocre.

 

[Frozen Failure]

Positional defensemen will never die.

One of Benn or Connauton will remain to be the #7.

We don't know if Nemeth will even fully recover, but you know, we have the technology, we can rebuild him or something like that. All Dallas really truly needs is one top 4 RHD to push someone out of the lineup right now. Ideally a Bogosian or Myers type, but good luck with that. Boychuk would have been a superb pickup (echo... echo... echo...). Petry doesn't have the leadership I don't think to anchor the top 4. There's Stefan Elliott, who was on waivers, but I'd prefer Tyson Barrie, but conference issues.

There's also Adam McQuaid but he's a UFA next year.

We just need ONE defenseman. We need Sergei Zubov.

 

[mc3488]

Positional defensemen will never die.

One of Benn or Connauton will remain to be the #7.

We don't know if Nemeth will even fully recover, but you know, we have the technology, we can rebuild him or something like that. All Dallas really truly needs is one top 4 RHD to push someone out of the lineup right now. Ideally a Bogosian or Myers type, but good luck with that. Boychuk would have been a superb pickup (echo... echo... echo...). Petry doesn't have the leadership I don't think to anchor the top 4. There's Stefan Elliott, who was on waivers, but I'd prefer Tyson Barrie, but conference issues.

There's also Adam McQuaid but he's a UFA next year.

We just need ONE defenseman. We need Sergei Zubov.

I wouldn't mind trading for McQuaid just to push Jordie out of the lineup.

 

[Cin]

Okay cool.

 

[Cin]

Of course it means ****. We have two pairs of eyeballs. Two opinions. You saw Nemeth as a defensively responsible player this team needs. I saw Nemeth as a plodding defender being outmoded in today's game.

What might help us find the truth where opinions so drastically differ? Something more objective, perhaps? Like offensive zone starts? Ability to suppress shots? Ability to suppress shots compared to his teammates? Ability to generate shot attempts? Defensive zone exits? Seems reasonable to me to consider.

Like I said, I don't feel like pursuing this because I think Nemeth was worth watching develop. But please stop pretending like your eyeballs log every image perfectly into your memory bank, ready for clean retrieval when the need arises. Nemeth is an unknown. Not having him won't make a massive difference, nor was he the only one defending in the playoffs. Statements like this are why the eyeball test so often fails. One sample size doesn't make a man, but in case you forgot, Nemeth was on the ice when the Ducks beat the Stars in OT in Game 6, letting Cogliano easily retrieve a puck behind the net who then dished it to Bonino to score on Kari with Nemeth doing what so many Dallas defenders do: park right out in front of Lehtonen (this happened more than once).

Everybody on this board gets mad when I debate 'advanced stats'. So I'm just not going to. We disagree severely.

 

[Satan]

Advanced stats are fun