This.Based on this season alone, Lehtera. Dude has been great.
That being said, Backes gets the defensive minutes, is a notoriously slow starter, and most importantly is not playing with Frank.
Lehtera. Playmaker, better passer, vision, skill. It's not a good comparison because they are different players with different roles.
I wrote that they are not comparable as players, didn't I? The question was who is better offensively: Lehtera.You can compare the overall value of 2 different players with 2 different playing styles.
If you haven't noticed, the vast majority of comparisons made on hfboards are between players who don't play the same style.
For example, if you go look on the main boards right now, you'll probably see an Ovechkin vs. Backstrom thread. Obviously, they play 2 different styles, but that doesn't mean you can't determine who has more overall value.
I wrote that they are not comparable as players, didn't I? The question was who is better offensively: Lehtera.
Because he is. You can't compare Crosby with Lapierre but you can still say Crosby is better offensivelyIf you cannot compare them as players, then how did you just conclude that Lehtera is better offensively?
"I played last four years in Russia after my first year I went to [Finnish] national team and the equipment guy there told me I played the whole season with the same sharpening on my skates that the goalies had," Lehtera told NHL.com. "After that I hooked up with this guy in Finland and he gave me the sponsor so I can use these blades and he sharpens them for me."
"I was thinking the whole year when I was using the goalie sharpened blades that I was in bad shape, but I wasn't in bad shape," he said. "The next year I was skating so much better. My skating was really good the next year and then I realized it was the blades."
Wow, well I guess that explains why he had skating concerns and why I saw him improving in that area.
It was previously mentioned that he is now paranoid about his skates and still has the same person sharpen his skates even though he is now in St. Louis. It was something like that, can't remember the specifics.
He's got a Schwartz like deceptive shot. Not lethal, but it will work occasionally.
Regarding Lehterä's skating, I found this to be kind of funny (and mindblowing that this could happen in a professional league) :
http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=33380
Lehterä's greatest ability is his playmaking, as reflected by the goal-assist ratios in his career. In fact, it is somewhat frustrating that he lacks the finishing skills great scorers have. It was kind of the subject of much face-palming during (the beginning of) last WHC and judging by the STL news feed he has made a "hero" of a few goalies in NHL already by not scoring on a great opportunity. I don't know if I'm being too harsh on him, though, as I haven't seen him play this season.