Marner can skate, though. That's pretty important in hockey.It honestly kind of bothers me that people think "driving play" from another line and scoring 69 is better than scoring 84 points simply because there is a better player at center. Rantanen is better than Marner. And he gets the worse matchups. Don't ****in @ me
I will settle for Mikko being a PPG player next season.Lookin for my boy to score circa 90 this season, and help Mack Daddy to score 100.
Mikko gave an interview last friday to the finnish news site mtv. He said there's been some conversation between him and the Avs conserning about his new contract. He thinks it's more likely though that it's a matter of next summer cause he wants to show he can maintain last years level and play even better and produce more points.
So does this mean Sakic has offered him ****ty contract and that's that for now or are they still negotiating before next season...
It probably means no more than what Mikko said. He wants a bigger contract, and the way to do that is to play well next season and get 80+ points again. Not much of a conspiracy there, IMO.Mikko gave an interview last friday to the finnish news site mtv. He said there's been some conversation between him and the Avs conserning about his new contract. He thinks it's more likely though that it's a matter of next summer cause he wants to show he can maintain last years level and play even better and produce more points.
So does this mean Sakic has offered him ****ty contract and that's that for now or are they still negotiating before next season...
It honestly kind of bothers me that people think "driving play" from another line and scoring 69 is better than scoring 84 points simply because there is a better player at center. Rantanen is better than Marner. And he gets the worse matchups. Don't ****in @ me
I don't think you need advanced stats to tell that MacK is the engine of that line. That doesn't mean Rants isn't important. If you want to further torture the metaphor, Rantanen is the fuel and Landy is the oil. But when MacK went down last year, Rantanen wasn't able to elevate the play of Kerfoot and bring offense. And again, that's not really a knock on him. It's a rare player who can truly drive offense from the wing. We're talking Hall, Panarin, Benn, Ovechkin. Rants may even get there someday, he's only two seasons into his NHL career and not at his prime yet."Driving the play" is the most over used and over emphasized phrase on HF. Put the same player on different teams, both good and bad teams, with different coaches, different systems, and in different roles, with different line mates, that they have different chemistry with, and you're going to get very different results.
People rely on advanced stats like crutches. I'll never understand the high level of importance they place on these things when hockey is so situational.
"Driving the play" is the most over used and over emphasized phrase on HF. Put the same player on different teams, both good and bad teams, with different coaches, different systems, and in different roles, with different line mates, that they have different chemistry with, and you're going to get very different results.
People rely on advanced stats like crutches. I'll never understand the high level of importance they place on these things when hockey is so situational.
I don't think you need advanced stats to tell that MacK is the engine of that line. That doesn't mean Rants isn't important. If you want to further torture the metaphor, Rantanen is the fuel and Landy is the oil. But when MacK went down last year, Rantanen wasn't able to elevate the play of Kerfoot and bring offense. And again, that's not really a knock on him. It's a rare player who can truly drive offense from the wing. We're talking Hall, Panarin, Benn, Ovechkin. Rants may even get there someday, he's only two seasons into his NHL career and not at his prime yet.
Yes, maybe you could speculate that if SJ had taken him instead of Meier his development would have gone on a different trajectory. But that's a pointless line of inquiry IMO. Rants is an Av, and that's what he'll be for a long time.
Maybe we have different definitions of "driving the play" if you think systems have anything to do with it. No system in the NHL naturally depends on wingers to carry a line. Players like Hall and Panarin do it anyway, and it is worth noting that both have done so in two different orgs, with completely different linemates.Chemistry, line mates, and a coach's system are massive contributors to "driving the play" but they don't get accounted for. I wouldn't put much stock into Mikko's ability to elevate Kerfoot's play. They don't seem like natural fits for each other IMO.
I don't think you need advanced stats to tell that MacK is the engine of that line. That doesn't mean Rants isn't important. If you want to further torture the metaphor, Rantanen is the fuel and Landy is the oil. But when MacK went down last year, Rantanen wasn't able to elevate the play of Kerfoot and bring offense. And again, that's not really a knock on him. It's a rare player who can truly drive offense from the wing. We're talking Hall, Panarin, Benn, Ovechkin. Rants may even get there someday, he's only two seasons into his NHL career and not at his prime yet.
Yes, maybe you could speculate that if SJ had taken him instead of Meier his development would have gone on a different trajectory. But that's a pointless line of inquiry IMO. Rants is an Av, and that's what he'll be for a long time.
Maybe we have different definitions of "driving the play" if you think systems have anything to do with it. No system in the NHL naturally depends on wingers to carry a line. Players like Hall and Panarin do it anyway, and it is worth noting that both have done so in two different orgs, with completely different linemates.
Very well put. I agree with you 100%.Systems affect how you approach the game, who you defer to with the puck, whether you should hold onto the puck or move it, how long you should hold onto it, who you should pass to, whether you should pass back to the D more often or to the forwards down low, whether you should shoot more often, whether you should prioritize possession, or prioritize putting pucks on net, whether you bring the defense into plays to take advantage of your transition game, whether you design plays to score off the rush, how aggressive your forecheck is, how you capitalize on turnovers and where on the ice your linemates are during those turnovers, etc.
All of that affects the way you create scoring chances, score goals, and the way you interact with your linemates, and how they factor into scoring chances on the stat sheet.
Just like with any kind of stat, they can help you reinforce ideas, and there's varying degrees of how accurate/innacurate they can be in different cases. But that's mostly not how the idea of "driving the play" is used. It's mostly used as THE proof for a particular opinion. It's not usually used as one of many elements to reinforce something that you've already mostly proven.
The most recent example I've seen of this is saying ROR isn't a #1C, despite the fact he meets someone's own offensive and defensive criteria, by the fact alone that he doesn't "drive offense." So therefore that proves he's not a #1C. It's just a silly argument to make IMO, if you're relying that heavily on it to define what level a player is. I guarantee you a team could win the Cup with ROR as the #1C, if they built the team properly around him with sufficient depth.
Mikko is guaranteed to be our highest paid player after this season. Still wish we coulda signed him up after last season.
Great “problem” to have.I think people are starting to realize that Mikko will most likely be an $8-9M player in this league soon, and soon after that Nate will probably be a $10-11M player. Maybe even more with Nate if he dominates every year.