How can you prove offensive ability without looking up stats? Brown put up his fair share of offense last year. How would you like measuring offense without looking at stats. After all, as Whiskey said, we shouldn't be stat watchers.
Well, there really is no point in "proving" how good a player is to somebody who doesn't watch them play.
Yes, production statistics can be a useful tool to
help in evaluating a player's offensive ability, but it must be a balanced approach. You can't just look at raw numbers, especially if you're only looking at one season of data. Considering things like teammates, role, ice time, QoC etc are useful adjustments. When dealing with a player with only one season playing for an offensively starved team, it's also helpful to look at their performance in international play and other leagues. Aho's production in international play over the past 18 months is not only "1st line caliber", it's "all star" caliber, especially for a teenager
14p in 7 WJC games at 18
18p in 21 WC games at 18/19
60p in 59 FEL games at 18 (next closest teammate had 47p in 68gp)
2nd on his NHL team in points as a 19 year old.
Unfortunately, you see 49 points and decide that's enough information to declare that he's not 1st line caliber.
As for the second part, I already put up a poll on if Aho's 49 pts is acceptable for a first liner and it was closed relatively quickly with the majority voting no. I have maintained that Aho has great potential and next year he could be a legit first liner. But in today's NHL, 49 points isn't considered first line calibre offernse. At least not successful first line calibre offense. Sure there may be first liners that may get those total but that would be considered a failed season on their part.
No, that's not the poll you made. You asked if 49 points would be enough to be a first line on 'my team'. Not surprising that you don't see the difference there, but people replied telling you that it's not enough information to make that determination.
Last season? Sure. I agree
I think Matthews was better than both. I think he was better than Eichel as well.
Ehlers > Nylander / Marner?
Sheary > Nylander / Marner?
At the end of the day, this poll is lopsided heavily in the Hurricanes favor, as the results indicate.