Dermott was protected on one of the better teams in the East with one of the best coaches in the league.
Pionk was averaging what 6:30 more minutes on an awful team with an awful coach who destroyed nearly every player he came into contact with.
No ****ing **** Dermott's advanced stats are better. Worthless.
It'll be really telling once McDonagh gets back to his 2012-14 Mac truck heyday with the AV stench fully off him.
that's true, Dermott had easy usage, and got exceptionally good results while being a measurably highly positive influence on his linemates. Pionk had difficult usage, and got exceptionally bad results while being a measurable highly negative influence on his linemates
it's harder to have a positive influence on your linemates when your team is good, and harder to have a negative influence on your linemates when your team is bad. This set of metrics is only worthless if you don't understand them.
The Leafs did have someone who performed in line with (well, better than) Pionk in similar usage (slightly easier QoC and zone starts, slightly more minutes), and we are not raving about him right now:
