David Singleton
Registered User
looking at team +/- stats, we have some head scratching contrasts.
overall it's puzzling to see the divergence between players. for example you have;
...Neal with his 28 goals is a +24, while Forsberg with his 30 goals is a -2.
...our best defense pairing Weber a -6, Josi a -2, While Ellis is a +12 and Eckholm is a +14.
...we're a +15 team, yet we have a high number of regular players (8) that are -'s overall.
normally you see huge swings in +/- in home and away numbers as matchups are chosen, and we certainly do, a few examples;
...Eckholm +17 at home, -3 on road
...Ribeiro +13 h, -6 r
...Smith +11 h, -7 r
...Jarnkrok +8 h, -5 r
...Wilson +6 h, -4 r
...Forsberg +10 h, -12 r
but then you get Neal is a +15 home, + 9 road, an Ellis a +9 and +3
One of the most head scratching examples of home versus road is our top d pair. Most times you see your top d pair matched against tougher competition at home when we are more able to choose to them going against the best offensive players, but then on the road when other teams get more choices they spend more time against lower level forwards. So it's not highly unusual to see your top defensive pair have higher +'s on the road than your other d-men.
(for an example of this gaustad is a -2 home when we roll him more against better players, gag, but a +2 on the road)
But our d-man numbers sort of contradict that old thought;
...Weber a +9 at home, but a -15 on the road
...Josi a +7 at home, but a -9 on the road.
It all feels sort of off, considering our home versus road record is very close and as well as it feels we've played on the road for a long time now. (44 points at home versus 43 on the road). Don't have any massive observations about all this, but I do find some of these numbers strange.
I think the numbers being that odd just proves one thing, we've had a very odd season. It feels like it has been worse than it has, but if we had even been decent in OT we would be fighting for the top of the division just like last season.
It's interesting to see the numbers and I wonder how many of them are wonky due to the two halves of the season we've basically had. About the only one you can say that has been consistent all season of the forwards is Neal, and that is probably why his numbers look better than everyone else. I would be interested to know how many of Rinne's " soft goals" and bad stretch tore up Weber and Josi's +/-
I would be very curious to know where the minuses for those 3-on-3 OT losses fell. Forsberg and Josi would be a recipient for more than a few of those I would expect. Perhaps even Weber.