Scandella’s fancy stats?

[Deleted member 27798]

Are Scandella’s “fancy stats” as bad as the fans frustrations with his play?

I just can’t figure out why Housley refuses to either nail him to the bench for a period when not playing well, or let him go up to the press box for a game or two.

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[OkimLom]

Are Scandella’s “fancy stats” as bad as the fans frustrations with his play?

I just can’t figure out why Housley refuses to either nail him to the bench for a period when not playing well, or let him go up to the press box for a game or two.

Sounds like a good question that someone in the media should ask the man. Unfortunately Buffalo media is too afraid to ruffle any feathers with the organization.

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

Are Scandella’s “fancy stats” as bad as the fans frustrations with his play?

Yes

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

Look up just about any metric and at the bottom for the Sabres you'll find Sobotka, Tage, Scandella.

Hilariously, those three guys are the ones Housley stubbornly refuses to rotate out of the lineup....ever.

 

[Member 308457]

Sounds like a good question that someone in the media should ask the man. Unfortunately Buffalo media is too afraid to ruffle any feathers with the organization.

Buffalo's media is pretty much on the Pegula payroll so they're bought and paid for. When Ed Kilgore quickly went from 40 year sports director at WGRZ to (as described in his Buffalo sports hall of fame online profile) "Vice President of Public Relations for East Management Services LP an independent oil and gas exploration and development company", I knew something was rotten.

 

[Team Cozens]

Look up just about any metric and at the bottom for the Sabres you'll find Sobotka, Tage, Scandella.

Hilariously, those three guys are the ones Housley stubbornly refuses to rotate out of the lineup....ever.

Because those are the players his boss traded for!

 

[kirby11]

I read somewhere that in all major advanced stat categories (corsi for/against, high danger chances for/against, shots per 60 for/against, etc) scandella is ranked, at best, something like 105/161 dmen who have played a certain number of minutes to eliminate small sample size outliers. So, yeah, both the eye test and stats say he sucks but Phyllis will never bench a vet

 

[jc17]

I read somewhere that in all major advanced stat categories (corsi for/against, high danger chances for/against, shots per 60 for/against, etc) scandella is ranked, at best, something like 105/161 dmen who have played a certain number of minutes to eliminate small sample size outliers. So, yeah, both the eye test and stats say he sucks but Phyllis will never bench a vet

Ahh right. The old "call a man a woman's name to show he's incompetent " route.

 

[old kummelweck]

I don't think Scandella has changed, I think both the NHL and Sabres system has changed and he's no longer a fit.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Scandella was a very solid player as recently as last year. Not sure what's going on with him this season...

 

[joshjull]

There not really fancy at all. Actually quite plain and ugly.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

His shot attempts, CF%, Corsi % have decreased. His give aways have skyrocketed.

 

[Aladyyn]

 

[debaser66]

I don't think Scandella has changed, I think both the NHL and Sabres system has changed and he's no longer a fit.

It wouldn't be good news if the GM brought someone in who doesn't fit his coaches system, at least theoretically he should, so maybe he did indeed regress.

 

[old kummelweck]

It wouldn't be good news if the GM brought someone in who doesn't fit his coaches system, at least theoretically he should, so maybe he did indeed regress.

Scandy and Housley got here around the same time, didn't they? This team was desperate for defense, so the move was fine until this year it seems.

 

[Sabretooth]

Scandella was a very solid player as recently as last year. Not sure what's going on with him this season...

Yep, and Bogo and McCabe were "shoot into the sun" level bad as recently as last year too, and have turned it around quite a bit this year. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out he's just been fighting some injury all season.

 

[Fezzy126]

The advanced stats say that it's been 3 seasons now since he was actually good. Actually, if you take a step back, he's been a consistently bad defenseman when not paired with Spurgeon for his entire career. Lots of Wild fans made comments about the right partner, role, and minutes affecting his play, but ultimately I guess Fletcher knew what he was doing when he made that trade.

Perhaps there is something going on with him this year, it wouldn't surprise me. But I wouldn't plan on anything more than a 3rd pairing role for him while stapled to a PMD moving forward.

 

[debaser66]

He and Sobotka are the worst players on this team from the regulars who play a lot and Housley likes them both.
I guess you could forgive the Sobotka love given or center shortage but his Scandella usage is more baffling considering there are better options available and he doesnt get scratched no matter how many giveaways and bad plays he makes.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

He and Sobotka are the worst players on this team from the regulars who play a lot and Housley likes them both.
I guess you could forgive the Sobotka love given or center shortage but his Scandella usage is more baffling considering there are better options available and he doesnt get scratched no matter how many giveaways and bad plays he makes.

To add to that...Housley seems to prefer a risk averse approach to his line-up. I'm no Babcock worshiper, but he has allowed his players to make mistakes while learning. Housley has taken a stale approach of benching young guys after mistakes made while playing aggressively. I'd rather Pilut, Beaulieu, etc, play aggressively and make mistakes, learning along the way to eventually cut them down. You can't play a high reward game and cut out mistakes completely though, so we get more Scandella, who plays a low reward game and still screws up.

 

[debaser66]

To add to that...Housley seems to prefer a risk averse approach to his line-up. I'm no Babcock worshiper, but he has allowed his players to make mistakes while learning. Housley has taken a stale approach of benching young guys after mistakes made while playing aggressively. I'd rather Pilut, Beaulieu, etc, play aggressively and make mistakes, learning along the way to eventually cut them down. You can't play a high reward game and cut out mistakes completely though, so we get more Scandella, who plays a low reward game and still screws up.

Excactly its the same as last year...
He is too conservative with his line up.
He gives certain veterans a free pass no matter how poorly they play.
Maybe its a coincident but these are players who are not capeable of playing a modern possession game like Scandella and Sobotka.
They are slow, soft and provide no offense.
Meanwhile guys like Pilut provide exactly what is needed for the system and get punished if they make mistakes.

Why was Smith sent down?
He certainly was better than 4 roster guys.
There is no excuse if you are in a playoff chase to sent a better player down to support the farm.

 

[Fezzy126]

He and Sobotka are the worst players on this team from the regulars who play a lot and Housley likes them both.
I guess you could forgive the Sobotka love given or center shortage but his Scandella usage is more baffling considering there are better options available and he doesnt get scratched no matter how many giveaways and bad plays he makes.

I think it goes much further than just performance on the ice with those two guys. I know that cliche phrases like 'the locker room' or 'earning your minutes' are thrown around without much context, but I think these principles apply here.

For example, it's entirely possible, and even likely, that Marco & Vlad take practice seriously, hold others accountable, prepare their body's correctly on game day, put time in studying film, spend time with the training staff before and after games, take their diet seriously, etc. etc. etc. So even if their performance lags behind some of the kids on the ice, they are going to get the edge because of their work ethic outside of the games. Is Vlad playing correctly within the construct of the system? I think more often than not he is likely where he's supposed to be but his physical talent limits his effectiveness. Whereas his replacement may be more effective from a talent perspective, but his discipline and consistency within the confines of the system are still lacking.

I think they went through this before with guys like Gionta & Gorges, but unfortunately the kids vastly outnumbered the vets, so the overall message was lost on the kids at the time. It would be really nice if we could surround the kids with some vets that aren't completely shot. That was supposed to be KO, Sheary, Berglund, Sobotka, Hutton, and Scandella, among others.

I know there is a lot of speculation here, but I'm merely trying to point out that the construct of a pro locker room is often much more complex than 'play the best guys' and 'winning cures all culture problems'.