The Farce that is Keith Yandle's "Iron Man Streak"

[Sky04]

Dumb decisions with the puck doesn't relate to his ability to play an absurd amount of minutes and games injury free. He's an offensive defensemen, he's naturally going to take more risks with the puck.

See here's the problem, Florida fans think they signed Yandle for defense

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Iron Man streaks aren't about how hitting lol I'm sure most Iron Man streaks involve players who aren't overly physical players. Cogliano was not overly physical either.

Yandle took a puck to the face lost numerous teeth and played the next game so its not like he's some baby.

Thread is pointless.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

See here's the problem, Florida fans think they signed Yandle for defense

Yandle's defensive ability, or lack thereof, is a separate discussion and I personally don't see the relation between Yandle's decisions with the puck and him being able to play hundreds of games without interruption.

 

[RealisticLeaf55]

Don't need to absorb hits to be considered a good defenseman. He turns over the puck, sure, but the Leafs have similar situations with our d-men. Easy for a d-man to look bad when he doesn't have help.

Who does Yandle have to help him?

 

[blankall]

LMFAO here's the bottom 11 in giveaways over 60 in the last 3 NHL seasons:

View attachment 328485

Notice all the higher numbers next to everyone's name? All of these statistics indicate Yandle is almost non-existent defensively. He is just not engaged in the play in his own zone.

Until you get to that last column, where he is blocking a lot of shots....

Yandle isn't a physical defenceman. We know that.

https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/stats...sort=8&time=0&pos=0&team=0&qual=1&sortOrder=1

Other defenders near the top of giveaway stats:

Burns, Doughty, Petry, Ekblad, etc...it's almost like giveaways and physical play aren't correlated in any way.

If you want to look at giveaways/60 this year:

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

The league leaders are Barzal, Pastrnak, Tkachuk, and Malkin. Yandle is 51st, and the correlation clearly has more to do with how much time you have with the puck in the offensive zone. and nothing to do with physical play.

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Until you get to that last column, where he is blocking a lot of shots....

Yandle isn't a physical defenceman. We know that.

https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/stats...sort=8&time=0&pos=0&team=0&qual=1&sortOrder=1

Other defenders near the top of giveaway stats:

Burns, Doughty, Petry, Ekblad, etc...it's almost like giveaways and physical play aren't correlated in any way.

If you want to look at giveaways/60 this year:

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

The league leaders are Barzal, Pastrnak, Tkachuk, and Malkin. Yandle is 51st, and the correlation clearly has more to do with how much time you have with the puck in the offensive zone. and nothing to do with physical play.

Over the last 3 years, only 18 players have blocked less shots than Yandle. He isn't blocking shots.

I know he's offensive, I know he doesn't play physically, but the stats clearly indicate he actively avoids any sort of contact. He is not that swift on his feet to dodge 4-5 hits a game like the average NHL defenseman recieves.

If there were a bunch of defenders sitting at 0.6 hits taken over 60 minutes I'd say ya, Yandle just avoids hits like other, but the NEXT lowest guy literally doubles Yandle's rate. Yandle is NOT that quick footed. This is directly tied to effort and if you watch his play it's very evident.

 

[pantherbot]

Dumb decisions with the puck doesn't relate to his ability to play an absurd amount of minutes and games injury free. He's an offensive defensemen, he's naturally going to take more risks with the puck.

You're absolutely right, offensive defensemen and forwards usually have way more giveaways because they are taking risks. But there is also no correlation between giveaways and points/60. So you don't need to be giving away the puck to generate more offense.

Also, look at the top scoring defensemen, they all have way WAY more hits taken than Yandle. You can't possibly tell me that Yandle is more skilled than guys like Hughes, Dahlin, Josi at avoiding contact. Even shots blocked per game, he is way below everyone except Hughes. He is a huge outlier and it is very obvious when you watch him play that he actively avoids contact in games.

 

[blankall]

Over the last 3 years, only 18 players have blocked less shots than Yandle. He isn't blocking shots.

This just isn't possible. Yandle's blocked shots/60 is 2.65/60. There are players who've only played a few games over the last few years.

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

I know he's offensive, I know he doesn't play physically, but the stats clearly indicate he actively avoids any sort of contact. He is not that swift on his feet to dodge 4-5 hits a game like the average NHL defenseman recieves.

If there were a bunch of defenders sitting at 0.6 hits taken over 60 minutes I'd say ya, Yandle just avoids hits like other, but the NEXT lowest guy literally doubles Yandle's rate. Yandle is NOT that quick footed. This is directly tied to effort and if you watch his play it's very evident.

No one is disputing that he doesn't avoid contact. You've, however, drawn an unsupported correlation between lack of hits taken and giving away the puck/effort/etc...

Yandle is not a physical d-man. He's an offensively orientated guy who will spend a lot of time manning the point in the offensive zone, a position that doesn't typically involve much physical play.

 

[pantherbot]

Until you get to that last column, where he is blocking a lot of shots....

Yandle isn't a physical defenceman. We know that.

https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/stats...sort=8&time=0&pos=0&team=0&qual=1&sortOrder=1

Other defenders near the top of giveaway stats:

Burns, Doughty, Petry, Ekblad, etc...it's almost like giveaways and physical play aren't correlated in any way.

If you want to look at giveaways/60 this year:

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

The league leaders are Barzal, Pastrnak, Tkachuk, and Malkin. Yandle is 51st, and the correlation clearly has more to do with how much time you have with the puck in the offensive zone. and nothing to do with physical play.

Except he's not blocking a lot of shots. He ranks in the bottom quartile of shots blocked among defensemen probably for the last 5 years, I don't have the exact data in front of me.

What the giveaway stats don't tell you is if they were giveaways because of a defensive mistake or because it was done to generate offense. Yandle has both obviously, so for that you'd have to watch the games and if you watch the games, you'd see multiple instances a game where the giveaways go into the defensive mistakes category. Too bad there isn't a way to separate the giveaway stats like that, it would show this more clearly.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

This is just.... wow.... lol.

First of all, this stat is ridiculously inaccurate. "Hits" are not a generally accurate, considering they're subjective as to what constitutes a "hit" and are tracked by the home team.

Second of all, he's been consistently at the very bottom of the league in hits taken for defensemen. He's 33 years old, playing an offensive role on a younger team.



Even if everything you said was true about him changing his playstyle, his streak is not a "farce". The fact that the guy never even got too sick to play, had a bump or sprain/strain, or a more serious injury that required missed time is impressive in and of itself. He's been a pretty cautious player of his career, and now he is an aging player who is getting into a point where he has to be concerned with preserving his health for himself AND his team.

 

[TGWL]

This is a cool screen cap. Matheson, Yandle and Ekblad are all at the top of the list in terms of giveaways per 60. No wonder Bobrovsky is getting lit up on a nightly basis.

Defense is ranked last. Go from a team like CBJ with a pair of Jones and Werenski and that will happen. It's really interesting when judging goalies. There's probably some goalies capable of being backup goalies if they were on a better team, and goalies getting shelled who are capable of posting much better numbers on a different team.

 

[FerrisRox]

This season, Yandle has the lowest amount of "Hits Taken" in the NHL at 0.62 over 60 minutes for defensemen. The NEXT lowest defenseman this season is Josh Morrissey, doubling Yandle's "hits taken over 60 minutes" for 2nd last overall. For reference, the league average for players with a minumum of 20 games played is around 4.5 hits taken/60.

It's really weird to see you try and spin Yandle's elusiveness and his ability to avoid being hit as a negative thing.

Also odd that you somehow fail to realize that puck-moving defenders that have the puck on their stick a lot by the very nature of what they do will always be high up in give aways.

 

[StoneHands]

LOL keep reading then.

Average defenseman in the NHL takes 4.5 hits over 60 minutes. Yandle is league low at 0.6, next lowest is 1.2.

Now what's more likely, Yandle is a slick, quick footed defensemen who can avoid even the fastest NHLers? Or that he doesn't risk anything and never, EVER is willing to make a sacrifice to make a play?

I stopped reading after the hits taken crap because I don't care. Nobody is arguing that Yandle is some tough grizzled defenseman willing to lay it all on the line for his team but he's still played 800+ games in a row and over 19,000 minutes of skating without getting hurt. You seem to be focusing on hits taken and nothing else is really important. He's blocked over 900 shots in that same span. Do those not have the potential for injury? I get it, you don't like Yandle, but this is just sad to try to make it sound like Yandle has changed his game for the streak which is a pretty ridiculous assumption.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Just so I understand your argument, just how many hits per game should a player endure before their iron man streak is considered legitimate?

 

[DarthProbert]

Great post. I don't watch Florida, but nobody takes a hit to make a play anymore. Players are chickenshits compared to 10 years ago. Everybody would rather make a weak poke check attempt than just stop and step into someone they already have lined up. I'm not talking headhunting, career-ending, Stevens-on-Lindros hitting, but even basic bodychecking has becoming rare. You see a shorthanded goal more than an open ice hit(let alone someone choosing to take one so they can complete a pass or get a puck across the blue line).

Lmao I bet you equate penalty minutes with toughness and grit too.

The only thing that having lots of hits indicates is that your team very rarely has the puck when you're on the ice.

Go look at the NHL leaders in giveaways and then explain how all those dudes are soft and rack up giveaways because they don't want to get hit instead of them just making plays with the puck frequently.

He did look up giveaways and linked to the list of league leaders in them.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Hmmm well it's still an iron man streak.

Iron man streaks are like scoring goals... they dont ask HOW, they ask HOW MANY

 

[Sheppy]

Just entering the chat for the SOOOOONK

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

The title of the thread is right.
As by the reaction of some of the posts. He's got a lot of people fooled.

 

[Perratrooper]

You're right Yandle is a giant puss... SONK

 

[Dirty Old Man]

Read the post because I touch on this very point. Yandle's lack of hitting wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't giving the puck away more than basically anyone else in the league.

Haha...but he's always done that. For all those years he was in Arizona, I had people with season tickets in the row behind mine, whose nickname was "Yandle Haters" because they ignored his plusses and only saw the turnovers (similar to Oleg Teverdovsky in the late 90s here). Most of us loved him and would take him back in a heartbeat.

Meanwhile, we in AZ now have to deal with an aging, fading Kessel, also on what is turning out to be a dubious iron man streak. He constantly looks out of gas, the enduring image I'm getting of him is on the bench leaning on the boards, seemingly gasping for air.

 

[member 298589]

Kessel is right up there for active game streak, it's not like people don't know that it's easier to do if you're a softer player.

Kessel isn't soft. There's just more of him so his body can compress further.

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Haha...but he's always done that. For all those years he was in Arizona, I had people with season tickets in the row behind mine, whose nickname was "Yandle Haters" because they ignored his plusses and only saw the turnovers (similar to Oleg Teverdovsky in the late 90s here). Most of us loved him and would take him back in a heartbeat.

Meanwhile, we in AZ now have to deal with an aging, fading Kessel, also on what is turning out to be a dubious iron man streak. He constantly looks out of gas, the enduring image I'm getting of him is on the bench leaning on the boards, seemingly gasping for air.

Yandle use to be much better on the ice but his play has taken significant steps back lately.

We call them "MisYandles" when he mishandles the puck lol

 

[Ola]

Disclaimer: Lots of esoteric stats to prove a point.

TL;DR - Keith Yandle is the softest "Iron Man" in NHL history.
Keith Yandle currently sits 4th in NHL history for all-time "Iron Man Streak" or consecutive games played without loss to injury or other factors. Normally this is supposed to be a point of pride, but Keith Yandle has made a farce of his NHL career simply to gain a personal achievement.

This season, Yandle has the lowest amount of "Hits Taken" in the NHL at 0.62 over 60 minutes for defensemen. The NEXT lowest defenseman this season is Josh Morrissey, doubling Yandle's "hits taken over 60 minutes" for 2nd last overall. For reference, the league average for players with a minumum of 20 games played is around 4.5 hits taken/60.

Over the last 3 seasons, Yandle still ranks last, again being doubled by the next lowest defenseman. Past 3 seasons, Yandle has averaged 0.8 hits taken (Suter is 2nd last at 1.58 hits taken).

If you go back a few seasons from 2013 - 2015, Yandle's numbers are a lot more respectable, with his "Hits Taken" stat sitting at an average of 2.25 hits taken over 60 minutes. Obviously he has significantly let up in his physical play to help keep his iron man streak going.

Now, you could argue that Suter's numbers are low as well so why doesn't he get the flack for being "soft"? Well over the last 3 years, Yandle not only gets hit the least, meaning he isn't really willing to go into corners to make a tough play when it's needed, he's also bottom 10 in the league in hits thrown. You could definitely argue that he is quick footed and just avoids any physical contact because that's his style of play (offensive defenseman are rarely physically imposing players that throw the body around, this is a fact), but what really kills me is the next stat.

In the last 3 seasons, Yandle is ranked 2nd last in giveaways/60 5 on 5 \(3.82 GA/60\), behind only Mike Matheson (who averages 3.84 Giveaways over 60 mins). What this is a clear sign of is that not only does Yandle NOT play the body, he is much more willing to make a rushed play or flat out give the puck up instead of taking a hit, all in the name of his pathetic iron man streak.

If anyone watched his game last night, it's become quite evident that Yandle fears any sort of contact for risk of ruining his streak. I counted about 3 or 4 times last night that he actively poked the puck away or just didn't go into the corner so as to not risk "getting hurt".

I think it's time to call attention to this. What's the point of the iron man streak if you don't actually play hard and put your best foot forward in all games? For comparison, the last iron man streak to be broken in the NHL was Kal Alzner's, and over the last 3 years of his streak he averaged a respectable 5.85 hits taken and 4.69 hits thrown over 60. I know Alzner is a slower defenseman but at least he still played physically.
For further comparison, the next longest Iron Man streak currently active in the NHL is Patrick Marleau's, only 12 games behind Yandle's at 840 consecutive games played. During Marleau's last 3 seasons, he's thrown an average of 3.86 hits over 60 minutes and been hit an average of 4.41 times over 60 minutes.....and he's a forward. Defensemen are known to take a hit to make a play!

Yandle has made a farce of this "Iron Man Streak". It's directly effected his play, his team's ability to perform and his influence on others. This post was just to call attention to someone who will soon approach setting an NHL record for his Iron Man Streak by playing scared, protected and safe to a fault. And he's getting paid $6.35 Million a year while doing it.....

Honest reflection, you could be right in all your observations, but I don’t for a second buy the link to the Iron Man Streak.

An argument that he isn’t willing to take a hit to make a play, to the extent others are, wouldn’t be nearly as controversial. Good post but I would have done away with that link.

 

[RedHot]

Since when is "hits taken" a positive measure?

Using the data you referred to, for this year, the top 20 guys in hits taken all all junk for the most part.

When referring to players in the top 20 least hits taken, half the list is all-stars.

 

[TGWL]

So Yandle is bad at puck management and turns it over a lot to avoid physical contact, but his iron man streak isn't a farce. Shit, players miss because of the flu and have nothing to do with being hit or throwing a shit. To play that many games, avoid contact and have puck luck counts just as much for an iron man streak. I really doubt Yandle thinks he has to avoid a hit to keep the streak going.