tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
I think some people see what they want to see.
In this case, I think statistics can pretty reliably tell us what's really happening in terms of who's creating for who.
Tlusty has 10 assists.
Staal has 28 assists.
Semin has 28 assists.
I'd say the true ratio of "good offensive plays resulting in goals" is closer to 21:28:22 (just throwing out a number).
And I'm not saying someone else would be effective in that spot. I'm just saying Tlusty's season is a beneficiary of circumstances to some degree. Not to the degree that the toronto people are insinuating, but still to some degree.
I agree, and everyone else probably does to an extent. Clearly he isn't driving his line singlehandedly. But, it's just as important to note that he's been contributing important offensive elements that make his line complete. A lot of the time it gets reduced to squishy talk of "chemistry" and "clicking", but Tlusty is consistently doing actual tangible things to get pucks past goalies. It's tough to say his stats are inflated when he's directly participating in goals without generating points.