BillyShoe1721
Terriers
After the visible improvements Rinaldo made in his first two years in the league, many were expecting Rinaldo to take the next step to become an elite 4th liner and agitator. Instead, like most of the Flyers’ roster this season, Rinaldo has taken a step back. He has taken an average of 3.9 penalties per 60, and drawn only .9 per 60, which are by far career worsts. The 3.9 penalties taken per 60 is by far the worst in the league among regular players, with second place going to Chris Neil at 2.9. Statistically, he has been the least disciplined player in the league.
Moreover, the penalties that Rinaldo has been taking have been particularly frustrating. Ask any coach, and they will say that the penalties that they hate the most are offensive zone penalties, and lazy penalties. Rinaldo has taken a total of 13 minutes of penalties in the offensive zone this season that put the Flyers’ shorthanded. To put that number in perspective, that is more penalty minutes in the offensive zone for Rinaldo than 347 (54.9% of players who have played at least 10 games) other players in the NHL have taken altogether. He actually has 33 penalty minutes in the offensive zone, but 20 of those came from the misconduct he got when he jumped Antoine Roussel, which I’ll touch on in a bit. The Flyers struggle to score goals as it is, so putting them shorthanded and taking away opportunities in the offensive zone is particularly discouraging.
Although he is not at all relied upon to provide offense, the fact that he has just one assist in 32 games this season does not help make up for how he hurts his team with penalties. Simply put, Rinaldo is hurting the team more than he is helping.
The Ian Laperriere Effect
When Peter Laviolette was fired early in the year, Ian Laperriere was brought behind the Flyers’ bench as an assistant coach. For more than any other player, this was great news for Rinaldo because “Lappy†was a very similar player to Rinaldo in his playing days. Rinaldo called Laperriere a role model, and Laperriere has taken Rinaldo under his wing as one of his “project playersâ€. Rinaldo has spent some time on the penalty kill after some teaching from Laperriere, and has been average in the area.
The curious thing is that being under Laperriere’s tutelage should have made Rinaldo a much more disciplined player. Despite playing the game with as much passion, tenacity, and heart as anyone, Laperriere was a very disciplined player. Do not let his 13 seasons of 100+ penalty minutes fool you, Laperriere did not put his teams in harm’s way by taking stupid penalties. In the three years of data that are available, Laperriere’s highest penalties per 60 was 1.0. If Laperriere took a penalty, it was often either a fight or one where he took an opponent with him, which is why his penalties per 60 is so low.
What makes Rinaldo’s undisciplined play this season so frustrating is that it’s happening under the watchful eye of Laperriere. Laperriere should be helping him be more disciplined, not letting him run wild. This effect is truly puzzling.
http://thehockeywriters.com/video-regression-zac-rinaldo/
After showing a lot of progress last year in terms of discipline and maturity, Rinaldo has been downright awful this season. He's the most undisciplined player in the league right now, and deserved to be sat in the press box awhile ago.
. This year I agree with you, but last year, nope.
