TSN: Two Leafs ranked in the Top 50

[darrylsittler27]

Lists are subjective and political. I could make an argument that Kessel is invaluable to Pitts the Stanley cup winners and is thus 50th and not Marner who will relapse in his Soph. more year as bigger checkers focus on him and not Mathews this year. I'm not even buying Hedman at 9th at all.

 

[htpwn]

Sportsnet is doing something similar, and you gotta give it to them... at least they've grounded their rankings in some sort of statistical basis, as opposed TSN's methodology of relying on the opinions of people like Craig Button.

Of note, and maybe a surprise for some, James van Reimsdyk was ranked the #15 best left-winger in the league:

Lots of people consider James van Riemsdyk a defensive liability, but without the puck he’s actually quite strong, using his size and physicality to win battles in all three zones. Where he really struggles is transitioning the puck out of the defensive zone, which can lead to a lot of time hemmed in defending. He doesn’t turn the puck over much in the defensive zone, because he prefers to just lob it into the neutral zone, which opponents then recover and resume the attack more often than not.

Whatever his struggles in transition, though, a bit of support from teammates goes a long way to help take advantage of where van Riemsdyk does most of his damage: the net-front. Whether it’s roofing pucks from in tight, banging home rebounds, or smart little passes to open teammates around the crease, he’s a goal machine.

EDIT: For whatever reason, it keeps trying to embed a video when I post the link, even when I surround it in URL tags. I don't know if that is a flaw in the new HFBoards or the problem is on Sportsnet's end, but whatever. You can find the article on their website.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Sportsnet is doing something similar, and you gotta give it to them... at least they've grounded their rankings in some sort of statistical basis, as opposed TSN's methodology of relying on the opinions of people like Craig Button.

Of note, and maybe a surprise for some, James van Reimsdyk was ranked the #15 best left-winger in the league:

It was quite interesting. We don't have to buy that he is the 15th best LW, but what's more interesting to me is that he rated better than 75% of the wingers in the league without the puck. The things taken into account was loose puck recoveries, breaking up passes, stick and body checking, penalties taken, relative goal and shot attempt differentials, and turnover rate by zone.

Much of the reputation for being a defensive liability is possession based, and a lot of that is due to inability to transition the puck. It gets more noticeable since that is Bozak's issue as well, even more so.