Player Discussion Tyler Myers thread

[RobertKron]

He won 2 games rolling his lines. There is a whole legion of people here who keep insisting he was the worst coach in the history of the Canucks (if not hockey itself) which is ridiculous. Luckily for him the powers that be in the hockey world think otherwise since he has been gainfully employed in high end hockey jobs since he left the Canucks. I'm assuming that his rolling his lines was an attempt to make the Flames dance to his tune and it worked for 2 games so I don't see this strategy as catastrophic, just unsuccessful. Ferland running roughshod over our team was, IMHO, the main problem in that series.

What the f***?

That the only positive you can come up with about WD's performance in that series is that he won two games against an inferior opponent is an indictment of his work, not praise.

Furthermore, your claim that the Canucks lost that series because a rookie 4th liner, who played like 13 minutes per game and put up 3 non-EN points, "ran roughshod" over them is another indictment of WD's work as coach, not a defence. If your team is losing a series because a plug is "running roughshod" over them, maybe, I dunno, pursue some favourable matchups?

"Make the Flames dance to his tune?" What in the world? By allowing them to have whatever matchups they wanted, even when you're losing the series - according to you mainly because one guy is "running roughshod" over your team? Are you serious? What does this even mean?

After the Canucks, Hockey Canada gave him the Spengler Cup and the, uh, Super Spengler Cup. Then he deftly guided the Kings to last in the conference, and then he went back to the old job he had in 2010. Not exactly a soaring career path.

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

What the f***?

That the only positive you can come up with about WD's performance in that series is that he won two games against an inferior opponent is an indictment of his work, not praise.

Furthermore, your claim that the Canucks lost that series because a rookie 4th liner, who played like 13 minutes per game and put up 3 non-EN points, "ran roughshod" over them is another indictment of WD's work as coach, not a defence. If your team is losing a series because a plug is "running roughshod" over them, maybe, I dunno, pursue some favourable matchups?

"Make the Flames dance to his tune?" What in the world? By allowing them to have whatever matchups they wanted, even when you're losing the series - according to you mainly because one guy is "running roughshod" over your team? Are you serious? What does this even mean?

After the Canucks, Hockey Canada gave him the Spengler Cup and the, uh, Super Spengler Cup. Then he deftly guided the Kings to last in the conference, and then he went back to the old job he had in 2010. Not exactly a soaring career path.

You could say he climaxed too soon...

 

[Zippgunn]

Since this thread is actually about Tyler Myers I would like to point out that he had a great game tonight. Who knew?

 

[Grub]

Just been a dominant force in the back end for us the past few games. BB doing magic.

 

[Spectrefire]

At this point, if his performance isn't a mirage and coaching has really made such a difference, you kind of have to keep Myers.

Although if he can keep this performance through next season, then he could be a really valuable trade piece on his last year, since he's only owed $1 million in real salary after his signing bonus.

 

[mathonwy]

Imo, getting rid of the man that signed him to that ridiculous contract helped tonnes in players accepting him as a teammate.

Locker room politics.

 

[Nomobo]

Since this thread is actually about Tyler Myers I would like to point out that he had a great game tonight. Who knew?

I had an inkling…

 

[JUMBOcanuck]

Imo, getting rid of the man that signed him to that ridiculous contract helped tonnes in players accepting him as a teammate.

Locker room politics.

The guy that signed him to that contract, also signed every other player on the team to their contracts. Big reach.

 

[1440]

Time to engage in a little ego stroking and compile some of my thoughts on Myers over the last 2 years, which are largely being proven apt with Boudreau in charge.


From Aug 2019 in reaction to the signing:

"Expected Goals Model with Pre-Shot Movement, Part 2: Historic Team and Player Results

Feel free to correct me here if I misinterpreted anything. I am not all that familiar with these types of models:

When comparing a traditional xgoals model to a model that attempts to better account for pre-shot movement, Tyler Myers saw the largest positive change in XGF% of any player with a significant quantity of games tracked over the period in question (about half of the games from the 2016-2018 seasons).

To give the simplified interpretation, it means that while Myers was on the ice, the Jets created pre-shot puck movement for and limited pre-shot movement against that would have increased the chances of a shot from a given position resulting in a goal. The effect of pre-shot movement can be thought of largely as the defensive players (and most importantly the goalie) being pulled out of position by this movement.

The author (Alex Novet) suggests that this may indicate that he (or more specifically, players for whom the XGF% change is a large positive value) have been undervalued by "the market".

This is just one very specific statistic where Myers is cast in a positive light, but in keeping with that positivity, his XGF% value changes from good (0.51) with the old model, to excellent (0.544) with the new model when looking at it relative to the rest of the league. I also did a quick scan for other Jets players (specifically Myers' common d partners), and none of them showed as dramatic a change, which further suggests that the positive XGF% change is not just related to the Jets' playing style.

Also, Myers' change was about equal in XG for and against, which suggests that this is both an offensive and defensive aptitude.

Does this data mean that Myers has a specific talent for creating cross-ice passes for and limiting those against? Perhaps someone who has watched him play more than myself would be able to say."

From Oct 2020 discussing Tyler Motte's value despite poor in-zone defence:

"Regardless of whether it is demonstrably the best way to construct a hockey team, it is clear that the management that also signed Tyler Myers to a long term deal values transitional play over in-zone defense. This should help explain both why the Canuck's seem to like Motte so much and why he "looks" better than his stats may suggest."

From March of 2021 discussing the legend that is Tyler Myers: (unfortunately Bruce has not tried him as a forward yet)

"Myers is such an interesting player. Several great rushes up the ice tonight, but also one very poor defensive read that lead to a goal against.

He has good offensive instincts and skates and handles the puck exceptionally well for someone of his height, but struggles with both defensive reads and in-zone coverage.

He is a very good example of how "size" is so often misconstrued in hockey in general:

1. Size is not height alone. Myers is really tall, but also really skinny. Tryamkin is tall but also just a unit in general and outweighs Myers by ~30lbs at roughly the same height.

2. Both height and weight can be both advantages and disadvantages in certain situations within a hockey game. Being short and stocky is generally advantageous for board-play. This is part of the reason why Horvat wins so many board battles despite being relatively short. Being tall and lanky is generally advantageous for open-ice play. Being able to protect the puck while skating, and cross-ice puck movement are the areas of the game that Myers is best at.

The above being true, its a real pet peeve of mine when hockey people forget the weight part of the size=height equation. Sure as a general rule, taller players will be heavier, but lots of that is just bones, organs etc. and not muscle mass.

It just seems like a no-brainer that tall lanky defencemen should be inherently disadvantaged for in-tight/boards play, so all the criticism towards Myers for being poor at this aspect of the game seems unnecessarily harsh.

By the same token it seems unnecessarily generous to compliment short stocky players such as Hoglander for being good at this aspect of the game because they are at a huge advantage relative to their taller peers.

I'm not just criticizing the armchair pundits... At a certain point coaches and GMs should start to recognize this and start deploying their players accordingly.

Games like tonight really make me wonder what could have been had Myers had a more imaginative Junior coach, who might have recognized his player's natural aptitudes and moved him up to the wing. Not that he has had a bad career (obviously), but this is just one example of how the very stratified positional approach to player development seems to hinder the game in general.

I think of the Red-Army style of play, or even high-level soccer, where player positions are much less formalized and positional interchange and team-play are more well-developed as an obvious area of improvement for strategy in the NHL."

From Nov 6th of this year discussing Demko's play and coaching impacts:

"On coaching: I agree that coaching has been an issue. Luckily coaching is easier to fix than the roster composition. The lineup is definitely stronger this year than in the past. Special teams is one area where coaching could improve, but in general it seems fair to say that the more conservative forecheck is not a style suited to this team. On paper, the Canucks' biggest strengths are their top 6 forwards (which hasn't really shown itself), goaltending (except on the PK) and powerplay (which has been one of their biggest weaknesses this year). This said, it would make more sense to open the game up and play to the strengths of the goaltender (a much better rush than rebound control goalie), your defensemen that are good on the rush but bad at in zone defense (Hughes, Myers and Rathbone), and your speedy and skilled but undersized top 6."

More on Demko and coaching from Nov 11th:

"Also, if the Canucks have recognized that their goaltender is elite at making saves off of odd man rushes and those sorts of "high danger" chances, it absolutely behooves them to really open up play, forecheck aggressively and try to trade chances, especially if they figure that the opposing netminder is better suited to in-zone defense. Not doing this has been one of Green's biggest coaching failings this season.

For the record, I think the Canucks' management has absolutely targeted players that fit that style of play. Tyler Myers is not good if you want low-event, safe hockey, but great if you hope to trade chances and create off the rush since he excels in neutral zone lateral puck movement and at facilitating controlled entries on offense. The tradeoff is that he is poor defensively off the rush as well as in-zone, but I would imagine that their analytics team liked him for his rush-offense profile enough to gamble on him anyway."


In short: Myers is not as bad of a hockey player as some might think. He is a fairly unique player that truly excels in certain aspects of the game and truly sucks at others. He is best when utilized in a system with greater forecheck pressure and opportunities for the defensemen to make instinctual plays and pinches. He is worst at playing a structured, safe defensive game and being given too much time to read and react to plays. He thrives off of fast-paced high event hockey (hence the Chaos Giraffe moniker). For the reasons above, I still think that he would be a better forward than a defenseman. That said, he has truly excelled now that he is being deployed in a manner that lets him play to his strengths. Let us hope that he can continue his positive play.

 

[VanJack]

Clearly, Myers was one of those players who just looked terrible playing under Travis Green and whatever system they were trying to employ in the defensive zone. There are too many players who bottomed out under Green for this to be just an 'accident'.

He looks completely rejuvenated playing under Bruce Boudreau, and up to 26 minutes a night. In Hughes, OEL and Myers, the Canucks have the equivalent of their 'big three' on the blueline. Don't know how long it can last, since each guy is playing close to 25 minutes a night.....but the Canucks will ride them as long as they can.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Is it just me who does not see a massive improvement in Myers?

Results have been much better for sure.

But he is as erratic as ever. Turnovers, icings, loses his man in the dzone, passes that put OEL under pressure.

He is playing with more confedence and his overall play is slightly improved. But am I crazy here? To me he looks more or less the same.

 

[tradervik]

When the team wins, everyone starts wearing rose coloured glasses.

 

[MarkMM]

Time to engage in a little ego stroking and compile some of my thoughts on Myers over the last 2 years, which are largely being proven apt with Boudreau in charge.


From Aug 2019 in reaction to the signing:

"Expected Goals Model with Pre-Shot Movement, Part 2: Historic Team and Player Results

Feel free to correct me here if I misinterpreted anything. I am not all that familiar with these types of models:

When comparing a traditional xgoals model to a model that attempts to better account for pre-shot movement, Tyler Myers saw the largest positive change in XGF% of any player with a significant quantity of games tracked over the period in question (about half of the games from the 2016-2018 seasons).

To give the simplified interpretation, it means that while Myers was on the ice, the Jets created pre-shot puck movement for and limited pre-shot movement against that would have increased the chances of a shot from a given position resulting in a goal. The effect of pre-shot movement can be thought of largely as the defensive players (and most importantly the goalie) being pulled out of position by this movement.

The author (Alex Novet) suggests that this may indicate that he (or more specifically, players for whom the XGF% change is a large positive value) have been undervalued by "the market".

This is just one very specific statistic where Myers is cast in a positive light, but in keeping with that positivity, his XGF% value changes from good (0.51) with the old model, to excellent (0.544) with the new model when looking at it relative to the rest of the league. I also did a quick scan for other Jets players (specifically Myers' common d partners), and none of them showed as dramatic a change, which further suggests that the positive XGF% change is not just related to the Jets' playing style.

Also, Myers' change was about equal in XG for and against, which suggests that this is both an offensive and defensive aptitude.

Does this data mean that Myers has a specific talent for creating cross-ice passes for and limiting those against? Perhaps someone who has watched him play more than myself would be able to say."

From Oct 2020 discussing Tyler Motte's value despite poor in-zone defence:

"Regardless of whether it is demonstrably the best way to construct a hockey team, it is clear that the management that also signed Tyler Myers to a long term deal values transitional play over in-zone defense. This should help explain both why the Canuck's seem to like Motte so much and why he "looks" better than his stats may suggest."

From March of 2021 discussing the legend that is Tyler Myers: (unfortunately Bruce has not tried him as a forward yet)

"Myers is such an interesting player. Several great rushes up the ice tonight, but also one very poor defensive read that lead to a goal against.

He has good offensive instincts and skates and handles the puck exceptionally well for someone of his height, but struggles with both defensive reads and in-zone coverage.

He is a very good example of how "size" is so often misconstrued in hockey in general:

1. Size is not height alone. Myers is really tall, but also really skinny. Tryamkin is tall but also just a unit in general and outweighs Myers by ~30lbs at roughly the same height.

2. Both height and weight can be both advantages and disadvantages in certain situations within a hockey game. Being short and stocky is generally advantageous for board-play. This is part of the reason why Horvat wins so many board battles despite being relatively short. Being tall and lanky is generally advantageous for open-ice play. Being able to protect the puck while skating, and cross-ice puck movement are the areas of the game that Myers is best at.

The above being true, its a real pet peeve of mine when hockey people forget the weight part of the size=height equation. Sure as a general rule, taller players will be heavier, but lots of that is just bones, organs etc. and not muscle mass.

It just seems like a no-brainer that tall lanky defencemen should be inherently disadvantaged for in-tight/boards play, so all the criticism towards Myers for being poor at this aspect of the game seems unnecessarily harsh.

By the same token it seems unnecessarily generous to compliment short stocky players such as Hoglander for being good at this aspect of the game because they are at a huge advantage relative to their taller peers.

I'm not just criticizing the armchair pundits... At a certain point coaches and GMs should start to recognize this and start deploying their players accordingly.

Games like tonight really make me wonder what could have been had Myers had a more imaginative Junior coach, who might have recognized his player's natural aptitudes and moved him up to the wing. Not that he has had a bad career (obviously), but this is just one example of how the very stratified positional approach to player development seems to hinder the game in general.

I think of the Red-Army style of play, or even high-level soccer, where player positions are much less formalized and positional interchange and team-play are more well-developed as an obvious area of improvement for strategy in the NHL."

From Nov 6th of this year discussing Demko's play and coaching impacts:

"On coaching: I agree that coaching has been an issue. Luckily coaching is easier to fix than the roster composition. The lineup is definitely stronger this year than in the past. Special teams is one area where coaching could improve, but in general it seems fair to say that the more conservative forecheck is not a style suited to this team. On paper, the Canucks' biggest strengths are their top 6 forwards (which hasn't really shown itself), goaltending (except on the PK) and powerplay (which has been one of their biggest weaknesses this year). This said, it would make more sense to open the game up and play to the strengths of the goaltender (a much better rush than rebound control goalie), your defensemen that are good on the rush but bad at in zone defense (Hughes, Myers and Rathbone), and your speedy and skilled but undersized top 6."

More on Demko and coaching from Nov 11th:

"Also, if the Canucks have recognized that their goaltender is elite at making saves off of odd man rushes and those sorts of "high danger" chances, it absolutely behooves them to really open up play, forecheck aggressively and try to trade chances, especially if they figure that the opposing netminder is better suited to in-zone defense. Not doing this has been one of Green's biggest coaching failings this season.

For the record, I think the Canucks' management has absolutely targeted players that fit that style of play. Tyler Myers is not good if you want low-event, safe hockey, but great if you hope to trade chances and create off the rush since he excels in neutral zone lateral puck movement and at facilitating controlled entries on offense. The tradeoff is that he is poor defensively off the rush as well as in-zone, but I would imagine that their analytics team liked him for his rush-offense profile enough to gamble on him anyway."


In short: Myers is not as bad of a hockey player as some might think. He is a fairly unique player that truly excels in certain aspects of the game and truly sucks at others. He is best when utilized in a system with greater forecheck pressure and opportunities for the defensemen to make instinctual plays and pinches. He is worst at playing a structured, safe defensive game and being given too much time to read and react to plays. He thrives off of fast-paced high event hockey (hence the Chaos Giraffe moniker). For the reasons above, I still think that he would be a better forward than a defenseman. That said, he has truly excelled now that he is being deployed in a manner that lets him play to his strengths. Let us hope that he can continue his positive play.

If the playing philosophy going forward under JR & BB is one that suits Myers's style, would you think he'd be worth his contract or is he better but still not worth the contract? I lean towards the latter and would like to move him while his value is climbing to clear cap first and foremost and hopefully bet some assets back (I'm thinking a 3rd at least, maybe if we retain some for just this year we could get a 2nd, but I wouldn't want to retain into next year).

 

[sting101]

Clearly, Myers was one of those players who just looked terrible playing under Travis Green and whatever system they were trying to employ in the defensive zone. There are too many players who bottomed out under Green for this to be just an 'accident'.

He looks completely rejuvenated playing under Bruce Boudreau, and up to 26 minutes a night. In Hughes, OEL and Myers, the Canucks have the equivalent of their 'big three' on the blueline. Don't know how long it can last, since each guy is playing close to 25 minutes a night.....but the Canucks will ride them as long as they can.

Nah he's had a good year. It's not the coaching change that has made Myers better but when you can afford the odd goal against it does help the optics of the defense if they make some mistakes. Helps when the forwards can drive some possession as well

 

[Get North]

Myers being the #1 RHD limits our success. If we had a Dumba, you would see a lethal team that can skate with VGK.

 

[elitepete]

Is it just me who does not see a massive improvement in Myers?

Results have been much better for sure.

But he is as erratic as ever. Turnovers, icings, loses his man in the dzone, passes that put OEL under pressure.

He is playing with more confedence and his overall play is slightly improved. But am I crazy here? To me he looks more or less the same.

He's been playing like a #3 or #4. That is pretty good, although still overpaid.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

He's definitely been better this season. And he absolutely blew up Keith on opening night, so he gets a pass.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

Funny, I’d say Myers has played better than Pettersson this year and I’d bet lots of people would agree with me. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year I would have said Pettersson must have been injured all season lol. Good for Myers.

 

[F A N]

He's definitely been better this season. And he absolutely blew up Keith on opening night, so he gets a pass.

This never gets old.

 

[1440]

If the playing philosophy going forward under JR & BB is one that suits Myers's style, would you think he'd be worth his contract or is he better but still not worth the contract? I lean towards the latter and would like to move him while his value is climbing to clear cap first and foremost and hopefully bet some assets back (I'm thinking a 3rd at least, maybe if we retain some for just this year we could get a 2nd, but I wouldn't want to retain into next year).

That is an interesting question. As per Evolving-Hockey (Evolving-Hockey [paywall]), Myers currently sits at 44th overall among defensemen at 4.4 goals above replacement (GAR). His even strength impact has been top 10 in the league (6.3 is good for 9th among defenseman), but that has been brought down largely by a bottom 10 (-1.5) shorthanded impact. I knew he was having a good season, but this year has been truly remarkable, especially given how bad the Canucks were on the PK before Boudreau. Considering that the Canucks have been a mediocre team this year overall his (and Hughes') impacts are all the more impressive.

Myers is currently at a 6m cap hit for this year plus 2 more years. Harman Dayal at The Athletic did a pretty good job breaking down his contract last year through the lens of Dom L's GSVA model: From J.T. Miller to Tyler Myers: Ranking Canucks contracts from best to worst [paywall].

Basically the Myers contract looked horrendous. He wasn't worth the money at the time of the signing and would be likely to decline with age. He should have been paid somewhere in the 1-2M/year range over that term for it to have looked worthwhile according to the model. We know the reality is that he had more value than that as a free-agent, so he would likely just have been on the not-worth-it list for many teams.

That being said, as this chart shows, he still had some value to bring as a purely offensive player, since his shot creation and goal scoring production was pretty good. I have already spoken about his offensive transition impact and I genuinely do think that given his skill-set he has the potential to be more like the player that he was in his first two years while he was wearing the Buffaslug.

Usage is the most important factor in maximizing a player like this with such clear strengths and weaknesses; but honestly a lot of credit should also be given to OEL, who at this stage in his career does quite strongly resemble a 2009-10ish Henrik Tallinder (Myers most common partner in his rookie season) in being a smart in-zone defender who makes up for a lack of footspeed through positioning and hockey smarts. The two are a good pairing because their flaws and strengths are opposite to one-another. Myers is at his best when he is able to cover a lot of ice without having to do too much static defending and both OEL and the Canucks' system under BB are allowing him to do that.

This year has been a true revelation, especially on the defensive end of the ice, where he has played very well despite seeing some of the tougher match-ups in terms of QOC in the league. His current form as a top pairing level defenseman at ~1.5WAR is worth 6-7M so far, so if he can manage to keep up his impressive play and improve somewhat on his abysmal PK record, he could be performing at a ~$10M level and dramatically exceed his contract-price this year.

That said, there are still some worrying areas. He is dramatically overperforming his expected GAR because he is overperforming in on-ice even-strength offense despite he himself not putting up many points. Both the eye test and the numbers test are positive, but there are still niggling doubts in the underlying numbers and there is still a lot more reason to trust 10 years of previously poor play than the two excellent years that began his career.

Even though Myers has legitimately played like an elite top-pairing defenseman this year, if the Canucks fall off their current pace and are out of playoff contention early, attempting to trade him while his trade value is actually high would likely be an extremely shrewd move by whomever the new GM will be. He would basically have to play this well again for the entirety of one of the next two years for his contract to be "worth it" over the remainder of its duration. That said, a player that skates as well as Myers does has at least a small shot and maintaining his performance levels into his mid 30s, where most defensemen fall-off significantly, so we shall see!

Edit: Another point that's worth making re trade value is that Myers' contract looks a lot more appealing once the 2021 5M signing bonus (already paid this year?) has been paid. A team could foreseeably acquire him at the deadline and owe him only just over 11M in salary for the remaining 2.5 years despite his 6M cap hit. With salary retained, he could have significant positive value (1st rounder?) to a team looking to strengthen their defense (Nashville?) for a playoff push at the deadline.

 

[Nucker101]

He's been pretty good.

Even his zone entry denial and zone exit stats are good, and he was dreadful at zone denials last year(part of that was Green's "system"). Definitely the surprise of the season so far

 

[MarkMM]

Even though Myers has legitimately played like an elite top-pairing defenseman this year, if the Canucks fall off their current pace and are out of playoff contention early, attempting to trade him while his trade value is actually high would likely be an extremely shrewd move by whomever the new GM will be. He would basically have to play this well again for the entirety of one of the next two years for his contract to be "worth it" over the remainder of its duration. That said, a player that skates as well as Myers does has at least a small shot and maintaining his performance levels into his mid 30s, where most defensemen fall-off significantly, so we shall see!

Edit: Another point that's worth making re trade value is that Myers' contract looks a lot more appealing once the 2021 5M signing bonus (already paid this year?) has been paid. A team could foreseeably acquire him at the deadline and owe him only just over 11M in salary for the remaining 2.5 years despite his 6M cap hit. With salary retained, he could have significant positive value (1st rounder?) to a team looking to strengthen their defense (Nashville?) for a playoff push at the deadline.

Amazing analysis, thanks for that!

 

[Diamonddog01]

That is an interesting question. As per Evolving-Hockey (Evolving-Hockey [paywall]), Myers currently sits at 44th overall among defensemen at 4.4 goals above replacement (GAR). His even strength impact has been top 10 in the league (6.3 is good for 9th among defenseman), but that has been brought down largely by a bottom 10 (-1.5) shorthanded impact. I knew he was having a good season, but this year has been truly remarkable, especially given how bad the Canucks were on the PK before Boudreau. Considering that the Canucks have been a mediocre team this year overall his (and Hughes') impacts are all the more impressive.

Great analysis....you aren't David Quadrelli are you??

At 31 years old, Tyler Myers is having the best season of his NHL career with the Vancouver Canucks

Myers season this year (and we aren't even half way through it so there is still time for the wheels to come off) is among the more bizarre things I've seen watching hockey. It defies probability, common sense, statistics...it's just weird.

 

[1440]

Great analysis....you aren't David Quadrelli are you??

At 31 years old, Tyler Myers is having the best season of his NHL career with the Vancouver Canucks

Myers season this year (and we aren't even half way through it so there is still time for the wheels to come off) is among the more bizarre things I've seen watching hockey. It defies probability, common sense, statistics...it's just weird.

I read that article as well. In particular, his point about quality of competition was one that I incorporated into my post.

As for Myers playing well ... I mean he looked like Victor Hedman in his rookie season, so it isn't entirely unprecedented.

 

[Diamonddog01]

I read that article as well. In particular, his point about quality of competition was one that I incorporated into my post.

As for Myers playing well ... I mean he looked like Victor Hedman in his rookie season, so it isn't entirely unprecedented.

His rookie season was 12 years ago lol. I’d say a player having the best year of his career as a rookie, to settling into a unique albeit mediocre and overpaid player for the next 12 years, to suddenly having an incredible season again is unprecedented personally.