Dahlin poised to become the highest scoring teenage defenceman ever

[Thorner]

19 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Dahlin is Ralph's first choice when he needs a goal and his last when he needs a stop. I agree with the coach on the first half of that statement. I might quibble, but I don't have a serious problem with the back half.

Risto is Ralph's second choice when he needs a goal and his first when he needs a stop. I agree with him on both points.

Your point is perfectly reasonable and I suspect I will be agreeing with you within a year. I'd like to see Dahlin getting a chance to support your argument with more tough minutes down the stretch.

Ralph has talked a bunch about how impressed he’s been with the strides Dahlin has made defensively so I could definitely see that happening. 

Dahlin has been excellent since his injury. Among the top tier in most defenceman categories - all at 19. He’s creating distance between himself and a guy like Heiskanen, obviously still a development year behind. I trust Ralph with continuing to manage that process - he hasn’t given me a reason to doubt him on that front. 

Not the right thread but, I’m very impressed with Krueger. 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Thorny

[SwampD]

Good discussion.

[triumph_communes]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

The best stats attempt to account for those things. Far from perfect but like @dudacek mentioned it’s just another measuring stick, a tool I’m including in my evaluation comparisons. It’s not like Dahlin isn’t also first in raw stats. And, to me, eye test. 

You are perfectly capable of saying 'best underlying statistics' instead of 'best defenseman'

[sabremike]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

Those mock-ups are only for joke achievements, not actual impressive accomplishments. 

@BannersSabres on Twitter.

[Thorner]

3 hours ago, triumph_communes said:

You are perfectly capable of saying 'best underlying statistics' instead of 'best defenseman'

But my argument is that he’s the best defenseman. I’m allowed to say that right? I’m not saying the advanced stats prove it, I’m just using them to support my viewpoint. 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Thorny

[triumph_communes]

16 minutes ago, Thorny said:

But my argument is that he’s the best defenseman. I’m allowed to say that right? I’m not saying the advanced stats prove it, I’m just using them to support my viewpoint. 

You were adding Miller and another 

[Brawndo]

He’s now solely in Second Place behind Housley 

[Brawndo]

 

[TrueBlueGED]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

This was true in the second half of last season. It's not true now.

The flip side of this is "What good is being able to make a crisp breakout pass if your ass is on the ice and the puck is on the other guy's stick?" But no, Pilut is clearly better than Risto. Let me show you the chart. 

@Randall Flagg said it above and I think you've even mentioned it in the past. Let Risto eliminate the man and Lawrence move the puck.

It is. Risto is doing the same swan song he does every year. 

As to your flip side, that's fair, but you're the one who said winning a puck battle is the single most important characteristic ?

[SwampD]

2 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

It is. Risto is doing the same swan song he does every year. 

As to your flip side, that's fair, but you're the one who said winning a puck battle is the single most important characteristic ?

What swan song?

And winning those battle is the most important thing in the D zone.

[Randall Flagg]

9 minutes ago, SwampD said:

What swan song?

And winning those battle is the most important thing in the D zone.

Montour has won a handful of those tonight, not sure if you've seen ?

[SwampD]

8 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Montour has won a handful of those tonight, not sure if you've seen ?

I don't have too much of a problem with Montour. He's still kinda meh.

[DarthEbriate]

Dahlin just neatly keeps the puck in the o-zone so frequently, and then is able to play it to a teammate. No need to tie it up, no need to desperately push it somewhere. He snares it and gets it back to our control. Nifty skillz, g.

Edit: Also, good thing we won that lottery for once.

Edited February 19, 2020 by DarthEbriate

[Gatorman0519]

Great, now we need at least 15 decent hockey players to join the team to make it worth anything.

[Curt]

1 minute ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Great, now we need at least 15 decent hockey players to join the team to make it worth anything.

This doesn’t belong in this thread.

[Gatorman0519]

13 minutes ago, Curt said:

This doesn’t belong in this thread.

I might of been off.. make that maybe 16

[Eleven]

@dudacek help me settle an argument, please.  What years did Housley play at forward and how many games at forward?  (And if there's anything I can point to, even better.)

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

@dudacek help me settle an argument, please.  What years did Housley play at forward and how many games at forward?  (And if there's anything I can point to, even better.)

I don't know if that info is easily available. You might have to go through game reports.

Going strictly from memory, he was used as a centre at times during his first season because Bowman wanted his skill in his lineup but didn't trust him on the blueline, and didn't like his regular second line centre Dale McCourt. I think it was more of a spot thing from game to game or even shift to shift than a regular thing.

But it became a lot more of a regular thing in his second year after Andre Savard was traded and McCourt was punted. The Sabres listed centres that year were Perreault (73 games) and Brent Peterson (64). The next most GP was John Tucker with just 21. Who played out of position in the middle for the other 160 games is something we'd have to figure out, but a lot of them were played by Andreychuk and Housley.

Housley himself told the Hockey News it was about 50 games, but over his 3rd and 4th seasons.

https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/heres-why-it-took-so-long-for-housley-to-make-hhof-grade

I think Phil might be mis-remembering by a year because in year three and four Tucker was a regular and year four Doug Smith came on board as well, but I can't say for sure.

Edited February 19, 2020 by dudacek