mr grieves
New member
Nik the Trik said:mr grieves said:Anyhow, you already know I'm not complaining we didn't trick the Pens into extending Malkin on the Leafs.
Honestly, I'm not inclined to give you that sort of credit. The entirety of the complaining about Bozak as the team's #1 center seems centered around guys who are, at best debatable marginal upgrades and none of whom remotely fall into the category of ideal choices for the position.
Well, you don't have to give me that sort of credit. You can look around to see where I said the only option from improving the top 6 was an imaginary trade for Sidney Crosby.
Nik the Trik said:Any sort of player of that caliber would have to be acquired by trade and we don't know who's available. We don't know what they would cost. There is no reason to just assume that if Nonis wanted to he could snap his fingers and get a deal done.
The only thing I said about trades to upgrade is they'd be nice if they didn't cost too much, and, after Grabo was bought out, that the cap space had better have a better purpose than re-signing Tyler Bozak or its no upgrade at all. A lot of people said that. Zee even said he'd "eat his hat" if Nonis didn't have something better up his sleeve.
Nik the Trik said:mr grieves said:I'd look at the list of players available thinking only that the coach is going to put those of comprable skill level together.
Which, quite frankly, is crazy. It's just not how hockey teams are put together. The idea that Nonis or Carlyle are somehow operating beyond the norm for considering things like how players fit with each other and whether their styles compliment each other as opposed to just putting their three best players on the top line...I mean, that's not something that fits in with a basic understanding of the game.
There's a point at which fit becomes more valuable than skill, sure. There's also a point where chasing fit can downgrade your skill to the point that it becomes a problem. It's crazy to think Bozak-Kadri's a better option down the middle than Grabo-Kadri. You don't even think that.
Nik the Trik said:mr grieves said:The limiting factor you add, though it does describe how Nonis settled on Bozak as their "best possible," only really tells us about a shortcoming of coaching and management -- or a management bias we can disagree with -- not that better centers than Bozak weren't available for the top 6 for competitive prices.
Again, this assumes that the issue of how good Tyler Bozak is vs. the other centers available is a settled matter. It isn't. This is what I meant earlier when I said that it seems as though your primary interest is limiting, rather than broadening discussion by making these declarative statements on the shakiest of possible "evidence". The idea that Bozak is a "less skilled" player than the others available is strictly your opinion. It is not the majority one. There is no one definition of skill.
The "evidence" for my view isn't just ES P/60 and Corsi numbers. It's PPG, points total, points considered in relation to a player's role and line mates, watching the player enter and move about the zone, how he finds other players with passes, how he gets into position to receive them and whether he converts them. No, it's not a settled matter that Tyler Bozak is worse than Mikhail Grabovski, but most of what I see looking at the above supports that conclusion.