Rating the Rooks and Blogging the World Championships
Zoran Manojlovic from Hockey’s Future has an article on the rookies who have played for the Red Wings this season. He provides a brief commentary on each player who has gotten some time in the Detroit lineup this season. Here are some of the things he has to say on the two rookies who garnered the most playing time this year.
Valtteri Filppula, C/W
Filppula has arguably been the best overall rookie on the team this season, although his numbers (10 goals and 17 points in 73 games) don’t match [Jiri] Hudler’s…Thanks to some early injuries up front, the Wings recalled Filppula after only three games on the farm and he was to stay with the team for the reminder of the season.
The young Finnish forward has been very effective with his dozen-plus minutes that he has been averaging in the pro game. He has seen some time both on the PP and PK units. He’s showing that he has the potential to round out as a very valuable second-line center for the Red Wings, in the not so distant future.
Jiri Hudler, LW
Hudler played in most games of all the rookies on the team with 76 posting 15 goals and 25 points. He was plus-16 with three power-play goals and four game winners.
…
Hudler started the season as a 13th-14th forward, alternating with several others but in the second half of the season he caught fire as some of the regulars were out with injuries, and never looked back.His improved skating and defensive game will give him an even bigger role on the team for next season. His offensive instincts are quite good and he should be able to double his offensive production with some more quality ice time.
I think Manojlovic is correct that Filppula will eventually center the second line. I also could see Hudler doubling his point total and being a 50-60 point producer in the near future. Hudler will likely replace the offensive production that was lost when Jason Williams was traded. He just needs to continue to play with the same style of play he’s shown this season. I also think Tomas Kopecky is going to get a decent amount of ice time next season after being sidelined for the lion’s share of this season with a broken collarbone.
Off Wing Opinion has a cool article on a couple bloggers from On Frozen Blog who are covering the 2007 IIHF World Championships in Moscow. Here is the screenpage for their blog coverage:
This widget can be added to your blog by either clicking on the “grab it” button on the widget or by visiting the Washington Capitals’ Worlds webpage here.
The United States has gone 4-1 thus far, with wins against Austria, Belarus, Germany and Slovakia, and a loss to the Czech Republic. The U.S. will play team Canada tomorrow. John Grahame has been decent in net for the United States. He has stopped 106 of 115 shots for a .922 save percentage and a 2.20 GAA. Lee Stempniak has been great for team USA, scoring 4 goals in the tournament. Paul Stasny and Phil Kessel have each scored 2 goals, so several young NHL forwards are leading the way for the team.
I also saw this article linked over at Off Wing Opinion - the NHL’s Best Bang for the Buck. The article attempts to determine which player is the most cost effective by figuring out their salary per point, per goal, per save, per shutout, etc.
I agree with Eric that the methodology is a little simplistic and isn’t as effective as it could be. It would be great if the data could be sorted based on plus/minus. Perhaps you could do so by dividing the player’s salary by goals for and goals against and then subtract the goals against salary from the goals for salary to determine the plus/minus salary. You could do the same thing for penalty killers: divide salary by total successful PKs and by goals allowed on PK and then subtract goals allowed from the successful PKs. You could also provide some sort of similar methodology for short-handed goals scored.
The goalie stats are even easier to figure, but the article somehow doesn’t calculate salary per win. How did they miss that one?
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Feel free to add the widget to your blog during the world championship. Granted there will be a Capitals emphasis, they are the only traveling media from the United States.
The widget can be found here:
http://www.washingtoncaps.com/worlds
Thanks for the mention.
Cheers!
-g
Gustafsson,
No problem! I have also included the link in the post. This is super cool. I am really impressed with Ted Leonsis and the Captials organization for providing this coverage.