There's a storm here, and so I'm a bit bored and decided to look through some stats.
Name: Hits: Blocked shots: Games played (last season)
Jaroslav Spacek - 78 - 126 - 80
Hal Gill - 78 - 112 - 62
Josh Gorges - 94 - 161 - 81
Roman Hamrlik - 104 - 195 - 81
Andrei Markov - 61 - 111 - 78
Paul Mara - 123 - 86 - 76
Seems like not only is a good group of character d who can play well, there ones who aren't afraid to step in front of the puck to block it, to help make Price and Halak's job easier for them.
I also looked and Moen had about 170 hits in total last year as well. This team will rely on forwards to get the hitting done.
Blocked shots are an important skill, in that it's important that your D is willing to do that if necessary, but as a stat it's junk. Generally speaking, if you have to block a lot of shots, you aren't doing that great of job defensively. The key is to prevent shot opportunities from unfolding in the first place.
The area where we improved the most is the passing. We don't have to solely rely on Markov to do a break out pass anymore.
If Hamrlik was great last year, it wouldn't have been that bad. But at least now we also have Spacek and Gorges seems to improve in that department. Gill and Mara can also handle themselves decently.
We won't have any D just shooting the puck along the boards as soon as they touch it like Komi or O'Byrne.
But mainly, our D group will be better thanks to Martin's coaching. That, I'm convinced off.
We also got bigger on D. Mara is similar to Komisarek, just a little lighter. But then we have Gill at 6'7 250lbs. If O'byrne can fit in nicely during injuries or somehow out plays Gorges (pretty much impossible), we'd have huge Ds.
There's a storm here, and so I'm a bit bored and decided to look through some stats.
Name: Hits: Blocked shots: Games played (last season)
Jaroslav Spacek - 78 - 126 - 80
Hal Gill - 78 - 112 - 62
Josh Gorges - 94 - 161 - 81 Roman Hamrlik - 104 - 195 - 81
Andrei Markov - 61 - 111 - 78
Paul Mara - 123 - 86 - 76
Seems like not only is a good group of character d who can play well, there ones who aren't afraid to step in front of the puck to block it, to help make Price and Halak's job easier for them.
I also looked and Moen had about 170 hits in total last year as well. This team will rely on forwards to get the hitting done.
I think it's pretty clear that the key addition here will be Jaroslav Spacek. Montreal has always been pretty poor at preventing shots. Going from Souray to Hamrlik was a huge upgrade, but Spacek is a big driver of puck-possession (he stood out among the Sabres on that count) and should greatly help tilt the ice towards the opposing net... which is good for both defense and offense.
Adding Spacek gives the team another excellent even-strength puck-mover, something Komisarek certainly wasn't, so that's a big improvement if the team really wants to become a true puck-possession team. The best defensive tactic in hockey remains making sure your the puck is on one of your forwards' sticks in the opposing offensive zone, after all...
Markov + Mara = 4.5M contract for Mara as a UFA next offseason.
Call that the Markov factor.
Komi without Markov will suck.
Call that the Markov factor.
Haha I like this post. I think it's a bit of an over-exageration, but I definitely agree with your sentiment.
I still think Komo will be a solid dman for the Leafs, but he'll be a shell of his 2007-2008 form without Markov (post ASG Komo last year was a marginal NHL dman at times even WITH Markov).
There's a storm here, and so I'm a bit bored and decided to look through some stats.
Name: Hits: Blocked shots: Games played (last season)
Jaroslav Spacek - 78 - 126 - 80
Hal Gill - 78 - 112 - 62
Josh Gorges - 94 - 161 - 81
Roman Hamrlik - 104 - 195 - 81
Andrei Markov - 61 - 111 - 78
Paul Mara - 123 - 86 - 76
Seems like not only is a good group of character d who can play well, there ones who aren't afraid to step in front of the puck to block it, to help make Price and Halak's job easier for them.
I also looked and Moen had about 170 hits in total last year as well. This team will rely on forwards to get the hitting done.
Is it really that good? Can we compare to the best teams? now you have something to do for the next storm
With, or without Markov, Komi will still get a bunch of hits and block a lot of shots. Komi is still a good defenseman.
He will get a bunch of hits and block a lot of shots, but those skills do not a good defenseman make. The truly vital skills for a defenseman are positioning and passing; no D-man without those will ever be a truly excellent defenseman. The other skills are nice-to-have, but aren't essential to a good D-man (Lidstrom, for example, doesn't do either much, and yet he is inarguably the best D-man of his era).
When Komisarek had his best seasons it was because he was positionally sound on top of being hitty and willing to block shots, and even then he relied on his partner for vital passing skills. He's a good D-man, but he absolutely needs a top-flight partner to survive on a top pairing.
He will get a bunch of hits and block a lot of shots, but those skills do not a good defenseman make. The truly vital skills for a defenseman are positioning and passing; no D-man without those will ever be a truly excellent defenseman. The other skills are nice-to-have, but aren't essential to a good D-man (Lidstrom, for example, doesn't do either much, and yet he is inarguably the best D-man of his era).
When Komisarek had his best seasons it was because he was positionally sound on top of being hitty and willing to block shots, and even then he relied on his partner for vital passing skills. He's a good D-man, but he absolutely needs a top-flight partner to survive on a top pairing.
A good first pass out isn,t Komi's strong point, but a lot of stay at home d have that problem.
A good first pass out isn,t Komi's strong point, but a lot of stay at home d have that problem.
And as a resulty those stay-at-home D-men are never premier D-men, or even excellent ones unless their first pass is at least "decent". The single best purely "stay-at-home" D-man is probably Robyn Regehr, and correct me if I'm wrong but IIRC he has pretty good passing skills.
Picture in your head the twenty or so best D-men in the league. Extend it out to forty, even sixty. How many of those are "stay-at-home defensemen"? Less than a handful, if that. Everyone in that list has puck skills and positional ability -- and the higher in the list the better those skills are. Hitting and the ability to block shots are entirely optional. They are useful skills, but a fair bit overrated -- it's why I'm extremely skeptical about Burke's blueline makeover and wonder if he's even improved his unit at all.
Defensive D-men can be useful compliments to a good puck-moving D-man, but the stay-at-home guys need the good puck-movers a heck of a lot more than the puck-movers need the stay-at-home guys. Two defensive D-men would be easy prey together, but two puck-movers can make for an effective pairing if they are positionally sound defensively.
And as a resulty those stay-at-home D-men are never premier D-men, or even excellent ones unless their first pass is at least "decent". The single best purely "stay-at-home" D-man is probably Robyn Regehr, and correct me if I'm wrong but IIRC he has pretty good passing skills.
Picture in your head the twenty or so best D-men in the league. Extend it out to forty, even sixty. How many of those are "stay-at-home defensemen"? Less than a handful, if that. Everyone in that list has puck skills and positional ability -- and the higher in the list the better those skills are. Hitting and the ability to block shots are entirely optional. They are useful skills, but a fair bit overrated -- it's why I'm extremely skeptical about Burke's blueline makeover and wonder if he's even improved his unit at all.
Defensive D-men can be useful compliments to a good puck-moving D-man, but the stay-at-home guys need the good puck-movers a heck of a lot more than the puck-movers need the stay-at-home guys. Two defensive D-men would be easy prey together, but two puck-movers can make for an effective pairing if they are positionally sound defensively.
You'll never have two offensive minded dman together, but you can have two defensive minded d together.
The best way to have a d-core is one offensive minded guy, one defensive minded guy. Komi will probably play with Kaberle, and he'll be good, just like he was here. If they put Beauchemin there, then Komi will probably struggle and vice versa.
I think it's pretty clear that the key addition here will be Jaroslav Spacek. Montreal has always been pretty poor at preventing shots. Going from Souray to Hamrlik was a huge upgrade, but Spacek is a big driver of puck-possession (he stood out among the Sabres on that count) and should greatly help tilt the ice towards the opposing net... which is good for both defense and offense.
Adding Spacek gives the team another excellent even-strength puck-mover, something Komisarek certainly wasn't, so that's a big improvement if the team really wants to become a true puck-possession team. The best defensive tactic in hockey remains making sure your the puck is on one of your forwards' sticks in the opposing offensive zone, after all...
I agree. Spacek will be a surprise for many here this season. His offensive, breakout, and possession skills are underrated mostly everywhere on these boards (save the Sabres board). I was laughing at some Bruins post the other day stating how much better Morris was than Spacek
Anyhow, as far as pairings go, it gets tricky. Gill can be effective on the ice, but only in a limited role meaning a lot of pk time. He's great at clearing the front of the net and uses his reach to great advantage around the goal area. He's everything we needed Bouillon to be. He also has an uncanny ability to get the puck on net (albeit with not much force) which can create some great scoring chances. The issue with Gill is that he needs to be paired with a great skater and puck-mover who can cover his ass. Markov would be a decent fit, the only issue there is that Markov plays huge minutes and Gill cannot (same with Hamrlik and Spacek). It should be interesting to see what Martin does with him, but I'm still not convinced that Gorges would be a good partner for Gill.
And as a resulty those stay-at-home D-men are never premier D-men, or even excellent ones unless their first pass is at least "decent". The single best purely "stay-at-home" D-man is probably Robyn Regehr, and correct me if I'm wrong but IIRC he has pretty good passing skills.
Picture in your head the twenty or so best D-men in the league. Extend it out to forty, even sixty. How many of those are "stay-at-home defensemen"? Less than a handful, if that. Everyone in that list has puck skills and positional ability -- and the higher in the list the better those skills are. Hitting and the ability to block shots are entirely optional. They are useful skills, but a fair bit overrated -- it's why I'm extremely skeptical about Burke's blueline makeover and wonder if he's even improved his unit at all.
Defensive D-men can be useful compliments to a good puck-moving D-man, but the stay-at-home guys need the good puck-movers a heck of a lot more than the puck-movers need the stay-at-home guys. Two defensive D-men would be easy prey together, but two puck-movers can make for an effective pairing if they are positionally sound defensively.
I'm extremely happy with Gainey's overhaul this year. You bring up very good points, checking is part of playing D, but is it necessary to win a game? Absolutely not. Being able to break up 2 on 1s, clearing the zone, getting the puck to the forwards, setting up on the point and getting shots on net, are what's important. Like you said, hits and blocking shots are entirely overrated. I'd take a Spacek ANYDAY over a Komisarek.
wow.
