Joined: Jun. 2019
Posts: 5,617
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Eriksson: Injury issues caught him quick. looking at the 5 years prior to this deal 71 in 82, 29 in 48(lockout yr), 37 in 61 (concussion year didnt look right when he came back), 47 in 81 (seemed concussion spilled over because he simply didnt look the same), 63 in 82 finally looked like he recovered from the concussion issues. Signs the contract and then immediate regression. I dont recall if he got another concussion or not in vancouver but 2 of the 3 years prior he had looked rough.
LOOCH: I am shocked seeing these but he had a very unrealistic shot percentage for a powerforward. from age 20-28 he had one season below 12.5% shooting percentage and that was the lockout year where he had 8.9%. But look at these percentages... 17.5%, 12.5%, 17.3%, 17.4%, 8.9%, 15.7%, 12.8%, 16.1%, 13.1% these are equal to or better than david pastrnaks %'s right now... the 16.1% was in lak in his contract year he still posted 50 in 82 with edmonton the year after and hes still on a 200+ hit pace however his ice time dropped from 17m to 13m. his shot percentage went from double digits to 6.8, 8.1, 9.6, and 12.9 this year but with a small shot selection. Who knows what the real factor is for these, whether its a different role, whether its just a luck thing, or a shot decline. who knows but i was blown away when i saw the first roughly 8 years of his career. his rookie year he only had 9.1 too
Neal: one of those complimentary style players you look at his career and you see he had a great time in pittsburgh. He went from playing with crosby and malkin to johansen major drop off in talent there. he went to vegas pretty much matched his age 29 season in nashville low point player. Calgary signed him to be a player he wasnt. and then 32/33 even playing with nuge, or drai, or mcdavid hes just not fast enough or skilled enough anymore to be a major factor on the ice.
Skinner: Probably the most "skilled" of the bunch at time of signing, also the youngest. His issue has ALWAYS been effort. If the nhl ever needed non guaranteed deals it would be for skinner. He also has been ALL over the place in terms of shooting percentages... in his best years: 14.4%, 12% 10.9% 13.2% 14.9% but then in his worst years: 6% 7.7% 7.7% 8.2% I dont know what he had over buffalo gm/owners but damn. he didnt warrant that deal. not even close to it.