I’ll say Demko definitely helps that stat but it shows that they didn’t cause a liability and is not as bad as everyone is portraying them to be as. It gets tiring when people call others bad simply because the vast majority of people think so even if they don’t have anything to backup their opinions

This is a 145 minute sample size. Their numbers drop significantly when considering the whole season. They still weren't terrible, but not really good either.

It’s because we literally never had consistent lines. We shuffled lines like you shuffle a deck of cards

Edit: this stat is pre-Boudreau era, and the team only got better after Bruce Boudreau got hired, especially defensively and PK

Asking out of confusion-then how come McDonagh-Cernak only have 141.5 minutes to their names? (They played a heck of a lot more then 141 min together)

From the TOI stats it does look like Hughes had a rotating cast of partners, but it seems like OEL-Myers actually stayed pretty consistent (nearly a thousand minutes together).

Using expected goals does help a bit (better than actual goals in many cases, as that being better or worse than expected goals can be blamed on goaltending a lot of the time I think), but what this doesn’t account for is quality of opponent. McDonagh-Cernak would have almost certainly faced opponents’s top lines, whereas Hagg-Pysyk would have been played in a more sheltered role against bottom six lines in all likelihood. You’ll be happy to know that McDonagh-Cernak did finish with a better xGA/60 by the end of the year though (I think Juiceman’s screenshot must be from early in the season).

Sandin isnt getting traded its pretty evident

Hes playing right side and the chart shows he can do it lul

Like lets be honest if he was getting traded it would have been at the draft for Dach or something

Yes it was pre-Boudreau era. I thought was honestly shocked they weren’t bottom 10

They played nearly 1000 minutes together, more than all but 7 other D-pairs league wide. Seems enough to get a decent picture.

Not quite sure what you're getting at with the Boudreau point as far as that pairing is concerned

Our Pk was literally on pace to be an NHL history worst PK. It was that bad. Boudreau saved our team and improved almost everything about the team. Can’t find the exact stat for the Myers OEL pairing but I would be surprised if they fell off super hard. The Canucks did end up with top 7 in goals against despite having the second worst PK in the league so I’d say OEL and Myers weren’t as bad as everyone is making them out to be

Thinking out loud about early candidates for the Calder: Kuzmenko, Beniers, Boldy, Power, Slafkovsky, Kent Johnson, Wright.

Personally, I'd go Beniers (winner), Boldy, Power (runners-up).

Watch another 24-26 year old finish as a finalist for the Calder again

Like Kuzmenko

Yep

Doesn't seem like everyone's making them out to have been bad. Just not all that great either.

Isn't Boldy ineligible?

Ugh, you're right, he played more than 25 games (which is completely unfair, because if he actually had continued at the pace he was at for a full season he would have ran away with the award)

In that case: Beniers (winner), Power, Kuzmenko

1) Beniers
2) Power
3) someone not on this list

Boldy is ineligible pretty sure

Possibly, yeah. Seider still would've had a good case though, imo.

Boldy playing a full season also would've allowed him to bump Bunting from the final 3, saving people countless hours of pants sh*tting.

Honestly, the Calder eligibility rules should be changed. Alex Nedeljkovic was eligible for the award this past year despite literally being a finalist for the trophy in 2021 (as he played less than 23 games, even though in 2021 that was exactly half the season), but Boldy (who played 47 games, not nearly enough to catch up to Zegras and Seider) will not be. I don't mind the age limit being 26, but I'd make the cutoff mark 25 games for goalies only, and bump it up to 60 games for skaters.

I love Slafkovsky and think very highly of Wright, but I don’t think they’ll be in contention for the Calder. It seems like these days you need to be a truly elite talent to win the Calder as an 18yo (the last one was Matthews in 2017 fwiw). Slafkovsky might have a chance if he’s immediately put on PP1 and on a line with Suzuki and Caufield, but I’m not sure that will be the case next year, even if it is the long term plan. Wright will probably be on the 3rd line, and if I’m betting on a 3C named Shane to win the Calder I’d probably take Pinto over Wright lol

I’d also throw Sanderson into the mix for the Calder. He was arguably the best player not in the NHL last year (I believe he finished the year with the highest pNHLe). I think he could easily have a Seider-level impact at both ends of the ice, and he should immediately get a top 4 job and potentially some PP2 time and likely some PK time, which I think is also what Power will get, although Power might not have to play the PK (Seider got PP1 and PK time, but he got PP1 because Detroit doesn’t have a Chabot/Dahlin). Sanderson, Power, and Beniers would be my finalists, I’d probably give the edge to Beniers though, mainly because I don’t expect Power or Sanderson to put up enough points to get recognized as a defenseman without PP1 time, and I think Beniers has a shot to be Seattle’s 1C and be on PP1.

I don’t think Kuzmenko is in the same universe as Panarin or Kaprizov, I expect him to turn out more like Gusev (if that), who did have a good rookie season, but not a Calder-worthy one. Boldy’s ineligible as others have pointed out, but I do like Johnson as a dark horse. If they use him at centre and he ends up between Gaudreau and Laine, look out, although I would say that’s unlikely. If they use him on the wing, he’s probably a 3rd liner with like Sillinger and Voracek, which might be solid (likely a very sheltered scoring line with a lot of ozone starts) but he’d have to really find some chemistry with them (and earn PP1 time, which seems unlikely) to enter the Calder race.


Call me crazy, but Bunting deserved to be the runner up. The Calder isn’t the “highest upside rookie” or “most impressive rookie with bonus points for being younger” award, it’s awarded to the player who had the best rookie season. And Bunting had the most points, and by FAR the most 5v5 points, and was eligible for the award by the rules. Yeah he ended the year on the top line in Toronto, which is arguably the best linemates you could ask for, but don’t forget he started on the 4th line and scored his way up the lineup to earn that job, stealing it from Nick Ritchie who was the guy they signed for that role, which is honestly more impressive than just sheltering a guy like Zegras with good linemates (or at least, pretty much as good as Anaheim could provide) off the hop and 82% ozone starts at 5v5 lol. And clearly (cough Nick Ritchie) not everyone can hang with elite players like that, so he did his job remarkably well.

Matheson is younger and cheaper you’d have to assume Hughes liked that. While I do currently think we got shafted, the deal really comes down to does Matheson keep up his analytically good season (you’d have to assume our new analytics department played a part in that), if he does, it’s a good deal, if he falls off and shows it was an outlier year, then he’ll be replaced when the kids are ready

Boldly is ineligible and I doubt Wright/Slafkovksy are up there, they’re not good enough to be played high in the lineup where they’d need to be to get points, they might not even play more than a 9 game trial. I think Beniers, Johnson and a surprise guy as the 3 finalists

And JFreshs model had Seattle as like an 90-100pt team.
(I know it’s a different model)

But still sometimes the stars align. As I said it’s opening soon not immediately.

That's why I put Wright/Slafkovsky near the end of the list, not sure if they'll get enough ice time/games to be a finalist. (Boldy being ineligible was already discussed above.) I'd go Beniers, Power, Kuzmenko (in that order).

I was going to comment that I couldn’t see Power having a Calder level season but Buffalo’s top 2 lines are better than I expected, Power might be able to put up a decent season, I think Beniers and Johnson are heads above the others though just looking at who they might play with while not being on a top line ( especially KJ, he’ll most likely start in the middle 6 with very good linemates, as long as Beniers isn’t Seattle’s 1c, the competition shouldn’t be too tough for him )