I don't really care who is better tbh. Both have very little to show for so there is no point in comparing at the moment

You're 100% right. It's way to early to judge potential atm. All we have is what they are doing right now, and Mercer has been more successful. We can all come back in 5 years and argue

He's atrocious defensively but happens to play on one of the best defensive teams in the league., which skews his numbers. Watch his stellar defense on Orlov's OTGWG on Han 16th. Zero effort.

He has been I agree, Though he's being Sheltered. He's a perfect 3D. Which is why I continue to push my Risto is Elite and Risto for a First agenda.

I don't think you understand how individual advanced stats work...

Don't get so defensive. You flipped out on my back in October when I said the Isles would probably end up 6th in the Metro. I'm giving you a pass on that b/c you're biased.

Just need another Chuck Fletcher in the league and you can pull it off

I disagree on this take here. If you're an offensive player on a defensive system team, they're going to force you to play their way. Which is why players suck ass on one team and then are elite on another. Individual stats are flawed to a degree.

please explain

The whole point is that they isolate a player's individual impact on the game. That is why they are called advanced stats

That was supposed to be the rationale for replacing Trotz. I.e. Unlocking offensive potential.

If he was really bad like somebody here claimed, his stats would stick out like a sore thumb, but they don't. At the end of the day you can credit the defensive system, or you can give credit to Barzal for playing pretty good defense

This only works when the player is allowed to play his own game, which most of the time they're not. They are usually coached to follow a certain structure. That is why they don't translate 100% and eye scouting is still a legit thing.

Good players adjust to their team's system, and that is what Barzal has done.

I'm not really talking about Barzal, just stating that advanced stats aren't 100% perfect because there are things behind the screen that we can't see. Can't judge a player's offensive ability when he's forced to play on a shutdown line or an offensive players defensive numbers when he's told to he has to create offense.

I can see why that would be valuable, but I can also see why context is essential. Otherwise, a computer would build a winning team.

It works when you have a good player and a good system, but if you're missing one of those things, it doesn't work.

Good players don't sign $9.15M AAV contracts. That's the problem. He was paid to be elite.

Eye test is important, but much more flawed than statistics. It can easily be clouded by bias, or simply a lack of attention to detail. Both need to be used, however you can't discredit the stats

And there are definitely outliers which prove the advanced stats community is flawed to an extent

Mike Reilly
Brett Kulak
Victor Mete

3 players that come to mind that didn't look good on the ice, but the advanced stats told us all they were elite level players.

At the end of the day and I say this as a huge believer in Barzal he's just ok defensively. He needs to do more he has underperformed but thats also partially NYI's fault.

System definitely has an impact though. Jonathan Huberdeau is an example of this going from Brunette to Sutter, His offensive impact has evaporated, and his defensive impact have been pretty good.

you're embellishing because you know you you can't come up with a rational argument - Can you prove I "flipped out on your back" ?- I don't flip out on anything on this site because I don't engage in something if I don't know what i'm talking about.

I want the isles to miss the playoffs, I'm not mad about it at all. The word bias is going to start losing it's meaning with you throwing it out there any chance you can. I don't root for the sabres, I have no dog in the fight

Can't really be bothered to dig much deeper, but good chance they were playing rather sheltered minutes. I also find it funny how one Boston Bruins fans claimed that Mike Reilly was better than Quinn Hughes a couple years ago and that Hughes was nothing more than a bottom pair defender who is ok on the powerplay

42 points in 50 games isn't too bad considering he is playing with literal dud wingers. His offense is lower than most years, however he has a poor supporting cast. He isn't McDavid that can carry AHL depth to a conference final

That's funny because that's literally what Reilly is, except you could argue he's not even a 3rd pairing defender.