Is Hudler the best Czech midget in the NHL?

[TheDakkster*]

Originally Posted by Fugu

What's really a traveshamamockery is the Smyth is going to get $6+ million from someone, we don't know who yet, but it will happen. I'm not going to try to rationalize what any of these guys "deserve" to get, but there will be much moaning, whining and spewing of sulfur on the board this summer when Smyth and Datsyuk deals are announced. I just read somewhere that the cap could go as high a $49 or $50 MM this summer. There will be plenty of money floating around.

As for one of the stats gurus who shall remain unnamed, Dion Phaneuf isn't a top D man in the NHL. He gets really easy ES minutes and is probably #80-100 in D man rankings overall... if that.

Well, that's the genius of statistics. You can prove anything with them

The reason I brought it up was because I stumbled on the old hilarious outscorer/inpasser parody threads from the offseason. Then I made a search for outscorer and it's pretty much only threads on the oilers board, which I found fascinating. So I asked them about it here.

[DelVecchio]

Originally Posted by Fugu

One of my favorite midgets - and this is where I date myself [although DelVecchio has me beat] - is Pit Martin. Hockey DB says 5'8" and I say No Way.

I liked him too; I only got to see him in the twilight of his career.

It must have been a treat for you to watch him when he was young.



PS: A Terrible Tot of a different kind -- Stan Jonathan.

Originally Posted by DelVecchio

I liked him too; I only got to see him in the twilight of his career.

It must have been a treat for you to watch him when he was young.

Ha ha. Funny. You gave it away by pointing out your dad was on some boats on D-Day, I think. My grandfather was a POW in that war... I remember Martin as a Hawk, but just barely.

Originally Posted by TheDakkster

Well, that's the genius of statistics. You can prove anything with them

The reason I brought it up was because I stumbled on the old hilarious outscorer/inpasser parody threads from the offseason. Then I made a search for outscorer and it's pretty much only threads on the oilers board, which I found fascinating. So I asked them about it here.

Pretty hilarious bunch over there. I think like the Word Smytty guy.


They had a bunch of other guys over there that got the stats craze going, who also could be found on Oilfans.com. Most of them are blogging now. Some of the users on Oilfans got tired of every conversation deteriorating to a stream of numbers and metrics! Not sure what the tiff on HF was about, but probably the usual "I'm smarter than you" attitudes clashing. Mudcrutch is blogging now and has his believers, although not on Calgary Puck, where they skewer the guy with zeal and alacrity. He's famous with them for the Phaneuf analysis. Most of the others are on Irreverent Oil Fans, with one guy in particular being a pretty good hockey analyst (Vic Ferrari). Lowetide, who is a mod on HF, also has his own blog, but he seems to be a hockey guy first, with some numbers thrown in for support on occasion.

They're different because they have Oil in their blood and a legacy of a franchise that sold Gretzky. I'd be warped too!

[HockeyinHD]

Originally Posted by Fugu

What's really a traveshamamockery is the Smyth is going to get $6+ million from someone, we don't know who yet, but it will happen.

6 mil of a 48 mil cap is the same as 5.5 on this years' cap, or a bit under 5 mil of the initial 39 mil cap.

That's around what guys who are well-above average top line forwards are going to get in the UFA market. I understand how there can be allowances in opinion on Smyth between him being good or elite... but I think it's very difficult to definitively demonstrate he's not at least in the top 10 of UFA forwards heading into this offseason, if he's not in the top 5.

Originally Posted by HockeyinHD

6 mil of a 48 mil cap is the same as 5.5 on this years' cap, or a bit under 5 mil of the initial 39 mil cap.

That's around what guys who are well-above average top line forwards are going to get in the UFA market. I understand how there can be allowances in opinion on Smyth between him being good or elite... but I think it's very difficult to definitively demonstrate he's not at least in the top 10 of UFA forwards heading into this offseason, if he's not in the top 5.

What's funny is to watch the spin coming out of the Edmonton media, and how once gain now - just like the time under the old CBA - any player who wants to get something close to his market value is thrown under a bus. Everyone is so busy branding Smyth a greedy traitor they're neglecting to mention that a cap of $48 MM isn't going to help Edmonton that much. These are the fans that swallowed hook, line and sinker the line during the lockout of how it was about saving small market Canada.

I'm not sure if Lowe has a very tight budget from the owners and couldn't go higher or if he really is disconnected from the reality of market forces here. They offered Smyth $4 MM last summer when they signed or re-signed Roloson, Hemsky (6 yrs), Staios, Stoll et. al. Lupul I think also got a new deal, but my point here isn't to document Edmonton's specific signings. The point is to show they left Smyth until last because they probably really believed he was worth $4 MM or a bit more. The $27 MM over 5 years didn't come out until the very last day of negotiations on the trade deadline day. Yeesh. There still is some inaccuracy in whether that included things like an NMC or NTC, but there must've been something there because the reported $100K of difference shouldn't have been a deal breaker. Anyhoo--- this has even less to do with Czech or any other flavored midgets....

[HockeyinHD]

Originally Posted by Fugu

What's funny is to watch the spin coming out of the Edmonton media, and how once gain now - just like the time under the old CBA - any player who wants to get something close to his market value is thrown under a bus.

From an outsider's perspective I'm interested in seeing whether the media will succeed in making that point stick, since for all intents and purposes they appear to be serving as the Oilers de facto Publicity Office.

If I was a fan of the Oilers it would have been almost a week since I called to void my season tickets. You simply cannot support that team, with that ownership. Not with what it costs to buy 41 games, considering how much cash that team pocketed just from last years playoff run alone.