Backes right now, but could definitely be Staal in the future. It's hard to get points when your relied on to be a shutdown center, and have 2 franchise players ahead of you.
I'd take Backes, but Staal is an awesome player. The Pens get a lot of flack for drafting him instead of Toews or Kessel, but he is a perfect fit for that team.
I'd take Backes, but Staal is an awesome player. The Pens get a lot of flack for drafting him instead of Toews or Kessel, but he is a perfect fit for that team.
Backes has played most of his minutes with steen and Oshie, or Oshie and Perron (using lw lock)
Staal has played most of his minutes with kunitz and dupuis or cooke and kennedy (again using lw lock)
take your pick on support then consider that they have about the same PPG.
Also Jordan staal plays much less on the PP and logs a lot of minutes on the PK.
I am not voting on this one, but I think that people need to consider all factors.
Backes has played most of his minutes with steen and Oshie, or Oshie and Perron (using lw lock)
Staal has played most of his minutes with kunitz and dupuis or cooke and kennedy (again using lw lock)
take your pick on support then consider that they have about the same PPG.
Also Jordan staal plays much less on the PP and logs a lot of minutes on the PK.
I am not voting on this one, but I think that people need to consider all factors.
Linemates are a valid argument, but you must consider that Staal was shooting at over 20% when he went down, when his career average is about 13%. Clearly that wasn't going to be sustainable, and I bet he would have ended up with about 30 goals had he been healthy the whole season.
Backes has played most of his minutes with steen and Oshie, or Oshie and Perron (using lw lock)
Staal has played most of his minutes with kunitz and dupuis or cooke and kennedy (again using lw lock)
take your pick on support then consider that they have about the same PPG.
Also Jordan staal plays much less on the PP and logs a lot of minutes on the PK.
I am not voting on this one, but I think that people need to consider all factors.
If Staal was in Backes' position, I bet the numbers would be similar. Linemates is a viable argument, but what about quality of competition, and the fact that Staal and Backes would still be used as a shutdown line in St. Louis.
Last season, Backes played a significant amount of minutes with Sobotka and D'Agostini due to injuries, as well as the ineffective Brad Boyes.
Jordan Staal, like his all around game a bit better.
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Exhibit A as to how hockey doesn't matter on ESPN:
Last night an ESPN program was discussing how the Detroit Pistons needed a hero citing the heroes on the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions and no mention of the Detroit Red Wings. All this despite the Red Wings probably being the most succesful team in Detroit right now.
Absolutely love both guys, Backes is the better player, voted for him... But I'd prolly take staal because he's younger, better defensively ( I know Backes is good defensively, staal may be the best pure defensive offense in the league) I think staal also scores a lot more on a team not stuck on the third line, super close, but Backes for now
