Player A plays with Malkin, and gets 20 goals, 40 asists, 80 hits, +21
Player B plays with AHLer's, gets 20 goals, 40 assists, 80 hits, +21
Player A if in the position of player B would likely see a drop off in his point totals, while Player B if on a line with Malkin would likely see a large increase in his production.
... But what about Lidstrom and Kuba this year?
Lidstrom is in the twilight of his career and Kuba just had an excellent bounce back season. --> Superior, yes. Vastly, no.
stats aren't everything. actually, anyone who relies on stats is a fool. there a way too many other factors which cannot be extrapolated from stats.
He said "hints."
Making inferences from stats does not mean relying wholly on stats. Obviously if you use statlines as your only form of pro scouting and as an indicator for future performance, you might end up with a Redden contract (EDIT: and even then, a decline should have been noticeable to anyone who closely scrutinized his numbers).
Individual season-by-season stats do not necessarily tell you much about line chemistry, consistency / streakiness, leadership or 'clutch' performance (GWG is a pretty weird stat that only sometimes reflects this - Bobby Butler is among our team leaders in GWG this season but I think it's safe to call this a statistical anomaly). Plus/minus is a famously flawed statistic because you have to take TOI and overall team performance into consideration.
But if two players at the same position have near-identical statlines over the course of one season (GP, G, A, PTS, hits, TOI), it's very unlikely that there was a significant difference in their effectiveness during that season. That may change the following year depending on linemates, overall team improvement or decline, injuries, age, or other personal or team variables.
All comes down to how big a gap "Vastly" represents. But if you only look at one year's numbers, then I think one can still be vastly better. Things like linemates, icetime and PP time all come into play.
Is Getzlaf vastly better than Pascal Dupuis? I think so, but the numbers say Dupuis is the better player this year.
All comes down to how big a gap "Vastly" represents. But if you only look at one year's numbers, then I think one can still be vastly better. Things like linemates, icetime and PP time all come into play.
Is Getzlaf vastly better than Pascal Dupuis? I think so, but the numbers say Dupuis is the better player this year.
A fair point, but if look at these stats comparatively to other years and other players on each team, you can also infer (correctly) that Getzlaf and his linemates seriously underperformed this season, while Dupuis overperformed and had a career season.
Both should like be judged as anomalies when evaluating the player's likelihood of repeating the unusually good or poor performance. Like Shean Donovan's 42-point season and Ilya Kovalchuk's 60-point season.
All comes down to how big a gap "Vastly" represents. But if you only look at one year's numbers, then I think one can still be vastly better. Things like linemates, icetime and PP time all come into play.
Is Getzlaf vastly better than Pascal Dupuis? I think so, but the numbers say Dupuis is the better player this year.
OP specified TOI between the players is similar so I'd assume that includes special teams minutes. Everything in your post is spot on though, definitely depends what 'vastly' means.
A fair point, but if look at these stats comparatively to other years and other players on each team, you can also infer (correctly) that Getzlaf and his linemates seriously underperformed this season, while Dupuis overperformed and had a career season.
what i find interesting is a situation like this (i havent looked up all the stats for this example but assuming they are as suggested...), knowing how their seasons have played out and you could rewind the season would you have been better off with Pascal Dupuis this year over Ryan Getzlaf on your roster?
or rather who would you pick to be on the sens roster this year with your advance knowledge. it has to be Dupuis right?
