Nik the Trik said:
Coco-puffs said:
Burns also has alot of goals on the PP. Them having a bomb from the backend is great for THEM scoring goals, but it doesn't make their PP's more effective. I'd much rather have Rielly and Gardiner quarterbacking a top 5 PP than Weber/Burns bombing shots to the tune of a PP getting average results. That doesn't seem like a weak argument to me.
I'd much rather earn 50,000 dollars a year with a billion dollars in the bank than earn 100,000 dollars with no money in the bank. That doesn't make 50,000 dollars greater than 100,000 dollars.
No one individual or one individual skill is going to make a PP effective. That has no bearing on whether or not a good shot from a defenseman, one of the people on the PP, is an effective weapon on the PP. The Ottawa Senators had the 23rd ranked PP last year, 26th the year before that. Is Erik Karlsson an ineffective PP presence?
Coco-puffs said:
And I believe this forum does not have rules about posting from the Athletic.
I suppose I was relying on people understanding general etiquette about these things but you do you.
My understanding of the general etiquette is don't transcribe the article because its behind a paywall and that's not fair to the writers. I haven't done that. If there is another etiquette that those whom don't want to spend money on the Athletic should be catered to, I don't buy it. I see links and quotes from lots of athletic articles being posted here, and while I'm sure you've complained to them as well, I don't think its fair to limit discussion of them because some people don't have access. There is high quality information being presented in their work and avoiding it entirely does not seem prudent to advancing the discussion here.
But since you are "the king" I suppose I can try to use other sources of information to prove my point going forward.
And back to the subject at hand. The original poster stated
Frank E said:
I think the problem with Rielly on the PP is that he's just not a threat to score.
Opposition just doesn't take him seriously as a shooting threat.
I think they might need a guy that's got a bomb, or is at least a greater threat to score.
Agreed, one individual player does not make a PP effective or ineffective. What the unit does as a whole does, and the units with d-men bombing away aren't the most effective, no matter how good the shooters are.
My point was that the most effective PP's going these days don't have a guy bombing away. The Leafs had one of the top units in the league last year, with Zaitsev actually shooting THE LEAST among the defensemen on top 5 units. Yes, the fact that the forwards are Bozak, JvR, Marner, and Kadri on the unit is most likely what led to the success. Zaitsev still had a job to do in his role there and I don't think Rielly chosen over him to start this year is a big deal.
If we could have Karlsson on our PP, I wouldn't disagree with Frank that Rielly shouldn't be on the PP. Karlsson would no doubt make our PP even better. But we don't have him. Carrick, Rosen, Zaitsev probably have better shots than Rielly. That doesn't mean they would make the unit more effective if they can't quarterback the PP as well as him.
While the sample size is quite small, I see Rielly has been on the ice for 3 PP goals, in 9 min of PP ice time. He has 2 assists on those goals. Until the results begin to show us that Rielly's lack of a shot is really hurting the effectiveness of the unit, plus the proof showing that bombing away isn't as effective as what the Leafs were doing last year, I suppose the argument that Rielly shouldn't be on the PP because of his lack of a good shot doesn't hold water.