Jim Benning Pre Draft talk (TSN 1040, June 17)

[Ghostsof1915]

Interesting reads.

I sort of think they further prove my theory on JB though. The guy is old school. He talks a lot about getting character guys, still thinks the goalie is the most important position on a team and imo overvalues physicality. I've never once heard him say anything about analytics or advanced stats.

Funny, Scotty Bowman has either been an advisor, coach, or GM on various teams. Has been hugely successful, and he doesn't rely on advanced stats....

[Ghostsof1915]

What exactly do Sbisa supporters see in his game that he would improve? Maybe if you watch once every 10 games where he will throw a hit. Skating, puck handling, passing, decision making is AHL level. I guess he showed his physical play versus the teenagers in Calgary during the playoffs, or maybe he got plastered more than he hit. I would love to see him become what he was projected as a first rounder, but 7 years in the league and not one stand out skill set.

151 hits in 76 games averages out to be 1.987 hits per game.

I swear do people really watch the games? Or just see what they want to see?

[aGENT]

Except we're paying him as a #4-5 and for that he's a good fit. Pair him with a partner who compliments his skill set and you're going to be surprised.

Tanev.

I think him and Tanev could be an excellent 2nd pair in a couple years.

[baumerman77]

CanucksArmy is a joke unless its Drance who is writing, which is almost never now. I'm shocked people don't know this yet. It's been a year.

Drance doesn't like Sbisa either:

http://canucksarmy.com/2015/4/8/canucks-sign-derek-dorsett-luca-sbisa-to-multi-year-contract-extensions

Funny, Scotty Bowman has either been an advisor, coach, or GM on various teams. Has been hugely successful, and he doesn't rely on advanced stats....

Believe it or not, hockey was around before advanced stats. Of course there were people who were successful in hockey before advance stats were developed but that is not an argument against advanced stats (if people weren't successful that means the games never had winners or losers which is nonsensical). That's actually an argument against progress in general. Why anyone would stop wanting to learning about new insights into the game is beyond me.

And to try to paint Scotty Bowman as anti-stats is very misleading. Back in the day, he was one of the first guys to use Plus/Minus, among other statistical measures. The reason for Bowman's success in hockey was because he embraced new insight and information about hockey, not because he rejected it.

[Baggins]

Here is some food for thought

Matthias played 78 games, scored 18 goals and had 9 assists, is 6ft 4 and is 27 years old, scoring those points on a team that was middle of the road in scoring and all those points scored on the third and fourth line. How many contending teams would not want to take a chance on having that for the playoffs?

Here is a few trades that are comparable that went down at the deadline

Curtis Glencross 13 Goals, 22 assists got a 2nd and a 3rd

James Sheppard 7goals, 11 assists got a 4th

Brian Flynn 5 g 12 a got a 5th

Andrew Desjardiens 5 g 5 a got Ben Smith and a 7th

Chris Stewart 14 goals 22 A got a 2nd

Torrey Mitchell 6g 8 A got a prospect and a 7th

Olli Jokinen 4g 6 a got a prospect and a 6th.

My point is if you know you can't get him signed for next year then get something for your assets.

We can argue all day about needing him for the playoffs, but in reality the was players in Utica that could fill the void.

Based on what was on offer above a contending team knowing full well they didn't need to worry about contract term could have been asked by Benning to cough up a good deal for the Canucks, a third line goal scorer going into the playoffs, who doesn't want that ?

Where do you think most ufa's come from every July?

Answer: Playoff teams.

[SaintPatrick33]

151 hits in 76 games averages out to be 1.987 hits per game.

I swear do people really watch the games? Or just see what they want to see?

The hit stats are one of the most poorly recorded stats in the league. I believe the Blues statistician gets paid by some players so they can bring it up in contracts, Jackman has been near tops in hits for years. A hit can be as simple as bumping a player gently in the corner, or as I was referring to, a jarring collision which Sbisa does once in a while, makes for good highlights but in no way does it make up for his clear lack of other requisite skills.

No mention of his horrid possession numbers (oh yea thats right blame it on Juice), poor skating, clumsy puckhandling, poor shot, bad reads and decision making?

Do people even watch the games? or follow other teams besides the Canucks? Tell me why he was getting healthy scratched and passed up on the Ducks depth chart when they had a young d back there, in that organization for 5 years and in years 4 and 5 the Ducks could see what some of you do not.

[Diakonos]

I'm shocked people are willing to disregard what is so clearly in front of their eyes. Guys. Sbisa scored 0.14 points per game. And he let in goals in at an astonishingly bad rate, good for second worst in the NHL for guys who played regular minutes. He doesn't contribute offensively, and he is horrific defensively. His performance has been below replacement level. How on earth can anyone say he's worth the 3.6M, or that he should be or will be our 4/5th defenceman?

He makes literally ALL his partners worse. Like, all his partners get scored on more and control the puck less when they play with Sbisa than when they don't. This isn't "advanced stats". This is "holy crow, this guy is literally our worst regular defenceman and we are paying him more than Lack, Hansen, Higgins, Bonino, Kassian, Horvat, Corrado, Stanton, and Weber."

I mean, explain away. Let's keep telling ourselves that the last 5 years of Sbisa actually weren't the real Sbisa, that he's actually a good NHL defenceman. At least if we make decisions like that, we'll find ourselves picking high in the draft the moment the Sedins retire.