Crawl Across the Ocean

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

He Moved So Easily All I Could Think of was Sunlight / I said "Aren't you the player who was recently promoted to the first line?"

Over at the 'Battle of Alberta' there is some hockey predicting going on. It seems like the consensus pick for a breakout player is Jason Spezza - except for Colby Cosh, who says,
"Well, jeez. Now I feel stupid for not picking Spezza merely because as far as I'm concerned he "broke out" a couple years ago--Ottawa just refused to let the guy play. I was looking for somebody who wasn't already obviously a terrific player."


Here are two stat lines from the 2003-04 season:
78GP, 55pts, +22, average time on ice: 14:37
82GP, 54pts, +18, average time on ice: 13:32

One of these is Spezza. Can you tell which? More to the point, do you know who the other player is?

The first one is Spezza and the second is Daniel Sedin, about whom everyone wonders when 'he is going to finally realize his potential'.

Incidentally, I'm not sure Cosh is standing on solid quibbling ground, given that his choice of breakout player was Adrien Aucoin, who was 11th in defense scoring last year - how much more can a guy break out - is he going to lead the league this year? It seems like Cosh was predicting a player who was going to have breakout recognition, rather than breakout point totals, but I digress.

posted by Declan at Tuesday, October 04, 2005

7 Comments:

  • If I take your point (and I'm not sure I do), you think Daniel Sedin could just as easily break out? Or you think Spezza and Sedin have already "broken-out", and thus will not improve further? I think (as I said in the original post) that the Sedin twins could go much farther. And after watching the last pre-season game last Saturday, man, that Sedin-Carter line is going to rock.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:34 PM  

  • My point is that for Spezza, people generally realize that it is only lack of ice time which is holding him back. With the Sedin's, many (not all, but a lot of) people just think that they aren't living up to their potential or that they are a disappointment, when the truth is they haven't been given the minutes / power play time to put up the numbers that people want from them.

    By Blogger Declan, at 1:51 PM  

  • My prediction: the Sedin twins will average 56 points. However much ice time it takes them to get that many points is exactly how much ice time they will get!

    :)

    P.S. go Seaboard!

    By Blogger Simon, at 2:27 PM  

  • Certainly ice-time is an issue for the Sedins, which is why I hope that the new line configuration will cement their place as the #2 line. I think the Sedins needed a solid linemate to really work well together, and thats been lacking in years past.

    Lets see if Crawford has some faith now with the Carter addition.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:34 PM  

  • I know Crawford has said he would give them more ice time. Let's hope he's as good as his word. Carter's got to be better than Brookbank, anyway.

    By Blogger Declan, at 4:24 PM  

  • Zherdev is my guess. Unless Fritsche gets moved to the top line in Columbus, then the two my compete with each other for the honours.

    By Blogger Thursday, at 12:56 PM  

  • Zherdev is a good player for sure, and he should get lots of ice time. It will help if Nash stays healthy to finish plays on the power play and distract the other teams checkers at even strength.

    I don't see Fritsche getting enough ice time to make an impact.

    By Blogger Declan, at 2:34 PM  

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