Each team in the NHL has played at least a quarter of their season so far. I wanted to take this opportunity to search around the league and come up with some turkeys. Turkeys are players who are underwhelming or have not lived up to their perceived expectations so far this season.
Craig Adams
Let's start with somebody familiar here. Adams supporters will wax poetically about grit, character, consecutive games streaks, and his super human penalty killing skills. What they tend to gloss over are his boat anchor possession numbers, his lacking any shred of offensive skill, and the fact that anybody can kill penalties because it really isn't a skill at all. Craig Adams has a -11.34 relative Fenwick percentage which is the team's worst so far this season.
RJ Umberger
This trade looked bad for the Flyers the second it was made official. Now that we have a quarter of the season played the opinion has only been solidified. He has a -10.62 relative Fenwick percentage which isn't good at all considering he is on the 5th worst possession team in the NHL. He only has 3 points in 20 games. Only two more years at 4.6M on his contract...
Brooks Orpik
He is playing the same role in Washington that he did in Pittsburgh and is coming up with similar results. He was typecast as being a shut down defenseman because of his physical style of play, but for the past number of years he is consistently one of the worst possession players on his team. This is also a good way to make the turkey list:
That was John Scott for anybody wondering. Third goal in 237 games.
Ryan Miller
Yes, I know, very surprising. Miller's record is excellent with the Canucks (13-3) but his on ice play has not reflected that record. Miller has a woeful EVSV% of .905% which is 45th overall among the 62 goalies who have played at least 100 minutes of even strength. Vancouver is playing well but they aren't winning based on their offseason pickup of Ryan Miller. The good news is that Miller's track record is much much better than this and his numbers should go up. But for now, he is extremely fortunate he hasn't cost his team. Look no further than Edmonton to see how things can go when goaltending is that bad. Vancouver has been fortunate so far.
Ales Hemsky
My overall impression of him as a player has not changed, I still think he is very good, but he has not had a good offensive start to the 2014-15 season. He only has 5 assists in 21 games and that isn't good enough for a man of his skill set. Some positives moving forward are that he is still a quality possession player and that he has 3 points in his last 3 games. He also has a low PDO of 965. So while his offensive numbers have been turkey like through the 25% mark of the season, they do have the potential to turn around. My guess is that he won't be a turkey by the end of the year.
Joe Sakic/Danny Briere
Briere scored an overtime goal last night and that should play well into the clutch narrative about Briere, but it was an own goal by the Arizona defender. Briere is no longer a productive possession player and he does not score or produce offense at the clip he once did. He has 5 points (4 goals) in 15 games this year and he will need to produce more than that to make up for what the Avalanche gave away to get him. PA Paranteau was one of Colorado's best possession forwards, along with Paul Stastny, and the Avs are struggling without both of them. Right now Paranteau is leading Montreal with a Fenwick-For percentage of 56.3%. I understand that team effects play a role but Briere's FF% of 43.6% is a far cry from Paranteau. Sakic went for intangibles when he should have just followed the fancy numbers, the proof is in the pudding, The Avs have gone from first to worst in the division.
Jack Johnson
This has nothing to do with anything that has happened off the ice. I don't find any of that humorous, it is a sad situation.
Johnson makes this list strictly based on his on-ice play. Among regular defenders he is once again the worst possession player. He has a -7.75 relative Fenwick percentage. This is old hat for Johnson as he is one of the worst possession defenseman in the league on a year to year basis. Any potential gains he makes on the offensive end of the ice (9 points in 18 games) are nullified by his poor ability to defend. He is a team worst among Columbus defensemen with a Fenwick-For per 60 minutes of 34.42 and has the second worst Fenwick-Against per 60 minutes of 45.26. One of these years his coaches will stop putting him in more difficult roles and start to shelter him more.
Last but not least the Golden Turkey Award goes to...
Zach Sill
He does nothing and provides nothing. Completely void of puck skill and the perceived benefits of him being a physical player don't show up positively anywhere (eye test, stats, whatever). In the past two seasons nobody, and I mean nobody, is even close to as bad of a possession player as he has been on the Penguins. He has a Fenwick-For percentage of 34.9%(!). To put that into perspective Tanner Glass comes in at 43.2% in that same time frame and he is one of the worst forwards in the NHL. In 37 career games played he has yet to record a point. He is behind Marc-Andre Fleury in the scoring race this year.
Happy Thanksgiving
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