Thanks for all your votes and comments on Sunday's blog.
I was surprised to see the poll come out so strongly in favour of Evander Kane as an acquisition target for the Canucks. Of course, the cost of acquisition is an important part of breaking down any trade. As I mentioned yesterday, I think that Buffalo's desire to trade Kane will hinge on whether or not the Sabres sign Jimmy Vesey. If they do, I'd expect that it won't take as much to get the deal done.
Also, to clarify, when I mentioned Luca Sbisa as possible trade bait for one of Detroit's young forwards, I wasn't thinking of it as a one-for-one deal. But I do think he'd be a pretty good fit on Detroit's blue line. He skates well, he hits and he has decent size.
Sbisa was hammered for his advanced stats during his first season in Vancouver in 2014-15, but even as more and more teams hire analytics guys, it's becoming clearer that those numbers only make up part of the thought process when general managers decide to make a deal.
We've gotten a bit of a peek behind the curtain this week thanks to Matt Pfeffer, the Montreal Canadiens' analytics consultant who spoke out vehemently against the P.K. Subban for Shea Weber deal. Now, whether or not it was as a direct result of that action, he's out of a job. The Habs had declined to renew his contract for the upcoming season.
Click here for Eric Engels' story about Pfeffer's role in the decision-making process regarding Subban, over at Sportsnet.
Said Pfeffer:
Prior to the trade, I submitted a report comparing both players. I made a passionate case in favour of P.K. Subban.
There was never a meeting with management.
Ultimately, this is the nature of this kind of work. Management makes their decision based on a variety of criteria. Their evaluation may have been different in this case, but there was consensus on other decisions through my time with the team.
Ken Campbell of
The Hockey News has a followup interview today.
“The person I reported (director of legal affairs/capologist John Sedgwick) to liked my work and the methodology behind it and believed in it,” Pfeffer told Campbell, “and there were others inside the team that didn’t believe in it and maybe had their mind made up about advanced stats. I think there’s been a bit of pushback from people in the NHL recently about this kind of stuff.”
Both the Canadiens, with Subban/Weber, and the Oilers with Hall/Larsson, went against the numbers guys when they made their deals.
Pfeffer said there is a lot of white noise out there with private companies telling teams that their analytics are superior to what the they have. “Analytics hasn’t really reached maturity in the NHL yet,” Pfeffer said. “Teams get a lot of different solutions and offers from people and companies and they just don’t know what’s what and they tend to lean conservative in those instances."
My takeaway from this? Just because Luca Sbisa had bad Corsi, it doesn't mean that he wouldn't still have value as a trade chip for the right team in the right situation. I feel like Detroit's a team where he could plausibly be a fit.
I never give much traction to the idea of trading Alex Edler because of his full no-trade clause, though it seems like the hockey boards have been trying to send him to the Red Wings for years, doesn't it?
Players like Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar don't have the grit factor that I think Jim Benning is looking for. But man, they've both scored some gorgeous goals. They're both good skaters—Tatar, I think, is more explosive, speed-wise—and they're the right age. Tatar is 25 and Nyquist is 26.
Both players saw their numbers dip in Jeff Blashill's first season behind the Red Wings bench, which is why they might now be expendable when that wouldn't have been an option a year or two ago.
It's a different set of pros and cons than the prospect of dealing for Kane—and once again, it's a question of market price and whether or not a deal can get done. Check out this
NHL Trade Tracker for the Red Wings. Traditionally, Ken Holland doesn't make many deals and when he does, they're almost always at the trade deadline.
It's well-known around these parts that the Florida Panthers have embraced the analytics movement, which seems to have led to some of their offseason wheeling and dealing. Already filled with talent and on the rise, they'll be an interesting test case this season—will they be better after the tweaks they've made, especially to their back end?
Ex-Canuck Jared McCann made a good impression last week, taking the opportunity to show his stuff and maybe earn a leg up among a crowded forward group by attending the team's development camp.
To wrap up today, I'll leave you with this story on Brock Boeser from the Canucks' development camp—talking about his decision to return to school and how he'll be focused on developing his leadership skills this year. Good stuff from Kevin Woodley.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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