NHL Offseason: All 10 weeks of it

[Asher]

The problem I see with the Oilers lineup is I don't see a single goalscorer that could reliably get pucks past the likes of Kiprusoff and Luongo. I see a bunch of decent guys who are good against decent goaltenders, and a talentless goon who scores goal by parking his smelly ass infront of the goal and hoping the puck hits him on the way in.

[notyoueither]

They did a fine job of that last year (get pucks past anybody you want to stand in the pipes). They're better this year.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Asher
and a talentless goon who scores goal by parking his smelly ass infront of the goal and hoping the puck hits him on the way in.

Don't you wish the Flames had a guy like that who could score more goals than Iggy?

[notyoueither]

Sutter would give his left nut to get a player like Smyth.

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Don't you wish the Flames had a guy like that who could score more goals than Iggy?

No -- his salary is too high, he's not a good two-way player, he's not fast enough, he's a minus player, his goals are all results of him getting tons of icetime and tons of cherrypicking opportunities.

I'm not a fan of Smyth at all, I find it to be lazy hockey.

He's got 1 more goal than Iginla and 2 less assists, by the way. But the more important stat is +/-, and if you actually watch the two play, you can see how one is a real hockey player and one is a gutsy by lumbering idiot.

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Sutter would give his left nut to get a player like Smyth.

Not a chance, he's a defensive idiot. Sutter likes guts, but not as much as he likes players who know how to play defensively.

Edit: Smyth had all of 28 hits all season. Iggy's 105.

[notyoueither]

Not a good two-way player? That's why he was killing penalties last year with Peca in the lineup, yes?

The more important stat, by the salary, is that he has more goals than Iggy at half the salary.

You're not a fan of Smyth because he's an Oiler. Were he a Flame you would want his children after he picks up his teeth, gets his mouth sewn up, and comes back to set up a winning goal in a playoff game.

The man is not Jagr, but he's got grit and gets results. I thought that was Sutter hockey.

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Not a good two-way player? That's why he was killing penalties last year with Peca in the lineup, yes?

He's not a good two-way player.

That's why he's a minus player. That's why he doesn't hit anyone.

The more important stat, by the salary, is that he has more goals than Iggy at half the salary.

He has one more goal, and Iggy admittedly had an off year.

You've got to be a big idiot if you honestly want to compare offensive potential of Iginla vs Smyth...

And if you want to talk about who a better two-way player is...

Smyth wouldn't fit in on a Sutter team. He's lazy and he's slow. A Sutter team isn't just one that has grit, it's one that buys into the system, tries hard, hits the hell out of everyone, etc. Smyth has grit, but that's it.

[notyoueither]

+ player in 3 of the last 5 years.

Oh, sorry. 4 of the last 5 years.

[notyoueither]

And Iggy got double the salary for 1 less goal. Good deal for the Flames.

[notyoueither]

Meanwhile, Iggy is minus in 2 of the last 5 years.

Hmmm.

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither
And Iggy got double the salary for 1 less goal. Good deal for the Flames.

As I said, he was overpaid for his production last season.

But still, I've no idea why you're arguing this. Ryan Smyth isn't anywhere close to being the quality player Iginla is. You can keep arguing goals in Smyth's career year vs Iginla's slumpy year and ignoring all the other stats, but that doesn't make it correct.

And I don't hate him because he's an Oiler, I quite like a lot of Oilers including Lupul (who helped eliminate Calgary...). Also like Pisani and Horcoff.

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Meanwhile, Iggy is minus in 2 of the last 5 years.

Hmmm.

Now you're just being silly. Iggy's performance in Calgary prior to the team we had 2003 is a damn thing to be proud of.

And since we're looking at stats over the past 5 years...:

Goals:
- Smyth: 31 + 15 + 27 + 23 + 36 = 132
- Iginla: 31 + 52 + 35 + 41 + 35 = 194

+/-
- Smyth: +28
- Iginla: +41

This is difficult for you being a history major and all, but in the science-y fields we prefer to make what are called "fair comparisons". That is, the criteria will remain identical for all items in the comparison, we don't pick and choose timeframes as it suits us.

PS: It's interesting to note that Smyth was still a minus player in the playoffs. He was -2 in Edmonton's playoff run to Game 7 of the finals, Iginla was +12 in Calgary's run to game 7 of the finals the year before -- Iginla also scored 13 goals vs Smyth's 7.

[notyoueither]

Iggy got the same number of goals 2 seasons ago. Is he going to tank every 2nd season?

Whether you like him or not, Smyth is a Sutter kind of player.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Asher

Now you're just being silly. Iggy's performance in Calgary prior to the team we had 2003 is a damn thing to be proud of.

And since we're looking at stats over the past 5 years...:

Goals:
- Smyth: 31 + 15 + 27 + 23 + 36 = 132
- Iginla: 31 + 52 + 35 + 41 + 35 = 194

+/-
- Smyth: +28
- Iginla: +41

This is difficult for you being a history major and all, but in the science-y fields we prefer to make what are called "fair comparisons". That is, the criteria will remain identical for all items in the comparison, we don't pick and choose timeframes as it suits us.

But you do pay a lot of attention to seasons before the rules changed.

Iggy was disappointing, sort of like Big Bert was a bust last year.

You're not the least bit worried?