cjsgro@watdragon.UUCP (Carlo Sgro) (03/05/86)
<Welcome to net.sport.hockey.waterloo. By the time this posting makes it out of the city, it will no doubt be joined by umpteen other postings by other Waterlooites. Well, at least it's getting lively!> Key: >>>>> and >>> = Gary Belleville; > = Tom Haapanen; >>>> and >> = me >>>>> < Donning Asbestos Suit > >>>> Damn right, Gary! :-) >>> It's getting mighty warm in here! :-) >> The sprinklers just went off! :-) >Hey, this is really starting to look like fun! Net.sport.hockey.flame, anyone? >>> And that fact has been ignored in the media's evaluation of Dahlin. > >> But you might here. I don't really think that Dahlin's relationship with >> the powerplay has been ignored. After all, Jeff originally stated that >> the large contribution that the power play made to Dahlin's stats was >> tainting his position. "tainting" meaning "warping". >That power play production should NOT taint his chances -- although it may. Of course. You shouldn't be penalized for something good that happens to you. This happens far too often in pro sports (especially when assessing pitching in various ballparks in baseball, but that's another newsgroup). >> ... I've only seen Richer twice this >> year (he's been injured quite a bit) but it seems like he is a very good >> player with a good sense for the open ice. Richer could possibly >> replace Smith but that's only because of the Canadiens' depth. > >In my opinion, had Richer not been injured, he would be a viable >candidate for the Calder as well. Flames on that one? My original comment on Richer was not strong enough. I agree with you on this one, Tom. > >>>>> The bottom line is Clark has spent far too much time in the penalty box. >> That's a fault of the Leafs, not a slight on Clark. >Compare his penalty total to Dahlin or Ridley... I don't see how this disagrees with my point on how the Leafs need someone to be aggressive for them. Dahlin and Ridley don't have that role (and NOT the goon role; has everyone forgotten my Terry O'Reilly comparison already?) with their teams because other players do it. >>And it won't be overlooked, either. I'm sure that there are plenty >>of people who will look at that -27 and faint. But he is a ROOKIE. >>Experience is a key when it comes to backchecking. Note that I tried >>to emphasize that point. Evidently I failed. > >We KNOW he's a rookie --- we ARE talking about the Calder trophy, >aren't we? It seems as though that fact got lost (or ignored) in previous postings. >OK, look at Clark's plus/minus and compare it to the other >Leafs. Now look at Dahlin's and Ridley's and compare them to the rest >of the Canadiens and Rangers. Do you still say Clark is good enough >defensively, EVEN AS A ROOKIE? Again, it goes back to his aggressiveness. His plus/minus won't be ignored but does his aggressiveness make up for it. I say yes. The Leafs simply would not be where they are if it were not for Wendel Clark. I know that we are not talking about "most valuable rookie" but maybe we should be. -- Carlo Sgro ...![ihnp4||decvax||allegra||clyde||utzoo]!watmath!watdragon!cjsgro "ihnp4 Express: Overnight to the USA or you don't pay!"
nwszcyrek@watnot.UUCP (nwszcyrek) (03/08/86)
> > > <Welcome to net.sport.hockey.waterloo. By the time this posting makes it > out of the city, it will no doubt be joined by umpteen other postings by > other Waterlooites. Well, at least it's getting lively!> > > Key: >>>>> and >>> = Gary Belleville; > = Tom Haapanen; >>>> and >> = Carlo Sgro > >>>>> < Donning Asbestos Suit > > >>>> Damn right, Gary! :-) > >>> It's getting mighty warm in here! :-) > >> The sprinklers just went off! :-) > >Hey, this is really starting to look like fun! > Net.sport.hockey.flame, anyone? Okay, I'll bite (although I think I better put on the Suit too). (Please humour the remarks you are about to read. They come to you from one who has only been reading the postings for one week.) After reading all the available postings on the subject of ROTY, I felt I should add another opinion to it. Right off the bat, I think that both Dahlin and Clarke are very good rookies and it's a shame that one of them won't cop the Calder. While it's true that I've seen more Leaf games than Habs games (much to my dismay), I've watched enough games with both players to draw adequate conclusions on both. Wendel Clarke has been the better of the two from about the halfway point of the season up-to-date. He's an exciting player to watch since his style of play resembles a bull in a china shop. If he takes the Stan Mikita approach (Mikita led the league in penalty minutes in his rookie season and then went on to capture two Lady Byng's) to let the rest of the league know he won't be pushed around, fine. Right now though, he is a little too reckless. I won't comment on his plus-minus stats since everyone else has thoroughly covered that topic. As for Dahlin, all the negative points about his scoring so many goals on the power-play bothers me. Has anyone noticed that the reason he is used on the power-play is that he's good enough to be out there! Usually a team puts out their best players in order to score (isn't that the point of a powerplay?). Anyway, for the first half of the season Dahlin was the most dominant rookie in the league. He still has to work on his defence and also try to be a little more consistant. > >> ... I've only seen Richer twice this > >> year (he's been injured quite a bit) but it seems like he is a very good > >> player with a good sense for the open ice. Richer could possibly > >> replace Smith but that's only because of the Canadiens' depth. > > > >In my opinion, had Richer not been injured, he would be a viable > >candidate for the Calder as well. Flames on that one? > My original comment on Richer was not strong enough. I agree with you on > this one, Tom. No flames here, either. Everyone seems to have forgotten that Richer was tied with Dahlin throughout the beginning of the season, before his injury. Since he has returned, he has not been quite as effective, unfortunately. Another Hab rookie seems to have been forgotten, Sergio Momesso. Before his injury, he was starting to show some offensive output to go along with his defensive prowess. He would have been a long-shot. As for the rest of the rookies in the league, Steve Thomas is pretty good but his chances for RYOT were virtually eliminated when the Leafs sent him down to the minors. I haven't seen enough of Mike Ridley, Per-Erik Eklund or either of the two Finnish Islander forwards (whose names escape me) to make any judgments. Hey, don't forget who does the balloting for this thing, the writers. The whole thing depends on how the writers outside the divisions of the above mentioned rookies vote. These people only get to see Clark and Dahlin three games out of the season. What tends to influence these writers are statistics. In most recent years, the player who has scored the most POINTS gets the majority of the votes (unless there happens to be an outstanding defenceman or goalie that year). (Flames, anyone?) Norman Szcyrek. (You only live life once...and sometimes not even then!)