People often focus too much on scoring when it comes to defensemen. I think Bobby Orr created this expectation that defensemen should also score. So with Pavel Kubina's recent scoring splurge, fans are having second thoughts about his usefulness. The same can be said for Anton Stralman after his 2 goal performance against Montreal. I like to look at =/- stats. How do they perform in 5 on 5 situations. Here is the ranking of Leaf defenders.
Wozneiski; 48 games +5
Kubina; 69 games +4
McCabe; 51 games +3
Kronwell; 15 games +1
Colaiacovo; 28 games -4
White; 71 games -7
Stralman; 47 games -7
Kaberle; 79 games -8
It seems the defensemen you are most likely to get rid of are a plus while the "keepers" are a minus. Why is that? No clue. Maybe the stay at home defensemen fair better than the rushing defensemen.
12 years ago
