PPP Podcast 13

Based on the season thus far there’s nothing wrong with his game.

How can you shoot him

He can take bullet like champion. Kessel not so much, so I vote him.

Gotta go with Kessel. Hope that doesn’t remove my Certified Grabbo Lover status.

Especially the first couple of minutes… most of the predictions were correct

thing and Colby Armstrong, you were wondering if it was on the strength of one season.

If you read the article on Hockey Prospectus, they list the top 10 for each of the previous 3 seasons, and Armstrong wasn’t in the top 10 in ANY of those 3 seasons. He ended up 20th on the combined list.

It wasn’t on the basis of results either, it was totally on the basis of his situational play, where he had a HLI Sit of 6.05, which tied him for the 6th most difficult of guys in the top 20 (alongside Alex Steen).

…when you said that Reimer is playing like Giguere did back when he was a good goalie.

My thoughts exactly, and that’s precisely why it’s great that we have Allaire. I’m sure that by working with him he can become that dominant as well. Question is, will he?

did Reimer’s ability to stop the puck on the PK add anything to the mix on the discussion?

Oddly the NHL.com website lists NO short handed shots against for Reimer… I’m trying to get the sv% but apparently that’s not possible right now.

to know if Armstrong has jumped up your lists in the Leafs game since this was recorded.

on the Kessel/Grabovski debate…

I’m not sure how it’s possible to say Kessel’s been better for even close to most of the season when he had a horrible stretch that lasted like 16 games… that’s almost 40% of the Leafs’ games this year.

And unlike Grabovski (who was picking up assists at the start of the year even if he wasn’t scoring goals), Kessel doesn’t seem to pick up helpers regularly when he isn’t scoring goals.

You guys left Schenn in the game way too long.

Did you guys leave out Orr? What’s our record when he has a fight in the game?

Here’s the order of elimination:
1. Lebda (Chemmy)
2. Orr (PPP)
3. Giguere (MF37)
4. Komisarek (Chemmy)
5. Brent (PPP)
6. Gustavsson (MF37)
7. Phaneuf (Chemmy)
8. Armstrong (PPP)
9. Crabb (MF37)
10. Sjostrom (Chemmy)
11. Boyce (PPP)
12. Beauchemin (MF37)
13. Bozak (Chemmy)
14. Kaberle (PPP)
15. MacArthur (MF37)

Chemmy decides to debate the rules…

16. Schenn (Chemmy)
17. Versteeg (PPP)
18. Kulemin (MF37)

(Or as Chemmy put it: If you had to shoot one of these players, which one would be spared?)

Why do Americans always boil things down to shooting someone?

I clicked on the podcast while sitting in front of the TV with my kids. I think it didn’t start at the right spot (maybe it did?), but within about 4 seconds I heard a “Jesus Christ” and “those assholes”. Not a family podcast, apparently.

Hey guys, my name is Ryan Popilchak and I’m the one who created the Heavy Lifter Index for HP.

Great podcast, I just thought I’d answer a few of your questions about how Colby Armstrong ranked so high.

For the 3 year ranking (which doesn’t include this season), he was definitely not a guy who made it by putting up huge results. He was tied for 5th in the difficulty of minutes he played but had the worst results in the top 20. Results are made up my socring differential, Corsi and penalty differential.

In 07-08 he ranked 21st, in 08-09 he ranked 32nd and in 09-10 he ranked 108th. The biggest difference between the first two seasons and his third was that his zone start rate jumped from 40% to 47%.

Some themes. His team’s outscore the opposition by roughly 0.5 goals per 60 minutes at evens. He hovers near even at Corsi rate despite ~40-47% zone starts. He consistently draws more penalties than he takes.

He definitely isn’t a player that has proven to light up the net like some of the guys on this list. However, he should be on a matchup line and consitently put up against the opposition’s best.

If you guys don’t want Colby – we’ll glad trade Olli Jokinen for him over at Matchsticks & Gasoline ;)

I should have mentioned that the 3-year ranking is cumulative. There are a lot of players who only qualified 2 out of 3 years. Armstrong makes 20th because he was consistently on the HLI list and definitely had 2 very good years.

Considering how Grabovski is destroying Kessel in this poll, maybe it’s time the Leafs put up a statue of Cliff Fletcher. We can invite Greg Pateryn to the unveiling.

In a vacuum, I take Kessel. I was leaning towards voting Kessel when I was listening to you guys elaborate on your reasoning, but it was when one of you (I forget who) suggested that you take whoever you guys picked out of the lineup for three games that I changed my mind. ‘Cause hockey’s not played in a vacuum – Grabovski has been part of one of the league’s hottest lines, whereas Kess…just hasn’t. I wouldn’t want to break up the chemistry the Funky Bunch have developed for anything.

[By the by, any of you seen the line-nickname poll going on at Broad Street Hockey? They’re voting on the best nickname for the Hartnell/Leino/Briere line and, with the exception of Two and a Half Men, it’s my humble opinion Clarkey Mark and the Funky Bunch are infinitely better.]

The bit about Komisarek had me on the floor.

great podcast..but I couldn’t tell who each person was speaking

And maybe it’s just me, but that’s not how I pictured you guys sounding. Not that it’s a bad thing I guess just reading comments I have a certain way in my head how I think you sound and I’m never right. I did the same thing with Bill Simmons the first time I heard him too. And is it just me or has anybody been pronouncing Chemmy with a CH sound not Kemmy? Or have I just not had enough to drink tonight?

Das Racist – Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)

Agreed with pretty much every pick Chemmy made, except I think that Schenn should have lasted longer than Versteeg, on the strength of Verbeauty’s brutal struggles at the start of the season.

Otherwise, the only quibble I have is that Beauchemin went too early. He has had some horrible giveaways, and I’ve been among those giving him grief for those miscues, but he has put in a large number of minutes against tough competition with not appalling defensive results.

Bozak, on the other hand, has clearly failed to take the next step this year and has often been invisible or worse for long stretches of play.

I think the results of the final poll would’ve been different, maybe a LOT different if Kessel could’ve managed to have scored just one goal against Boston this year.