Intangibles in the NHL - Top 75 - Scott Cullen says Oilers are the worst

Scott Cullen just put up a blog article talking about intangibles and the kind of "unsung heroes" formula that TSN.ca uses to rank their players.

Here is the article:

Intangibles are always touted as part of the reason for a team's success, yet they are invariably awarded in hindsight, after a team has won something significant.

That doesn't stop countless people from e-mailing me to extoll the virtues of heart, chemistry and teamwork. While I'm not going to go so far as to say this is a way to find the players who play that heart-and-soul, body-sacrificing game.

As part of the TSN.ca player ranking formula, there is an attempt to quantify the intangible element by addressing statistical categories like hits, blocked shots, giveaways, takeaways and faceoffs.

At the very least, it helps to identify some of the unsung hero types who contribute in ways that don't typically show up on the scoresheet.

Shotblocking defencemen and grinding forwards, this one's for you!

Here are some of the results to this point in the season:

Here's the link - click.

First of all, a few observations:

• Brooks Orpik is the most "unsung hero" in the NHL, according to the list
  
• only 30 of the top 75 are Western Conference players
• 5 of the top 10 are Western Conference players
• the list includes no Oilers
• the list includes no Flames (really? no Robyn Regehr?)
• the list includes three Islanders - Trent Hunter, Brendan Witt, and Mark Streit
  
• the list includes two Red Wings - Pavel Datsyuk and Brad Stuart
• the list includes one Shark - Douglas Murray
  
• former Oilers Matt Greene and Jason Smith are in the top 30
• former Oiler Jarret Stoll is #52
• Erik Cole and Steve Staios lead the Oilers in "intangible points" according to the list
• the bottom 25 ranks 3 Oilers among the worst: Robert Nilsson, Ales Hemsky, and Sam Gagner - with Ales Hemsky and Sam Gagner on the very bottom of the list, #2 and #1 respectively
  

Conclusions:

1. there is a clear Eastern Conference bias - seeing as how you need to add the total Sharks and Red Wings to match the number of Islanders on the list; there is a clear "big market" bias - as seen that there are no Albertan teams on this list, teams that are known for their defense-first style
2. according to the list, the Oilers are on crack to have traded away Jarret Stoll, Jason Smith, and Matt Greene
   
3. anybody who ranks Robert Nilsson on the bottom of an intangible list has not watched him play: this kid backchecks every time he's on the ice
4. according to the list, Sam Gagner is indeed as bad as I've been saying he is
5. Steve Staios being ranked higher than Denis Grebeshkov seems fishy
6. according to the list, we should re-sign Erik Cole
   

Inconsistencies:

1. if Ales Hemsky is so bad when he's on the ice, what explains his Corsi number? Jonathan Willis wrote on this a while back
2. if Ales Hemsky is so bad when he's on the ice, what explains the fact that entire team plays better when he's in the lineup than when he's not?
3. how are there 4 NY Islanders ranked higher than Nilsson, Hemksy, and Gagner?

Further impressions:

• someone needs to do a statistical analysis about these results, with Corsi numbers, QUALCOMP, and (+/-)
• TSN.ca needs to talk about what formula they're using to determine these numbers because - (1) if the numbers are right, we can figure out what's wrong with the Oilers and (2) if the numbers are wrong, then the bias is as obvious as the results they give
  
• yes, the Oilers are inconsistent and they are sometimes bad defensively - but not THAT BAD
  
• Scott Cullen is on crack

Baptism by Hemsky Volume 3

The name says it all.

Oilers 4 Blue Jackets 3

Baptism by Hemsky (Version 2)

Now that's what I call a leader: Hemsky taking the hit to make the play. In this circumstance, his pass went between the two defenders and out of the zone, but how often does he miss a pass? Does it happen more than once or twice a period? Once or twice a game?

The defensive coverage was a tad slow tonight but the offensive awareness was definitely there. I don't believe all that stuff about the Glenn Anderson night giving them a boost because the Oilers have historically played pretty poorly in those ceremonial games.

Big game by Moreau with the HAT TRICK as well. Congratulations on the first career hat trick Mr. Moreau. Cole and Penner had a ton of chances, and Gilbert looked great.

Expect DesLauriers to get the start in Columbus so he can get in a game before the All-Star Break, which is 6 days long for Edmonton.

Most importantly, the Oilers are back in the playoff picture, at 8th place, and with 2 games on Vancouver. The bad news: so does Columbus and they are one point behind Edmonton. The good news: if the Oilers and Blue Jackets make the 7th and 8th western conference spots, the dreadful Canucks will take Sundin, Ohlund, and the rest of the rejects to the golf course. And that's a feeling that would be simply priceless.

Going Downhill Fast

Yikes.

Zach Stortini, that must've hurt. I refrained from putting up an image of Stortini injuring his leg because I'm a big Zach Stortini fan and seeing what happened makes me kind of sick to my stomach.

But in other news, Sheldon Souray is injured as well. On top of the Hemsky and Pisani injuries, and with Horcoff playing hurt (and probably Staios too), this team is going downhill and downhill fast. Not because the team doesn't want to win and it's not like the whole team isn't performing. But the team has not played as an entire unit since the Nashville game and scarcely before that.

Stortini may not shoot out the lights, but he's the kind of guy on your team that is willing to do all the things that nobody else is willing to do. Who else is going to take out the trash?

Don't take this the wrong way. I love MacIntyre and Strudwick. But Huggy Bear is a very character guy who actually shows up every damn shift and he's not somebody you're worried about playing against the other team's more skilled players because he's good at getting the puck out of the defensive zone as well.

Out of lineup: Souray, Hemsky, Pisani, Stortini
Playing hurt: Horcoff, Staios

The Oilers better do something and do something fast.

Somebody call Tambellini. Let's make a move. If we don't do something quick, we might as well give up on the season and pack it in for John Tavares. The Islanders already have a head-start on us. Crap.

Puck Control, Puck Movement, Puck Possession

The Detroit Red Wings showed that they were men playing among boys today when they faced off against the Chicago Blackhawks. The score is a lot closer than would accurately dictate how the puck was being controlled.

When even the skilled young guns of the up-and-coming Chicago Blackhawks powerhouse had trouble moving the puck around outside on the frozen rink, the Detroit Red Wings had no trouble carrying out their same puck possession style that works effectively both as a offensive tool and a defensive deterrent for goals.

The athletes who play for the Detroit Red Wings are not supermen from Krypton, but they do have all the right weapons. Supermen or not, they do however, follow a game plan well.

Do the Oilers have all the right weapons?

The Oilers have all the right weapons:

great puck-moving defensemen

physical grinders who provide secondary scoring

skilled wingers

goaltending depth (which doubles as a curse on this team, for some reason)

effective scouting department

The jury is still out on whether Horcoff is a legitimate #1 center. The two camps, affirmative or negative, will have watched the last few games and seen the Oilers and their lack of puck movement and puck control.

If it's not the arsenal then it has to be the game plan, for which the Oilers have unfortunately been given a defunct version.

One of the obvious reasons is the lack of a certain #83 Ales Hemsky. But the lack of one player cannot seriously cripple a team unless the team was already too reliant on that single player in the first place.

The difference between the Red Wings and the Oilers?

Puck movement and puck control seem like obvious answers - but are they?

In the off-season Lowe and MacTavish were talking about moving towards being a better puck possession and skill-first team like the Detroit Red Wings. This was apparent in the home opener when the Oilers D were jumping up on every rush, being activated again and again which led to an early season lead in the Oilers scoring stats by Grebeshkov and Souray.

Things have trailed off since then.

Let's look at this team without the most important puck carrying component, Ales Hemsky, who is missing from the lineup. The Oilers still move the puck and control it, nonetheless.

But is it effective for what they want to achieve - a puck possession game?

Sure, it's easy to say "you're just a critic in an armchair" and perhaps you're right. You could also refute that by saying "the Oilers are a young team" that panics a lot and needs more experience, which would have elements of truth in it as well.

But the bottom line is, when the army's weapons are all there, its up to the General to use them affectively. We have so many "role-players" on this team - the Horcoff's, Souray's, Moreau's, Cole's, Pisani's, and Visnovsky's, who would be sufficient to show the young guns - the Brodziak's, Gagner's, Nilsson's, and Stortini's - how to play into their own roles better.

If the Oilers are so gifted in the skills department, and so loaded in the leadership department, the only logical conclusion is that our team strategies are not up to snuff. This is not singularly a critique of Craig MacTavish, don't get me wrong. The quality of assistant coaches (or lack thereof) may also be important factors which are influencing everything from our 5v5 breakouts to our special teams futility.

The difference between the Red Wings and the Oilers?

Puck movement and puck control seem like obvious answers - and they are.

The Oilers only seem capable of north-south breakouts and its no wonder the team had trouble finding a place for a guy like Erik Cole to play. When you watch the Red Wings play, the puck support and what guys do at the blue line to avoid going off side - all the little things - they add up.

The Oilers' desired sum is a complete hockey team that knows how to pursue a strategy of puck possession.

Puck movement and control are just words unless puck possession is the outcome, and the fact is the Oilers have trouble gaining neutral ice, let alone the opposition zone, on most nights.

Are the Oilers skilled enough? Damn right they are.

Yet we are still struggling. Who the hell knows for sure why?

I can suggest a few things that can fix it and it rhymes with "Sire MacTavish and Lowe" and starts with an "F".