As we continue our 30 teams in 30 days work here at Illegal Curve, I am also doing some previews over at Puck Prospectus. Tampa Bay was the first preview I was assigned, and here is the preview. Here is an excerpt: After a fairly disastrous 2008-09 season, the Tampa Bay Lightning can only move [...]
For those of you who weren’t able to access the boom/bust piece I linked on Wednesday because you don’t have ESPN Insider, the column is now available at Puck Prospectus–just without E.J. Hradek’s take at the end. Here’s an excerpt: Trending Up: RW Nathan Horton Last Season: + 3.8 GVT | VUKOTA Projection: + 9.0 [...]
As part of my responsibilities at Puck Prospectus, I wrote five mini-pieces for ESPN.com discussing which players are expected to trend upwards and which players are expected to trend downwards next season. The projections are based on a new Puck Prospectus stat called VUKOTA (similar to PECOTA for baseball). I was responsible for the Southeast [...]
This week at Puck Prospectus, I examined the top remaining unrestricted free agent forwards on the market according to the goals-versus-threshold statistic. Here is an excerpt: 4. Manny Malhotra (GVT 4.7) Remember when Manny Malhotra was drafted early in the first round by the New York Rangers and pegged as the next great two-way center? [...]
This week at Puck Prospectus, I examined the best remaining defensemen on the free agent market according to goals-versus-threshold (GVT). 1. Brendan Bell (GVT 4.6) Last season, Brendan Bell dressed in 53 games for the Ottawa Senators and tallied a respectable 21 points. His points-per-game of 0.39, spread out over an 82-game season, would have [...]
This week at Puck Prospectus, I examined the top five remaining unrestricted free agent players according to the goals-versus-threshold statistic (a stat similar to VORP for those who follow baseball). Here is an excerpt: 1. Martin Biron (GVT 14.3) After being dispatched from Philadelphia in favor of Ray Emery, Martin Biron still finds himself as an [...]
Over at Puck Prospectus, I joined the rest of the crew and decided which signing has been the best since free agency began only two days ago. Here is an excerpt: Greg Zanon–Minnesota Wild (3 Years, $5.8 Million); With the market bordering on insanity, the Wild did well to pick up a solid defenseman whose [...]
In this week’s contribution at Puck Prospectus, I examined the draft day deals that included draft picks. While at the Draft, I was surprised by how many draft picks changed hands on both Friday and Saturday. So, I decided to evaluate all sixteen trades over the weekend that included strictly draft picks changing hands on [...]