Posts Tagged ‘Rene Bourque’

Ushering in a New Generation: Calgary Flames

In our newest feature, Ushering in a New Generation, our talented writer Katlyn Gambill takes a deeper look into team success based on a player’s age. Today, she looks at the Calgary Flames, who are for the ninth oldest team in the league.

As the ninth oldest NHL team, the Calgary Flames have a team average 27.91 years.

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Restoring the Rosters: Chicago Blackhawks

Matthew Pouliot’s series on Circling the Bases, I have decided restore the rosters for every NHL team. Like Pouliot, I have established some ground rules for my selections.

1. Each team contains players they originally drafted or signed before any other NHL team. This includes players drafted and not signed, as well as European free agents coming over at an older age.
2. I have chosen to leave retired players off the list, and lean toward players in the AHL rather than those deported (KHL, SEL, DEL, etc.).

Essentially I am choosing the best available players for a team to succeed in the current NHL season. All 30 teams will be covered, with grades assigned to forwards, defense and goaltending. After all 30 articles are written, they will be ranked in order. This series’ intent is to reward or shame NHL scouts.

Due to excellent drafting over the last couple of years, the Blackhawks have restocked the cupboard nicely.  The core established on their current roster is mostly homegrown with players with free agent signings filling out a few spots.  Both their forwards and defensive units feature high end talent as well as solid depth.

The lineup for the Chicago Blackhawks is as follows.

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Cost Efficiency: Rich Peverley, best player in hockey?

Well maybe our headline is taking it a bit too far, but you can’t get a better player for your money.  Claimed off waivers last year from the Predators the 27-year-old now has 59 points in 58 games for the Thrashers. The undrafted free agent recently signed a 2 year contract worth a total of 2.6 million a modest raise from his current 487,500 cap hit.

Since he makes 487,500 this year, as a technicality we can put his stats over his salary to determine his cost-per-point production.  Prior to joining Nashville, Pevs was a point-per-game player in the AHL showing glimpses of his potential.  If the graduate from St. Lawrence University continues his pace, he may be one of the greatest bargains of all time.

He averages a goal for every 61K he makes, a small value in comparison to Dany Heatley’s 441K per goal.  The center assists on a goal for every 33K paid, making Joe Thornton’s 300K per assist look like a king’s ransom. Peverley’s 22K per point is 15K less than the next player James Neal, who is coming off an entry level contract himself.  Nobody can compare to his proverbial bang for the buck.

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