Any rational human being that has watched the Rangers play over the last couple of years would suggest that. It's just a fact.
Ok, here is a FACT for you. Derek Stepan had a putrid 8.5 shooting percentage of 199 shots on goal this season. When you include his dozens and dozens of shots hitting the glass that aren't even considered shots on goal, the percentage would plummet even further. The only forward on the team with at lease 100 shots that did worse was Brad Richards' 7.7 percentage off 259 shots. Where is he now? Incredibly, DEFENSEMAN Ryan McDonough had a 7.9 percentage off 177 shots.
Again, among those who had 82 Shots (One shot per game) Derek Stepan, our first line center ranked 94th in the league in shot percentage. http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats....CALL&viewName=shooting&sort=shootingPctg&pg=4
More basic, his 17 goals in 82 games played ranks Stepan 55th in the league among centers last year. He is outscored by more than 85% of the NHL's second line centers.
Using shots on goal to evaluate a pass-first center man. Brilliant. Of course, if you just go by points, he ranks in the top 30. So by the standards you've laid forth that would make him not only a good hockey player, but a first line center.
Matt Lombardi C 2 years/1.6mil (3rd line center) 5' 11" and 32 years old with solid NHL experience, strengthes are his speed and penalty killing, led the Swedish league in scoring last season
I clearly said shot percentage, not shots. Furthermore, the next time you complain about how this team does not score enough goals, remind yourself of your brilliance which is our first line center is a pass specialist.
You're still using goal scoring statistics to evaluate a playmaker. It's just silly cherry picking on your part to try and justify a wrong opinion. But if this is the hill you want to die on, all we have to do is look back to the previous season to see where Stepan fell in these ranks. 10th among all centers (23rd overall) in shooting percentage 6th (18th overall) in goals. By the way, as someone who advocated trading Stepan+ for Ryan Kesler, you'll get a kick out of this one: First 4 NHL seasons: Stepan: .25 goals per game, 11.4 shot percentage Kesler: .16 goals per game, 9.6 shot percentage When you combine that with his playmaking (15th in assists this year, 12th last year), and defense (very positive relative corsi for % despite facing toughest matchups among all NYR forwards), he's a pretty damn good hockey player. And that's probably why he's still on the team.
He was a good little player before concussions destroyed his game a few years ago. Definitely worth the gamble on a 2 way deal.
Low risk, high reward...like Pou and Dom Moore...tells you what they think of JT Miller...my son thinks Staal and Miller packaged in a deal, probably to the Black Hawks
Darren Dreger @DarrenDreger Lee Stempniak is closing in on a 1 yr agreement with the NY Rangers. Off-season is slowly getting better.
Stempniak averaged 41 points a season the last 4 years, nice replacement for Pou, also a PKer and has speed and throws the body
