Thoughts on the case of AirRig GoodBrandSun and the lack of hits and defensive play

[Rhynex Entertainment 481]

Thoughts on the case of AirRig GoodBrandSun and the lack of hits and defensive play

 

A question arisen as we looked at the career, as of so far, of Calgary Wranglers’ star defenseman AirRig GoodBrandSun @Rhynex Entertainment. What is wrong with AirRig GoodBrandSun’s defensive game?

AirRig GoodBrandSun was a former Jake Wylde Trophy winner as a rookie defenseman back in Season 83 when he had his VHL debut. Jake Wylde Trophy winner signifies a tremendous attitude toward defense, being the defensive defenseman of the year for a reason. AirRig GoodBrandSun had a terrific defensive season in Season 83, where he posted a remarkable 177 hits, 198 shots blocked and only 112 PIM sin bin minutes, while grabbing a +30 plus - minus rating as the Calgary Wranglers top defense in Season 83. An incredible feat for a rookie!

 

However, things went downhill from there. AirRig GoodBrandSun could have said to have had a sophomore slump season in Season 84, where he posted a lackluster 106 hits and 128 shots blocked with a +24 plus – minus rating. AirRig GoodBrandSun did had a terrific season away from the sin bin, however, with only 80 PIM. It was a terrible season for AirRig GoodBrandSun in terms of defensive efficiency and offensive output.

 

Pro season three came along in Season 85, a so called explosive breakout season for AirRig GoodBrandSun. Well, offensively that is. AirRig GoodBrandSun was terrific offensively in the regular season of Season 85, but defensively, he was questionable in comparison. 160 hits was decent but deficient for a 6’8’’, big, “stay at home” defenseman. That was what his job description was in his draft season in the Season 83 VHL entry draft. AirRig GoodBrandSun had also an even worse category, shot blocking. 123 shots blocked, a VHL career low! AirRig did post a career high +36 in plus – minus rating, but that’s a team stat, not a very good individual defensive rating component. Plus it appears quite lacking when you compare the number to previous seasons when you add the offensive output to the equation. AirRig GoodBrandSun more than doubled his offensive points production in Season 85 compared to Season 84, but only had a 50% increase to the plus – minus rating. Truly a display of an unimpressive defensive effort?

 

And here comes the forth pro season, Season 86. AirRig GoodBrandSun’s first big boy money season. As of right now, thru 25 games, AirRig GoodBrandSun is on pace to perhaps match Season 85 in offensive points production and plus – minus rating numbers. Not very good, but also not terrible. But then you look at the defensive side of the game. 54 shots blocked. That’s pretty nice! Not Top Ten in the VHL, but team leading. 28 PIM sin bin minutes, that’s not too terrible, just over a minute a game. And 18 hits. Wait did I hear. Read. See that correctly? 18 hits. Yes, 18 hits. That’s second worst on the Calgary Wranglers, with only forward Sax Justice @Eso having less with 10 hits! 18 HITS as a big 6’8’’ defenseman, playing top pairing minutes in all and every possible situation for the Calgary Wranglers. An unbelievable brilliant stat! 18 hits is the 34^th lowest in the VHL so far in Season 86. An eye opening statistically feat for a big time defenseman!

 

So what is wrong with AirRig GoodBrandSun’s defensive game? It could be many things. 62 checking is 3^rd highest on the Calgary Wranglers. Is that one of the reasons toward a lack of hits and ineffective defense? Well 91 Defense Rating puts AirRig 2^nd on the Wranglers, so defensively he should be a shining star. Could it be his usage and pairing? AirRig GoodBrandSun has been seen playing with sophomore defensive passing defenseman, and hard hitter Phil Strasmore @Phil. On top of that, AirRig GoodBrandSun is usually on the ice with Calgary Wranglers Captain and Superstar forward Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser who is second on team checking and first on team defensive rating. Daniel Janser and Phil Strasmore are 1^st and 2^nd on the team for Hits so far this season in Season 86. This could very well be a possibility. But. It should not have such a tremendous effect that causes AirRig GoodBrandSun to hit only 18 times. Maybe he’s just soft. Yeah, AirRig GoodBrandSun is just a big o’le softie. That’s got to be it! But AirRig GoodBrandSun got himself in front of 54 shots to make those shot blocks! Do “soft” players do that? I’m not sure. You tell me! Oh, I know, it could be because Phil Strasmore and Daniel Janser are just too fast and ends up stealing all the hits from AirRig GoodBrandSun. You know how big defenseman are like. Big and slow. AirRig GoodBrandSun is tied as the Calgary Wranglers’ best skater and puck handler. AirRig trumps both Daniel Janser and Phil Strasmore in the skating category. AirRig shouldn’t have a problem getting those hits in with that skating ability…

 

But. Could it really be Skating being the cause of concern to AirRig GoodBrandSun’s lackluster defensive game? We asked former VHL forward and current AGM of the Warsaw Predators, @Rhynex Entertainment, for his opinion.

 

“There could be a lot of reasons but AirRig GoodBrandSun’s defensive game struggles. I cannot say or pin point the reasons, but when you compare AirRig’s first season as a rookie to his next three seasons, you will see a certain trait that separates AirRig from his rookie Jake Wylde trophy winning season and his following three season. And this trait is Skating. AirRig GoodBrandSun was a terrible skater as a rookie. His Strength, Puck Handling, Defense were all leaps and bounds better than his skating in Season 83. There were locker room rumours suggesting that AirRig did not like how slow and stumbly he skates, therefore he worked really hard on his skating over the Season 83 – 84 off season. The added Skating gave AirRig GoodBrandSun an added satisfaction to his game. Season 84 was a “getting used to it” season where he wasn’t “used to” his new found skating ability. Thus the lack of offensive production, but also a very efficient game avoiding the penalty box. However, as AirRig GoodBrandSun improved his Skating, the more he began to impress and the more elegant his game became. Thus the more we saw AirRig GoodBrandSun skating around during the game and the less we see him hitting things. No longer is there a stumbly AirRig GoodBrandSun, but a smooth skaking one instead. That is my opinion.”

 

What are your thoughts to the question, what is wrong with AirRig GoodBrandSun’s defensive game? Let us here your thoughts below (in the comments’ section )

 

[Word Count 1116]

[Claim for weeks ending 2022-11-27 and 2022-12-04]

 

[Rhynex Entertainment 481]

Claim for week ending 2022-12-04

[Spartan 4,402]

9 minutes ago, Rhynex Entertainment said:

What are your thoughts to the question, what is wrong with AirRig GoodBrandSun’s defensive game?

So looking at CGY's lines, AirRig plays with Phil Strasmore, who is even more physical than AirRig. You can see the same issue with Max Torq over in Malmo (and I've chatted with @Steve about this as well in his case), where when a physical defenseman plays with another more physical defenseman, there are simply less hits to go around. Add in that you likely play a large amount of minutes with Daniel Janser who leads CGY in hits, there just aren't chances for you to hit someone. By the time your team doesn't have possession anymore, either Janser or Strasmore has already gone to lay the body on them.

[Rhynex Entertainment 481]

7 minutes ago, Spartan said:

So looking at CGY's lines, AirRig plays with Phil Strasmore, who is even more physical than AirRig. You can see the same issue with Max Torq over in Malmo (and I've chatted with @Steve about this as well in his case), where when a physical defenseman plays with another more physical defenseman, there are simply less hits to go around. Add in that you likely play a large amount of minutes with Daniel Janser who leads CGY in hits, there just aren't chances for you to hit someone. By the time your team doesn't have possession anymore, either Janser or Strasmore has already gone to lay the body on them.

So it's Daniel and Phil's fault  and not AirRig just being too fancy with his skating 

[Steve 1,920]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

You can see the same issue with Max Torq over in Malmo

Gandhi would get more hits than Max. 

[Steve 1,920]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

So looking at CGY's lines, AirRig plays with Phil Strasmore, who is even more physical than AirRig. You can see the same issue with Max Torq over in Malmo (and I've chatted with @Steve about this as well in his case), where when a physical defenseman plays with another more physical defenseman, there are simply less hits to go around. Add in that you likely play a large amount of minutes with Daniel Janser who leads CGY in hits, there just aren't chances for you to hit someone. By the time your team doesn't have possession anymore, either Janser or Strasmore has already gone to lay the body on them.

So are all skills like that? If you are paired with lines that have more of everything you will score less, hit less, block shots less, get poor gas mileage?

[Spartan 4,402]

4 minutes ago, Steve said:

So are all skills like that? If you are paired with lines that have more of everything you will score less, hit less, block shots less, get poor gas mileage?

I don't think any are as extreme as checking since you only have so many opportunities to hit a player. Scoring sometimes can be a tricky one depending on attributes, but just thinking back to Moscow from S80-84, I've seen elite forwards play well together. Godlander and Kotkakoivu on PRG this season are also doing well together. I think there are a lot of factors at play as to who will "lead" a team in any one category, but generally you'll find the people who have the most TPE invested into certain attributes will find themselves performing better in those aspects than those with less invested.

[Scurvy 1,488]

I feel your Pain buddy….. Payne isn’t performing well either after a great season last year.  

 

 

Payne 

[Daniel Janser 2,169]

1 minute ago, Scurvy said:

I feel your Pain buddy….. Payne isn’t performing well either after a great season last year.  

 

 

Payne 

I see what you did there