evrydayimbyfuglien 600 Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 (edited) Felipe’s Argument for the VHLM’s Best Defenseman We all know who Black Velvet is. The VHLM’s goal and point leader and now rapper extraordinaire. Everyone knows he’s going to win all the hardware come awards time. We all know he’s destined to be the number one overall pick in the next VHL draft, and rightfully so. He deserves all the accolades he’s sure to get this offseason. How can you argue with the numbers? First in points, first in goals by 14, third in assists, top 25 in hits, he outshot everyone else by 80, and quite possibly the most impressive stat, 41 power play goals. In my previous article, I mentioned him being dangerous, especially with the man advantage, but to almost double second place in power play goals is ridiculous. I caught up with Felipe Rodriguez of the Saskatoon Wild to see what he thought of Black Velvet this season, here’s what he had to say: “He absolutely smoked everyone in the league. No doubt he’s the best player out there, offensively anyway. Not to take anything away from the guy, he’s an outstanding player, but I think the best defenseman award voting might be closer than you think. There are a couple guys out there, myself included, who are just as deserving of the award as Velvet. Give him the MVP, best defenseman should be someone who is more well rounded. All those points he got and only a plus 42 +/1? That means he was on the ice for 103 goals against. The team as a whole allowed 155 so he was on the ice for something like 66-67% of their goals against. Like I said, he’s an incredibly gifted defenseman, but mostly on offense. He’s a great guy to play with, I’ve been paired up with him a couple games now and it’s amazing to play alongside someone as offensively gifted as he is but he doesn’t deserve the best defenseman award.” Hearing this, we took a look at the more defensive numbers in the league and compared strictly Rodriguez and Velvet. The stat Flip argued was points versus +/-. What he failed to realize is that +/- doesn’t take power play points into account. So of Black Velvet’s 145 points, 73 of them were on the power play. We’re only concerned with even strength play here. Velvet had 72 even strength points, had a plus 42 rating, and Yukon gave up 120 even strength goals. This means he was on the ice for 30 of their even strength goals or 25%. Flip got 117 points this season, 80 at even strength and was plus 40. So he was on the ice for 40 even strength goals against. Saskatoon as a whole allowed 118 even strength goals. This means Rodriguez was on the ice for about 33.9% of Saskatoon’s goals against while playing 41, or just under 2 games worth, more minutes on the year than Velvet. Flip still might have a valid point there, but it’s not as drastic as he was making it seem. Another statistic that could be used to compare here would be hits. This is pretty much a wash, 121 to 116 in favor of Velvet. Hits taken, however, has a 16 hit difference in favor or Velvet, meaning he took 16 less hits than Rodriguez on the year. One last stat that could be used as an argument for the best defenseman would be blocked shots, and this one isn’t even close. Flip helped his team out by blocking a league leading 162 shots while Black Velvet seemed more interested in generating shots of his own and didn’t eclipse the three digit mark registering only 93 blocked shots. There you have it. Felipe apparently doesn’t think that Velvet should be getting the best defenseman award, though his logic is a bit flawed, it’s still a valid point. Edited February 17, 2016 by evrydayimbyfuglien Kesler and Ahma 2 Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/28290-claimedargument-for-vhlms-best-defenseman-reviewed/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgins 3,618 Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 1st overall draft picks don't block shots, give your head a shake Felipe! You also omitted the most important stat eaglesfan036 1 Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/28290-claimedargument-for-vhlms-best-defenseman-reviewed/#findComment-312440 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel 565 Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Heres my comparison Black Velvet: Has slow southern style Rodriguez: Hasn't got slow southern style Draw your own conclusions Kendrick and Higgins 2 Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/28290-claimedargument-for-vhlms-best-defenseman-reviewed/#findComment-312441 Share on other sites More sharing options...
evrydayimbyfuglien 600 Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 52 minutes ago, Higgins said: 1st overall draft picks don't block shots, give your head a shake Felipe! You also omitted the most important stat Whatever that image was, didn't load for me. And I know, I'm not saying you should be blocking shots, if you did, I'd have nothing to argue lol Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/28290-claimedargument-for-vhlms-best-defenseman-reviewed/#findComment-312457 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgins 3,618 Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 9 minutes ago, evrydayimbyfuglien said: Whatever that image was, didn't load for me. And I know, I'm not saying you should be blocking shots, if you did, I'd have nothing to argue lol It was a pic of the hat tricks leaderboard haha Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/28290-claimedargument-for-vhlms-best-defenseman-reviewed/#findComment-312464 Share on other sites More sharing options...
evrydayimbyfuglien 600 Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 Just now, Higgins said: It was a pic of the hat tricks leaderboard haha I think you had a 3 game hat trick streak, too. I blame the system I was playing in hahaha Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/28290-claimedargument-for-vhlms-best-defenseman-reviewed/#findComment-312465 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyinAmerica 2,889 Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Claimed Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/28290-claimedargument-for-vhlms-best-defenseman-reviewed/#findComment-312542 Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoldenGhore 17 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Very enjoyable article man haha. The way you are able to write is awesome, I wish I had you're talent. Everything flows so well. Also I love you're players name, very original! No grammar mistakes at all, and 715 words so that puts a smile on my face! Look forward to playing against you one day. Cheers! Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/28290-claimedargument-for-vhlms-best-defenseman-reviewed/#findComment-314076 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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