WJC Scoring, a VHL Translation

[HenrikZoiderberg 469]

As the end of the round robin stage of the S67 WJC approaches, three young players have emerged as this year's tournment frontrunners for the scoring lead; two from underrated team Europe, and one from the universally appreciated team Canada. 

 

From the Seattle Bears, Henrik Zoiderberg. From the Malmo Nighthawks, Lucas Nygren @Advantage. And from the Calgary Wranglers, Cody Smith @cody73

 

 

While these three players have been similar in their production through the tournament, that success hasn't necessarily translated the same way in the big leagues. For those of you not up to date with the current index, after the first set of six round robin games, the scoring lead is as follows:

 

 

It's important to note that Zoiderberg and Nygren play on opposing wings, and have taken up "passy" and "shooty" roles with one another respectively, although their stats to date are not that far apart. Smith has been made to drive team Canada's offense and leads their scoring by a similar margin. Z and Nygs have the benefit of being improved by the other's success.

 

It is also important to note that Smith is putting up these numbers as a defenseman.

 

Taking a look at their numbers in the VHL tells a much different story:

 

Here we can see that in spite of their Juniors similarity, Nygren is by far the more productive player in the men's league. While he exhibits a slightly better goals per game than his contemporaries, his piles of assists inflates his totals to nearly a point per game pace. He's no longer "shooty" in this circumstance. So what can we conclude?

 

1. There is no direct analog between success at the Junior level and the VHL. Plenty of players who tear it up in the minors struggle with the transition.

2. Quality of teammates matters. Malmo boasts a roster with prolific goal scorers Matthew Materazo @Matt_O and Jack Lynch @xsjack who have already combined for 59 goals on the season compared to the Bears Scott Greene @DoktorFunk and Shane Mars @Spade18 who lead their team with a combined 42. 

 

The Bears are fortunate to have a younger roster, and we'll see if this trend continues through these players careers.

 

-Z out

368 words

TPE for week ending August 11

[Motzaburger 1,590]

Hmmm I think one piece of the puzzle is missing....

Spoiler

MGS.