Chuck Norris wroteCOLONThe thing you forget is that McClement is one of the premier defensive forwards in the NHL right now. Night after night he's matched up against the teams top lines. Its no wonder the guy is like -25 every year when you're tasked with shutting down the Ovechkins, Malkins and Girouxs of the league. Why do you think he was acquired in the EJ deal a few years back? Colordao recognized the important skill set he brings to a team. One of the most underrated players in the league IMO! Very nice pick up by the Leafs.Nick wroteCOLONHaven't really said my take on the leafs adding McClemment: When we take his statistics league-wide we see some bad news.
There are 308 forwards with 1000 or more own zone start and with adjusting for minutes of ice time (past 2 years) Jay sits 303rd in terms of goals against rate, a little better (but still crap) 270th in terms of opponents goals for toi.
So, to summarize that, Jay played often with solid defensive teammates, lined up against weaker offensive opponents and still had a dreadful goals against average while he was on the ice.
Now, that's the #; i actually think he's a little better than that, and sometimes the numbers can outright lie. But I think his game has gotten worse each year since 2008. He's probably better than Steckle in terms of 5v5 and the pk. Not going to complain, but not sure we got better.
That's not what the breakdown shows at all.McClement’s opposition was by far the weakest offensively that any Avalanche forward faced last season.
He played against less quality competition then others on the avs, and got scored against more. And it's actually even worse then just an internal avs comparison, he is the 6th worst in the league (by forwards that qualify) for Goals against rate. Other COL players have much better # than him. Jay's opponents averaged .92 goals for every 20 minutes he played; against other opposition his opponents averaged .737 goals for every 20 minutes played; significantly less than RoR opposition average of 0.79 which drops to .657 when Ryan's on the ice (just one example).
Player Name GA20..........OppGF20
LANDESKOG, GABRIEL 0.645..........0.787
O_REILLY, RYAN 0.657..........0.790
DUCHENE, MATT 0.780..........0.775
STASTNY, PAUL 0.812..........0.763
HEJDUK, MILAN 0.837..........0.762
JONES, DAVID 0.839..........0.760
KOBASEW, CHUCK 0.878..........0.746
MCCLEMENT, JAY 0.920..........0.737