Monday, April 17, 2006

 

Who said it?

A BofA no-prize to the first person who can name the author of this astute assessment of Spacek's contribution to the Oilers D:

"When they added Pronger I thought they had arguably the best four-man group of defensemen in the NHL (with Pronger, Jason Smith, Steve Staois and Marc-Andre Bergeron)," Sutter said. "Now, it's even better and I have no doubt their six defensemen are clearly the best in the League."

Comments:

Sutter makes a lot of disingenous statements, but wow. Oilers record since the Spaceman joined the club: 13-10-7. Zip-a-dee doo-dah.
 


we're distracted from his hideous visage.

Gotta say...that sure made me laugh.
 


Mud, I agree 100% that a discerning hockey fan ought to essentially dismiss the truth-iness of anything the comes out of a coach/GM's mouth. Beyond the question of whether they're being sincere, it's just too common that they're wrong, whether it be because of their own tiny prejudices or because their personal experience has been atypical.

Cosh had a good line on this way back: "...when you follow the statement to its consequences it falls apart, like a lot of offhanded stuff coaches say." Indeed. Vic has another good example regarding a theory of Ken Hitchcock's, which I'm pretty sure Hitchcock holds in good faith.
 


The weird part is, I think most Oiler fans would agree with Sutter based on the evidence of their eyes: Spacek is terrific. You just have a lot of trouble proving from the won-loss records that he helped at all, and I don't know how to reconcile that. I'd still rather go into the playoff tournament with him than without.
 


It's true that Spacek has been a great addition. but at the same time, I feel compelled to point out that Tarnstrom has been an abomination. I can't recall which game it was, it might have been one of the three against Vancouver, he coughed up the puck twice in his own end. At least one of those turned into a Vancouver goal.
 


That Dick Tarnstrom is sure no Cory Cross.
 

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