The StatsMan

By The Statsman, Paul Bruno

While his superstar teammate is gaining lots of publicity for his goal celebrations, defenseman Mike Green is about to put up scoring totals that we haven’t seen from a defenseman in quite some time.

He has scored 28 goals and with two more would register the first 30-goal season by a blueliner in the last 15 years.

A further look at the stats reveals that he is the only defenseman who is producing better than a point per game, among the league leaders. He has 65 points in only 61 games.

To further enhance his offensive dominance, he is seven points ahead of his nearest rival having played 12 fewer games.

It’s not a good idea to take penalties against the Caps either as he has tallied 16 power play goals.

Looking at all of these statistical reference points, he has established himself as a singular difference maker when it comes to hockey rotisserie pools. This guy can almost guarantee you good numbers in all your defensemen categories.

His plus/minus (+24) and 60 penalty minutes are also helpful numbers in other categories.

It looks like he’s ramping up for the post-season, too. He has five goals and two assists in his last five games.

Over the last season and a half, Green has burst onto the scene to give the Caps two marquee players who are the best at their positions, yet he is not garnering the notoriety of his more famous teammate.

Maybe he should consider the possibility of his own special celebration of his 30^th goal, should he reach that lofty milestone.

Do you think a certain teammate might help with that choreography? We’ll be watching…

By The Statsman, Paul Bruno

Alexander Ovechkin recently scored his 50^th goal of the year and is clearly the top sniper in the league, with a 10 goal lead on his nearest rival, yet all anyone is hearing about this guy, is his unique celebration for the recent milestone.

For years, since the retirement of Wayne Gretzky perhaps, the league has been searching for a signature player.

His arch-rival, Sidney Crosby, was seemingly being groomed for this role and seemed to possess the required credentials—a big scorer who also seems made for television, a good-looking articulate Canadian boy.

So Ovechkin is getting raked over coals for being overjoyed and faces much criticism for brining a little colour to the game.

We applaud him because it always seems that the only way the NHL makes international news is for fighting. This time it’s different.

Remember the NFL and their crackdown on touchdown celebrations? Critics of that decision deride the league with the nickname of the NO FUN LEAGUE.

Is hockey going to restrict its players in a similar way? That could make the NHL the NO HAPPINESS LEAGUE.

We think this is the wrong message.

We wonder also, if there is a bit of an underlying European prejudice.

A generation ago, European players were characterized as a largely “faceless” group which fell short against Canadians because they lacked “heart” and emotion.

Clearly, Ovechkin is debunking that persona all by himself. All you have to do, to note his impact on his own team and their fans, is to watch a Washington home game. You will see that his enthusiasm is infectious. He celebrates every goal that his teammates might score, whenever he is on the ice. The crowd loves it and Ovechkin fires up he teammates along the way.

Crosby, for his part has been eclipsed in terms of his relative stoicism, despite the fact that they each have 96 points so far this year.

What’s worse is that the Pittsburgh star is being criticized for not delivering his share of hype.

Why don’t we just sit back and enjoy these two distinct, ultra-talented young guns?

Never mind altering their personalities.

Let’s enjoy them for who they are and not engage in tactics that will change or limit them.

That would be very wrong.

By The Statsman, Paul Bruno

Chipper Jones, veteran baseball player, who was in Toronto, representing Team USA during the first round of the World Baseball Classic, made some locals quite angry with some recent comments.

He claims that he did not find the city to his liking during his seven day stay. He claimed that he was so bored he resorted to pruning his eyebrows to while away his boredom.

We find that hard to believe and view his reaction as a stereotypical arrogance or ignorance that still exists in some parts of the United States.

Well, our aim in this piece is top educate Chipper Joes.

Betcha didn’t know that Toronto has the fifth largest population of ANY city in North America, trailing only Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The greater Metropolitan Toronto area population ranks ninth.

This happens to be the most multi-cultural city in the world. You can experience the cuisine of many different countries in Toronto.

The four major North American Sports are all represented in Toronto.

There is a rich and diversified range of major entertainment venues and hundreds of nightclubs and bars throughout as well.

In addition to the CN Tower, there are many other attractions within close proximity.

Sorry if we sound a bit like a chamber of commerce, but this is just intended to help broaden the scope of an apparently narrow-minded way of thinking.

So Chipper Jones doesn’t like Toronto, EH!.

Well, pal, the feeling is mutual…