Mark Spector on Kyle Brodziak: Sometimes You Need To Push Your Narrative
by Jonathan Willis on Jun 30, 2009 2:00 AM PDT
18 comments
Mark Spector over at Sportsnet has been an interesting read this year. He broke a number of stories, and got what was probably the best quote of the year from an unnamed Oilers veteran. On the other hand, he’s also shown that from time to time he has an axe to grind, and grind it he does.
It’s not so much an axe today, but from that same article quoted below (the Souray speculation) Spector makes a funny comment about ex-Oiler Kyle Brodziak:
The Oilers trade of Kyle Brodziak to Minnesota for a couple of later round draft picks was a clear message by Tambellini. The younger players in that Oilers dressing room have a sense of entitlement that is unhealthy, and a big fourth-liner like Brodziak who constantly passed up hits and lacked energy was the first one to be moved.
I’ve never viewed Brodziak as a lackadaisical sort; sure he wasn’t a physically punishing guy and I would have liked to see more of an edge from him, but he seemed to forecheck aggressively and his work ethic looked just fine from here. It fits with his junior record too; in 2002-03 he was named Moose Jaw’s "Hardest Working Player" and "Unsung Hero". Spector’s comments also stand in stark contrast to those of Chuck Fletcher – the man who made the trade on the Minnesota end:
We shared a farm team with Edmonton in Wilkes-Barre three seasons ago and Kyle’s one of the leaders on the team and played really well for Todd and since then has had two successful seasons in the NHL… he brings a lot of versatility to the lineup and I think he’ll allow our coaching staff to give him different looks and move him around and bring some character and effort to the lineup every night… There’s a lot of things you can do with a Kyle Brodziak. There’s energy, there’s work ethic and there’s character.
I don’t mean to rag on Spector too much; he’s been around for a long while, speaks his mind and every so often breaks news before anyone else does (I believe he was the first to announce MacTavish was fired) but I do think he’s taking the easy route here rather than the strictly accurate one.
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The Brodziak story is simple. The Oilers had too many forward contracts. Pouliot and Brodziak are roughly equivalent players. Brodziak doesn’t kill penalties well enough, and obviously the Oilers are looking for a 4th line centre, or a thrid line centre who can kill penalties better. Pouliot had the advantage of being signed for only one more year, and Brodziak would likely have to be signed for longer than one year, and with the cap going down next year…
And Minnesota and Todd Richards liked Brodziak better.
Never surprising to see members of the local media heaping dirt on the grave of a departing/departed Oiler. With access comes beholden-ness, or so it seems from my delightfully access-free couch. Did anybody in the press write: “Hey! We gave up something for nothing!” ?
Godot: W.r.t. Brodziak not killing penalties well, according to Desjardins he had the second best rating on the team, based on actual GA. He wasn’t great, but he was closer to mediocre (actual definition) than veteran PKers like Horcoff and Moreau, who had brutal results.
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I’m not sure how much faith I have in Desjardins’ special teams numbers. The samples are by definition small (generally less than 200 minutes per player) and they wildly fluctuate depending on the quality of the team.
I appreciate him putting them out there, but I’m not convinced we can come to conclusions based on them.
As for the PK’s problems this year, some of it was surely personnel but we saw experienced, capable guys (you mentioned two of them) struggling and I can’t help but wonder if it was coaching.
A posse ad esse.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and OilersNation.
by Jonathan Willis on Jun 30, 2009 10:11 AM PDT up reply actions
JW: Like many stats, I put a lot more stock in Desjardins numbers within a team than against other teams. Brodziak was part of the same unit with the same defenders and goaltending, as Moreau and Horcoff. His stats were better. Of course it’s small number stuff, but for that matter you could write off the whole season of bad team results on the PK to the same thing.
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by Bruce McCurdy on Jun 30, 2009 5:17 PM PDT up reply actions
Push Your Narrative
Spector used to be the voice of reason when co-hosting on Stauffer’s show.
At Sportsnet, he’s got the Bad Cop gig.
He’s also been pushing the line that the Oilers are hamstrung by Horcoff & Penner’s
NEARLY $10,000,000 IN CAP HIT!
Cap hit
At least he speaks in cap hit terms. The Edmonton media can’t get their heads around Horcoff’s 7 million salary and 5.5 cap hit.
That would be Horcoff’s 6.5MM cap hit – at least according to what I’ve seen Spector write previously.
A posse ad esse.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and OilersNation.
by Jonathan Willis on Jun 30, 2009 12:52 PM PDT up reply actions
As soon as you hear the figure of $7 MM, you can rest assured that what is coming next is a blast at Horcoff. If people based their case on his actual contract we could at least have the discussion, but that $7 MM figure just leads to crazy talk. Foaming at the mouth stuff.
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by Bruce McCurdy on Jun 30, 2009 5:19 PM PDT up reply actions
Off-topic: Patty O’Lanterns and former Oilers Erik Cole and Ty Conklin were all left off the USA camp roster, based on Mirtle’s new post. Odd that the Americans would only take three goalies and leave Conklin, who had a couple of bad years but otherwise proved a servicable 1A goalie, off the list, while having youngster Jon Quick on it.
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No Matt Greene, either. Some funny choices on that team.
A posse ad esse.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and OilersNation.
by Jonathan Willis on Jun 30, 2009 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah, Matt Greene turned into an okay defenceman in LA last year. Funny, that.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there)
Matt Greene was an okay defenceman his last half season here (after the busted ankle). I was one of his few fans on the ’sphere it seemed, but I liked him fine. His performance in LA did not surprise me one bit.
We could use a defenceman just like him.
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by Bruce McCurdy on Jun 30, 2009 10:27 PM PDT up reply actions
Boy, I sure called that one!
Not so much, eh?
A posse ad esse.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and OilersNation.
by Jonathan Willis on Jul 1, 2009 12:21 AM PDT up reply actions
Is the Brodziak trade more about:
a) getting two picks
b) getting rid of contracts
c) giving Brule and Pouliot a chance
d) inability to move or get rid of Pouliot
e) all of the above?
RT40 writes with Strange Deadfellows Oilerblog and is an avid hockey fan.
B.
A posse ad esse.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and OilersNation.
by Jonathan Willis on Jun 30, 2009 3:11 PM PDT up reply actions
The only problem is, we need to get rid of BAD contracts. Productive guys playing for peanuts is what we need more of.
Writer for The Copper & Blue
by Bruce McCurdy on Jun 30, 2009 5:21 PM PDT up reply actions
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