My last look at the Cody Wild vs. Taylor Chorney comparison brought me indirect flak from Rob Daum, The Pipeline Show and a couple of e-mailers. The questions were valid then and they remain valid now. Taylor Chorney continues to have trouble with the "defense" part of defenseman. Theo Peckham is clear of him, Johan Motin is motoring on by, Jeff Petry is in the midst of revival Sunday and may pass him soon. Cody Wild continues to outplay Chorney, and continues to languish at the end of the Springfield roster. Taylor Chorney vs. Cody Wild, part II is below the break.
A look at the current stat line comparison shows that the "strides" Chorney is said to have taken may have been going the wrong direction.
Since we last looked at this comparison, Wild appeared in 23 games, tallying 8 assists, 3 of them on the power play. He's been a -7 over that span. Chorney appeared in 13 games, scored a power play goal and added a power play assist. He posted a -14 in those games. Chorney has 1 even strength point in 17 games this year and has been non-existent in even strength situations..
Until we get the official AHL Qualcomp for this season, we can't be sure, but by combing through the box scores, it looks as if Wild is alternating between the second and third pairing. He continues to play second grouping power play time. Chorney has played consistent second pairing minutes and been on the primary power play pairing.
Yet during the December to remember for the Falcons, it was Cody Wild that "earned" himself four healthy scratches. Chorney was not scratched until coming down with a case of the flu that's kept him out of the lineup recently. Wild's mediocre play has earned him nine healthy scratches from coach Rob Daum this year. Chorney's abysmal play has kept him in the lineup all year.
It's completely possible that Chorney has been getting Horcoff'd by his goalies with some extremely low even strength save percentage for the last two seasons. It's also completely possible that Chorney is not ready for AHL play, and he's just a power play specialist a la Rob Schremp. I remain wildly interested as this unfolds because it's yet another reason to look to advanced stats. I only wish that we had access to the advanced stats for the American Hockey League.
My questions on the subject caused The Pipeline Show to ask Rob Daum about it. Daum's answer:
I think they have the same defensive deficiencies from a positional standpoint and the ability to defend. I think Taylor has made strides in those areas that Cody hasn't quite been able to master at this point.
Say who in the what now? Absolutely none of the organizational statements about Taylor Chorney match up to his on-ice perfomance thus far as a professional. In 75 AHL games, he's -47; Cody Wild is a -24 in 90 games.
My conclusion in the last look holds:
For the last two years Taylor Chorney has been buried at evens in Springfield, yet continues to get an organizational push. Cody Wild, in the same role, has done a bit better than Chorney, but has endured healthy scratches...
Just for reference, here is the compared stat line for Chorney and Wild from the 2008-2009 season: