2008-09 Rink Wrap: Boyd Gordon

But Gordon was on PK duty for more TOI/G than any forward other than Steckel, so it’s disingenuous to compare this ratio to those of Cap forwards who didn’t log the same grueling minutes.

Further to that point, Gordo faced the toughest competition at 4-on-5 of any forward on the team (how was Stecks so low?). Tough minutes.

Disappointing, though, that his offense has gone from 29 to 16 to 14 points and his +/- from +10 to +5 to -4 over the past three seasons (admittedly, his role has changed somewhat over that time).

Yet another 5 from me – on the southern tip of what I expected from him, and that’s based largely on the team’s overall PK efficiency throughout the year, much of which is unfair to put on him, but when that’s all you do…

As for his next K, no-brainer to qualify him, and I’d be fine with a 2-year/$1.6m deal.

Ditto on 5. I’d have to think that with some stability down the middle next year and a presumed 4th line center spot all to this own that his scoring should tick up on 5v5. I’d think a 10 will include improved scoring and (speaking to the larger component) PK work.

Boyd Gordon: least controversial/discussion-generating Cap? Discuss.

He is who I thought he is. Good 4th liner who can bump up to 3rd some times, valuable but sometimes pushed out (wrongly so IMO) for "skill or talented forwards. I like having him and Stecks. Gordo needs to find a way to elevate his game like Stecks dind in the playoffs and it’ll help this team noticably.

I gave him a 7 – a little above what I expected. I do think both the team and his role have changed over the years and that led me to some interesting numbers. ‘06-07 104 SOG, ’07-08 100 SOG and this year 69 SOG. He did play 4 fewer games this year, but that drop is significant. I’m guessing he couldn’t shoot as much since he was on the PK for so often this year. Caps had 414 minors this year v 366 last year. That’s a lot of time playing in your own zone on the kill.

What Gordon already did well, he does well — win draws and kill penalties. But things he should be getting better with as he ages (primarily offense), he’s not. Once upon a time, we wrote of a new nickname for Gordon — muffins

That was in February 2007. Well, now it’s more like “muffin dough.” And, there is the matter of that getting thrown around like a rag doll issue. In the last three years, he’s played 71, 67, and 63 games. What he does well, he is very good at. If the Caps can surround him with guys who can take some of the heat off by not sitting in the penaltiy box so much (so that perhaps he’s not missing 15-20 games a year to injury), they can afford his limited range of talents. But this is also a guy who once scored 33 goals in 58 games in juniors and even had at least a bit of a scoring touch in the AHL. I’m a little surprised that so little of that has seen the light of day at this level.

Gordon got a 6 from me. Faceoff’s, check. PK, check. Hustle, check. Nothing outstanding, just a solid lunchpail guy like Brads. I would have a hard time believing that GMGM can get a better value at 4C for his goods in the dot. That said, I think Gordo can get back to shooting a bit more (his SOG fell to 1.08 from nearly 1.5 the previous two years), and like Aucoin, being more of a pest in the offensive zone. I’d love to see some more dirty markers from him.

For a 10 (or just a higher score), I’d want to see him up at 20 points, +5 or better, and maintain a 55% or better faceoff %.

Gordon had an outstanding season and did everything expected of him and then some. He is rapidly developing into one of the premier defensive forwards in the NHL. He’s not flashy or exciting to watch, but he is effective. The Face-off percentage, the PK, checking the best players from each opponent every night, while maintaining a terrific Take-Away/Give-Away ratio….

How does he get a 10…simple, score a few more goals. He doesn’t need to be a 20 goal guy, but there’s no reason he couldn’t get 10-12 every year. If he gets to that figure, he’d get a 10. If he can bag 15, he might get a Selke nomination…

The 6 that I gave Boyd really understates his value. Yes, most of us correctly predicted what Gordon would do this season, so his scores are hovering around the 5-6-7 range. But we should all take a moment to appreciate how valuable he is.

If a hockey team carries one spare player for each position, they’ll have 22 people on their roster (13 F, 7 D, 2 G). With the cap at about $56 Million, that’s an average of a little more than 2 Million per player. Obviously, the salary distribution is not anywhere close to even, so you need a lot of guys in the 700K – 1.25 Million range to permit stars like Ovechkin to make much bigger salaries.

Gordon has made less than 750 K the last two years. I don’t expect him to get a huge raise in the next season (he’s an arbitration-eligible RFA) or even in his UFA years. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see McPhee give him a multi-year extension a la Bradley and Erskine. I think he’s worth it, even at a moderate raise.

With his hockey sense/smarts and skating ability, there is just no way that Gordo should put up the stat line he did. True, he was injured, and he never really played on a consistent line, but I expect more out of a guy with his abilities (he was the 17th pick overall fer chrissakes!). Something like 8-12-20 and +10 would have earned a seven in my books.

I love watching Gordo play though. He does very subtle things very well. For example, I love to watch the way he positions his skate blades and stick in order to take away the maximum percentage of a passing lane. I just wish he’d take some of that ability and put it toward contributing something. . . ANYTHING. . . offensively.

He’s almost like a bizarro-world Marc Savard. When I used to watch Savard a couple of years ago, I couldn’t help but wonder how a player who clearly understands the game and thinks it so well could simultaneously be so inattentive and atrocious defensively. If Savard can learn to play defense, maybe Gordo can learn (remember?) how to play offense.

He’s a 5. He gives exactly what I expect him to, consistent effort, and a solid PK guy. I don’t care that he can’t play offense well. Frankly, if we don’t keep Gordo, if only for his Yannick Perrault interpretation, just call up Laing, and you have the same guy.

Pretty much exactly what I expected – a little low on the offense side, a little worse on the +/- and PK than I’d like, but he is what we thought he is.

Honestly, I’m not sure Boyd is capable of a 10… but I’d imagine it would be something like 15-18G, a PK improvement to get to the upper-middle of the “PK workhorse” group.

A 5 would look pretty much exactly like this year, but a touch better in any one area. I think if his stats next year are the same, he’d be a 4 (instead of a 5 this season).

-d

Gordo could be replaced, though not necessarily in-kind, by the likes of:
Aucoin, Beagle or Joudrey
If we lose experienced guys like Kozlov & Fedorov, signing Gordo for around $800K might make sense.
Somehow, we’ve got to make room for a few of the Hershey guys, I would think.
Gordo would definitely be picked-up by another team and might be offered in a pre-1 July trade package with others such as Morrisson, Schultz or Jurcina. The return would have to make it worthwhile.

Bell curves, gotta love em. Standard deviation is a most interesting thing.

Gordon is the kind of guy that lands in Detroit, starts putting up 15-20 goals a year and has killer playoffs, providing depth and secondary scoring as well as great penalty killing (when he has more than one partner who belongs on a penalty kill). Then he wins the cup and Caps fans bemoan. How many times have I read ’bring back Burnette" in the past 4 years?

Its not the players all the time. Sometimes its the roster.

Part of me believed last year that if the team felt Clark was going to be healthy enough for a full season, they would not have brought Boyd back. This season, I feel a little different. I think our PK would suffer greatly without him and stecks to turn to. Not only would you have to replace him with a PK monster, but you’d have to replace him with someone who can win you the draw 60% of the time. That’s not an easy task.

I won’t be shocked if we see someone match our tender. Won’t be shocked if we don’t compete for him after that. But the guy’s an important piece of the depth puzzle.

As for this season. Gave him another 5. He did what I hoped, what I expected. Nothing less, nothing more. A little fire power on the 4th line and you’ll see his points jump a bit.