Before I begin, I’d like to thank Michael Amato for his tremendous work on the Forensics column. Mike will be taking over the Wild West column regularly and I congratulate him for that.

Keith Yandle is a player who can change a game with his speed, skills and smarts. What can we expect from him going forward now that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is rounding into form? That’s what I’m here to discuss today.

Yandle is also drawing a ton of trade interest, with teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers looking to add a puck moving defenseman that will play over twenty minutes each game. The Red Wings are especially interesting, because Yandle could really help a blue line that will be without Nicklas Lidstrom. The Coyotes are looking for a centre in return, so you have to figure Detroit will be offering Valtteri Filppula in a package for Yandle.

Yandle’s offensive production is impressive to say the least and many thought he would continue to produce like an elite defenseman, hitting at least sixty points. Yandle debuted with the Coyotes in 2006-2007, playing just seven games and putting up two points. However, as you can see below, he improved with each year of experience.

Yandle also ranked eleventh overall at the end of the 2012 season in shots on goal by defenseman, as shown below:

Erik Karlsson- 261 SOG

Dan Boyle- 252 SOG

Shea Weber- 230 SOG

Alexander Edler- 228 SOG

Zdeno Chara- 224 SOG

Dustin Byfuglien- 223 SOG

P.K. Subban- 205 SOG

Alex Pietrangelo- 202 SOG

Dion Phaneuf- 202 SOG

Brent Burns- 201 SOG

Keith Yandle- 196 SOG

Looking at some rankings, Yandle is the thirteenth defenseman going off the board in Yahoo fantasy leagues. Yandle checks in as the sixteenth ranked defenseman on ESPN’s rankings. There’s still plenty of value there and you shouldn’t hesitate if you can get him that late.

Assuming Keith Yandle is full healthy this upcoming season, here are my projections for him:

15 G-40 A-55 P-200 SOG-22 PPP.

Mac can be found on the forums as dmvincent, and you can also follow him on twitter @MacVincent1.

Comments (14)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

maya has the knife said:

	... Here, I made an easy to read spreadsheet since I can't format it here. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmT4zYqZzniYdFFPazlCUy1hUk0tVVN5TlQ4YU1LRVE#gid=0
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 08, 2012
Votes: -1

Teh Doktor said:

	wait... what? You know what, compared to what Maya Has the Knife wrote first, yours reads perfectly. Itcouldalwaysbemoreconfusing.
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 08, 2012
Votes: +0

Teh Doktor said:

	Some constructive whatever I'm no English major or whatever... so I might be wrong here: Seems like the "-" joins two things. So when I read P-200, I'm thinking, "200 pts!!! I gotta get this guy!!!" It's kind of confusing, at least to me, to look at. I wouldn't edit the article, but I would keep it in mind for future articles. Or at the very least, look it up to be sure.
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 08, 2012
Votes: -1

maya has the knife said:

	... If OEL and Yandle remain in Phoenix together, I'd temper expectations for Yandle; similar to last season perhaps, maybe a slight decrease (40-45 points). I'd expect OEL to continue to improve and post similar production (40-45 points) while stealing some more of Yandle's PP TOI. The sky is the limit for OEL if Yandle does get traded.
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 08, 2012
Votes: +0

maya has the knife said:

... Well that came out like crap, but essentially Yandle's PP TOI dropped by 40 seconds per game this past season while OEL's increased by more than a minute. Yandle's ES TOI decreased by 50 seconds per game while OEL's increased by 5:30. Despite having nearly identical TOI per game, OEL scored more ES goals and PP goals than Yandle. This while OEL played 1:25 per game on the PK. Oh, and OEL fired 50 fewer shots on net as well. Take from this what you will, but I'm excited to see how OEL improves on his last season.

report abuse vote down vote up

September 08, 2012
Votes: +0

maya has the knife said:

	... KEITH YANDLEGPGAPPPGPPASHGSHASOGES-TOIPP-TOISH-TOITOI 2010-11 821148593230 1 19919:334:05 0:4324:21 2011-12 821132430110 0 19618:433:27 0:0922:19 OLIVER EKMAN-LARSSONGPGAPPPGPPASHGSHASOGES-TOIPP-TOISH-TOITOI 2010-11 4811011020 0 50 13:070:59 0:55 15:01 2011-1282131932261014718:362:041:2522:05
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 08, 2012
Votes: +0

Ross The Boss Palmer said:

	... haha meant alliteration
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 07, 2012
Votes: +1

Ross The Boss Palmer said:

Oilers Great to see you step up Mac! I remember when Yandle signed his contract, Ryan Whitney broke the news with a tweet and a picture as they are good friends and he was with him when Yandle signed. I know Edmonton has a plethora of guys up front, so if the Oil want him I believe a deal could be done. Although, the climate would certainly be a big change. If that were to happen, theoretically the Oil could roll with two potentially potent powerplay units. ... Alliterate

report abuse vote down vote up

September 07, 2012
Votes: +1

DuklaNation said:

	... Working against him are the crappy forwards up front and the obvious trendline in the PP pts.
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 07, 2012
Votes: +1

Mac Vincent said:

	... I just finished writing an article for Dobber Baseball before I started writing this one. As I said guys, I will ease my way into hockey writing. You can't expect perfection on my first ever column at Dobber Hockey.
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 07, 2012
Votes: +1

mounD said:

	... I have to agree with the other posters; there are some nice facts, says, and some claims with which I agree generally, but you have literally no analysis or evidence/argument to back up the points you made.
	report abuse vote down vote up

September 07, 2012
Votes: +1

Mac Vincent said:

... First of all, I'd like to thank you guys for the feedback. Secondly, when I agreed to start writing for Dobber Hockey, everyone told me I should ease into it and still focus on my baseball column and such. I need to get my feet wet on exactly how to write these columns, but I assure you that you will see improvement with each column I write. I appreciate any feedback, whether it be negative or positive from the community. I wish I'd get more feedback for my baseball articles, but that feedback usually comes from twitter because baseball doesn't draw a huge audience here. Thanks, Mac.

report abuse vote down vote up

September 07, 2012
Votes: +2

mcarmody said:

... Like Two on One, I was hoping to read an explanation of why Yandle's point totals and ice time dropped last year and why you project a rebound, and how Ekman-Larsson's development would affect Yandle (the last one easier said than done). Also, when you suggested that a trade to Detroit is likely, I expected you to discuss how the trade would affect Yandle's production, rather than the fact that Filppula would be coming back, which seems irrelevant to this article. It's easy to be a critic. I was a big fan of Amato's well-reasoned articles and I have no doubt your version of this column can meet and ultimately exceed his standards.

report abuse vote down vote up

September 07, 2012
Votes: +0

Two On One said:

... Mac, First of all welcome aboard. I look forward to reading your version of this column. That said, a couple things: 1) You mentioned OEL at the top of your article in regards to Yandle and is production, but then it wasn't mentioned again. So how DOES OEL's rise impact Yandle this year and beyond, assuming good health and he doesn't get traded? I wish you would have gone deeper into that... I think that's a big deal. 2) What are your reasons for Yandle's bounce-back this upcoming season, to the numbers close to two years ago? I don't see much reasoning why, or why it won't happen. You nicely laid out his previous year's stat lines... Plus his SOG numbers. But I felt like the article ended abruptly and without much reasoning on why you made your prediction. I'm not challenging your projection on Yandle for this year - he certainly has the talent. I just think it's lacking some substance, besides picking just making some sort of guess. I'm not trying to come across as a douche, but rather add some constructive criticism. Perhaps I'm spoiled with all the great articles on this website.... I look forward to next week's forensics...

report abuse vote down vote up

September 07, 2012
Votes: +2