Comments for Is Erik Karlsson a One-Season Wonder? at http://hockey.dobbersports.com , comment 1 to 5 out of 5 comments http://hockey.dobbersports.com Wed, 22 May 2013 16:30:25 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/917-holding-court/5023-is-erik-karlsson-a-one-season-wonder#comment-23093 This is Rick, posting from my forum account. @Pengwin7 - thanks for the kind words. I don't pick the titles - I can see your point in this case. @Ryan Ma - I agree that a good team offense can give a defenseman the push to put him in the top 25, instead of - say - the top 50. But it's not always the difference. For example, in the years Phil Housley made the top 25 the Jets were a below average offensive team. I thought it was an interesting angle to see what patterns had emerged among the players who had accomplished the feat and see whether those patterns might give insight into how the players of today might fare. But I will admit that after reading your comment I did go back and check and there were more instances than I would've thought of players who made the top 25 being on teams which themselves were in the top 5 overall in goals scored for that season. - RizzeeDizzee Sat, 03 Nov 2012 14:58:25 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/917-holding-court/5023-is-erik-karlsson-a-one-season-wonder#comment-23092 In a short season, I'll go with yes - because I think increased randomness and decreased sample size gives defensemen a better shot at cracking the top 25. In a full season, a defenseman needs to be above 68 or 70pts to make it... and I just don't think Karlsson (the only guy that might) can do it again. Of one note... the article could use a few tweaks. It starts off with a title question: Can Karlsson do it again? And then the real question you answer is at the end of the first paragraph: will any NHL defenseman finish in the top 25 in NHL scoring this upcoming season? I understand that the article covers both cases (being sort of one-and-the-same) but I would've loved to see the real question as the title with perhaps a bracketed sub-title question about Karlsson. Or, the main question might have been bolded or underline or on its own line in the body of the article. Overall, great piece, thumbs up! - Pengwin7 Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:57:17 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/917-holding-court/5023-is-erik-karlsson-a-one-season-wonder#comment-23091 Great article! Thanks a lot! - OceanMon Sat, 03 Nov 2012 07:17:13 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/917-holding-court/5023-is-erik-karlsson-a-one-season-wonder#comment-23090 Just a quick glance back a few seasons shows that these incredible 65-78pt seasons from defencemen are the result of near career years from their forwards. It would seem that when a dominant line comes together, (and are leaned on by the coach ie: Ottawa, Anaheim due to chemistry or lack of depth) - big things can happen. It's no surprise, that when a defenceman "goes off" in the top 25 scorers - that there are usually at least 2-3 teammates ahead of him in those rankings. - jer_33 Sat, 03 Nov 2012 05:54:31 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/917-holding-court/5023-is-erik-karlsson-a-one-season-wonder#comment-23087 Great Read Rick! You looked at this scenario from an individualistic/historic viewpoint which is great, but there's too many underlying factors when comparing numbers from this generation to the Coffey/Lidstrom/Leetch/Zubov generation. I look at it from a team perspective as well. Karlsson's 78 points was [b]11.84% [/b]of the Sen's overall point totals last season, which is a ridiculous number, especially if you compare it to the rest of the top-10 who were all hovering around the 7-9% mark. Another big one for me was the Sens were the [b]4th best[/b] offense in the league, 4th! I mean that's a bit overly-inflated given the Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, Vancouver, Tampa, Philly, Detroit and Washington (?) out there... Over the last 4 seasons they went from 572 points to 599, then 502 and a whopping [b]659[/b] last season... You could say MacLean changed the culture of the locker room, but to see it jump 31% from the previous season is a bit much... If you look at the teams that recorded high point totals, the Caps they had Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin... Pittsburgh had Crosby, Malkin, Staal... Detroit has Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen... Vancouver has the Sedins plus Kesler... Tampa has Stamkos, St. Louis and Vinny... Chicago has Toews, Kane, Sharp and Hossa... then you take a look at the Sens and they have Spezza, Michalek (can he repeat), and a declining Alfredsson, surely you have to question whether they overachieved last season and can it realistically be repeated? Chalk me up for the [b]NO[/b] column. - Ryan Ma Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:39:39 +0100