Nothing in Particular + Ladislav Smid or Sheldon Souray

It's status quo in Albertaville today so just a couple news stories I wouldn't mind touching on:

Best Hall of Fame Year Ever?
Two Battle of Alberta stars were inducted into the Hall of Fame yesterday, as Mark Messier and Al MacInnis were joined by Scott Stevens and Ron Francis. How good is this Hall of Fame bunch? So good that the 2nd all time assists in a season (6th all time) and 12th overall, 15th overall in regular season points, and he hasn't even been mentioned. Not to mention this guy.

Jarome Iginla is truly a great hockey player, but when asked I've always said Al MacInnis was the Flames best ever. He's 31st all time in regular season points (holy shit that's unreal) but he was the best Flame when it mattered the most; the spring of 1989.


Eric Lindros in the Hall of Fame?
Look, the precedent has been set that longevity is not a necessity for HOF inclusion. Mike Bossy, Bobby Orr, Ken Dryden, Cam Neely... If Lindros had quit at the height of himself, there would be no questions asked; give him credit, he gave it everything he had, probably much more than any reasonable person would have.


I think a lot of people have forgotten just how good Eric Lindros was - for those who forget, go back and watch the old Rock 'em Sock 'ems - you'll be shocked at how good he was because I bet your memory of him (like my own until I watched the tapes) was distorted by how his career ended. Even Bobby Clarke thinks this guy should make the Hall.

You say the guy never won anything? 1 Canada Cup, 1 Olympic Silver, 1 Olympic Gold and two World Junior Golds. Not to mention the Hart and Lester B. Pearson.

Enough said.

Flames Fan Turns 100
Alice Mcgowan was at the Dome Saturday, catching a game for her 100th birthday. Seriously, this woman is awesome. On the news tonight she was questioning Keenan's ability to relate to the players, and also mentioning the Flames looked better against Minnesota because they were shooting LESS. A woman who appreciates a puck control style offense...is she taken??

Ladislav Smid is a Better Defenceman than Sheldon Souray
Firstly, we're going to be working with a small sample here, so my conclusion may be questionable, but hang with me.

5-5
We'll start with 5-5 quality of opponent, which according to 'behindthenet.ca' (which I admit I don't fully trust), Ladislav Smid has been playing against a higher quality opponent than Sheldon Souray. Smid's GA/60 is 3.26 with a GF/60 3.73, while Souray is 3.09 GA/60 and has a GF/60 1.24. I think that speaks for itself. Moving on, Smid has played 8 games and is a +1, while Souray played 6 games and is a -3.

We also have to take into account penalties, which I think we can all agree, lead to goals against. Smid has 2 minutes worth of penalties, while Souray has 9 minutes. Do the math for penalties/60.

4-5
Smid's GA/60 is actually only 2.06, better than his 5-5 average. Not to mention he on average plays more PK minutes than any other Oiler per game at 3:47. Souray's GA/60 is 6.06, even though he only played 3:25 of PK time per game. Neither have been on for a SHGF.

5-4
Souray's GF/60 is 2.14 while Smid's is 0.00. Smid happens to average only 39 seconds of TOI/G on the PP while Souray lead all Oilers with almost 5:00 minutes per game, at 4:52. I haven't sorted Quality of Teamates while on the PP, but I'm willing to put money Souray's was higher.

To conclude, I sort of felt that when Souray went out and Smid came in the Oilers defence actually had an opportunity to improve. I believe these statistics prove me at least partially right, and I challenge other Oilblogosphere sites to compare some of the other 'fill-in' guys versus Souray. I wonder if we can justify giving Tom Gilbert Souray's 5-5 minutes at the very least.