Monday, August 18, 2008

Jason Strudwick

Strudwick comes to the Oilers this summer in a deal from the Rangers as a missing puzzle piece. Now that the Oilers have that coveted playmaking defenceman (Visnovsky) they were short a veteran play it safe guy. That guy is now Jason Strudwick. He'll probably come in and be expected to make the simple plays, calm the young kids down and stick up for his teammates ala Matt Greene.

I think Lowetide's take that Strudwick could see an expanded role under MacT is certainly very reasonable although I wouldn't necessarily expect it or be disappointed if it didn't happen.


When we look at the behindthenet.ca numbers it looks as though Strudwick was definately sheltered at EV, he's the last place defender at TOI and quality of teammates, and he's dead last overall in terms of quality of competition as well as Goals/60, Assists/60 and Points/60. However, goals and points is not why the Oilers traded for Strudwick, and they aren't expecting him to shut down the likes of Gaborik and Iginla.

Projection: 7th defender
Key Stat: 2nd defender in GAON

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