Horace Greelzelcyk

In last years off season that is a great package for Hanifin, I think he has just become too important to the Flames group though, as much as I love me some Grzelcyk

Bad trade for the Bruins.

No thanks Flames

This is so dumb Grzlcyk alone is way better than Hanifin. Please stop.

Flames decline

Lol

Its pretty tough to judge Hanifins year. I understand he took on an important role, but the flames played precisely zero good hockey teams this year.

While i dont think any of the Canadian teams are "true cup contenders" like Tampa, Carolina, Vegas, or Colorado, it was still a competitive divion with most of the teams being borderline contenders. Saying "zero good hockey teamss" is definitely an exaggeration. The North was also the most offensively gifted division and Hanifin breaking out as a strong 2-way defender does have his merits when it comes to his defensive game.

It was competitive because all the teams were bad.

While it great for Hanifin that he finally strung together two net positive seasons in isolated shot impacts, Grzelcyk spent the last two years legitimately competing with McAvoy for being the Bruins best defenseman.

We can even approximate this super easily with metrics you might like more. Grzelcyk is sitting on 1.2 even strength primary points / hour vs Hanifins 0.7.

And when you're just about to blast out in "BUT HANIFIN PLAYS HARD DEFE" stop. Just stop.
Accounting for competition, teammates, minutes, coaching... everything. Defense is where Grzelcyk really outshines Hanifin. He reduces shot expectancy by 11% towards his own net. Hanifin barely breaks even. This shouldn't really even be a discussion.

hanifin is very overrated, he doesnt hit he doesnt block shots, his offensive production is average at best. the only thing good about him is his size and the only thing that ever links him to bruins trade is that hanifin was born in boston and played for boston college

okay back up a bit lol Grzz is good and i really like him on the bruins but mcavoy is a norris caliber defencemen esaily top 6 dman in the league. grzz is more competeing with carlo for the 2nd best dman

Way to engage with my point... You just said "no" and left it there...

No, Carlo isn't close. Carlo is way worse than Hanifin and does not hold his own at 5on5. Sure, he makes fewer shots happen in both directions - but it's way more in favor of the opponents than his own team. He's also really bad at the PK for some reason. It's like he makes shots appear out of nowhere.

Saying "McAvoy is Norris caliber" doesn't really help us here. My point would be that Grzelcyk should compete for the Norris about as much as McAvoy. I stand by that, sure.

6 of the teams were on pace to make the playoffs (top 16) last year, 5-6 of them probably make it next year too. You are definitely exaggerating.

You obviously arent aware that he had a massive breakout year. Hanifin lead the team all season in Corsi For, after finally being given special teams time under Calgary's new coach Sutter Hanifin was producing at 0.5 ppg.

No idea how he can possibly be overrated when literally nobody talks qbput him but Bruins fans eho want him for pennies to the dollar, and Flames fans who rightfully say he's unavailable

Toronto will. Edmonton will. The rest are facing uphill battles

The absolute level of irony from a guy thinking DeBrusk and a 2nd will somehow reduce the gap between Hanifin and Grzelcyk

Where's the irony? By all means keep your players, Flames arent trafing Hanifin for more left wing depth and a downgrade

Please DON’T stop making these ACGM posts! Reading these posts at the end of a long stressful day is pretty entertaining! It’s like the dungeons and dragons of the hockey world complete with stats and percentages that would make most math geeks erect! Also anyone that takes these seriously in the first place should probably re-evaluate their priorities as to what takes up real estate in their brains. Especially the ones who come across sarcastically, self-righteous or just plain mean. It’s just a fantasy forum so keep ‘em coming! Don’t listen to the fist magnets!!

Grz competing for the Norris as much as macavoy? 😅 stop it, just stop it. It’s not all about points per 60 minutes lol the bruins need bigger bodied D that can play major minutes and wear down their top lines, grz can’t do that. Yes, he’s become much better than we expected but not irreplaceable. And for the record I feel like it’s a slight overpay but that’s what you have to do to get pieces you need, But yes, playing in a weaker division does make me worry he looked better than what he should have but he was a 5th overall pick I’d say he has some good upside, better than grz…

You're not grappling with my point... If being big was helpful in outplaying the opponents, don't you think we should see some tangible output? Don't you think if being big played a large factor, that teams would outshoot Grzelcyk more than Hanifin? But that's just not the case. Even McAvoy isn't huge. Erik Karlsson in his prime? relatively small. Lidström? by no means a giant. This just isn't a point.

And just as with size, does draft position have any tangible impact on gameplay? Many good players are drafted early, but being drafted early alone does not make you a good player. We know this.

No, I agree it's not points per minutes only, which is why it's so fantastic that Grzelcyks defensive impact is much larger than his offensive one.