Playoff performance/signifcance for 2016-17

[larrylintz]

I like many of you have been burned/fooled by playoff performances, ie thinking Gaborik's great work with Kopi meant at least a partial return to his former stardom. But at the same time i don't buy the notion of some that it's almost meaningless due to small sample size. For Sharks and Pens, 24 games represents almost a third of a season, playing in high-pressure circumstances with intense checking.

So here goes for my list of 10 performances that have me thinking, going from the top. Fluke or significant? Who would you add?

Note: I have limited time to do this and don't have a user-friendly way to check fancy stats reg vs post-season, perhaps I'll do that later or perhaps someone else may want to chip in.

1. Couture: 1.25 over 24 games is incredible, obviously he's not going to do that for a season. should we assume he returns to mid/high 60s peak or is there another gear?

2. Burns: For those who think 75 in a full season is not repeatable...really? He exceeded that with ppg in 24 playoff games when everyone knew he was a beast who had to be contained. Sure, he's no Karlsson in terms of upside, but EK cld easily regress to 70-75. Not a stretch to suggest Burns could be a point or two better.
3. Kessel: I believe Dobber skeptical he will return to his former glory and I'm inclined to agree, but ppg suggests he could.
4. Kucherov: what does 1.12 in 17 gms suggest for this guy?
5. Johnson: TJ 1.00 ppg, will he return to previous season's glory?
6. Kuznetsov: Him being awful has to give one pause about whether he can repeat his gr8 reg season. I drafted him last year and traded high for Kopi, just felt playing to start year with Ovi inflated his stats, that period included a five point game, and no guarantee he'll line up at all with Ovi except pp and no guarantee he's pp1.
7. Benn at 1.15 confirms he's the league's most consistent superstar.
8. Drouin: I don't care about age, competition for ice time, attitude, coach. .82 with all the pressure on him to replace stamkos's offence AND the eyeball test showing an incredible talent, plus likelihood he's with stamkos? If i get him I'd be disappointed if less than 65, and not surprised if he breaks 70. but i won't likely get him as there are several quebeckers in my league and they'll be hot to trot for him.
9. Hornqvist at .54 despite playing with sid, lots of pp#1 time, suggests that if i get him and he goes on one of his hot streaks i'm shopping him. He's also injury-prone due to the way he plays.
10. Johansen: .57 w gr8 linemates, lots of pp time, when he was under pressure makes me skeptical he's the star many expected.

[metaldude26]

For the most part I would deem these insignificant. Small sample sizes are the mother of many evils.

Couture - heavily elevated shooting percentage and on-ice shooting percentage over the playoff run. We are all waiting for him to find the 82-game consistency to make a leap and surpass Thornton but it doesn't seem to be happening.

Burns - Burns can still be elite and still take a step backwards. I just have a tough time believing he can sustain that historic shot rate but will gladly be proven wrong.

Kessel - here's an example where I don't think it's entirely fool's gold. Point-per-game for Kessel this season? Unlikely. Improvement on last year? Highly likely. Looking for high 60's for Phil based on how good that HBK line was once assembled. But it's worth noting that the playoff run was an extension of a great 2nd half in which Kessel scored 36 in 42. So we have a larger sample to work with.

Just a few thoughts to chew on there.

[Eskimo Brother]

1) Couture, if healthy, should still be around his 65-68 points.
2)Burns could pass EK, but a lot of things would have to go right. I see him in the same Couture range of 65-68.
3)If the HBK line sticks, they may actually get keyed in on more than Malkin (maybe a nice little bump for a healthy Malkin?) but I see him around 60 as well. Not back to ppg.
4) Kucherov is a ppg player.
5) Johnson gets pulled up by Kucherov to the same Couture range.
6) Maybe not the 77pts of last campain, but 70+ for sure.
7) Moving on...
8) Drouin I would have pegged around 65. Tough to see how everyone fits on PP1 though.
9) 0.54 seems about right. 50ish points if healthy,
10) Johansen is now settled in. I see a 70 point season coming up.

[You Don't Know Jack]

Think Ryan Strome makes any significant progress this season?

[Dikoi]

Here are my thoughts:

1) Couture has proven he's a 65 pt player
2) I think the new coach helped Burns a lot last season, but no way in hell he repeats his numbers next season. 65 pts
3) Looked at Kessel's career stats and I was surprised he actually reached 80 pts twice in his career. If he sticks on the HBK line however, I don't see him reaching 80pts. I think he gets 70 next year
4) Kucherov's the real deal, I say he cracks the top 10 in league scoring next season
5) Johnson's a 65-70pt for me, definitely not a PPG player
6) Kuznetsov gets 70pts at most next season
7) Benn's a superstar
8) Drouin probably lines up with Stamkos the whole season and should see him get a lot of PP1 time. 65pts
9) Hornqvist does get PP1 time, but he's the net presence guy and net presence guys usually don't touch the puck that often
10) See today's ramblings (Aug 16th), I also think Johansen gets 70pts