I've been in trade talks to acquire Eric Staal. If it was 12 months ago I'd likely be paying for a top 20 player with 3 or 4 years of strong production left. However, it's troublesome to look at his totals (especially shots) this year and the trend they might be implying.
His shot totals the past 4 years (per 82 games) are:
296
262
259
229
That is a pretty clear downward trend over a significant sample size. One theory on shot totals is that they decrease as a player's skills diminish and they aren't able to get to the parts of the ice they need to for shots. Now, I'm not suggesting that this has for sure happened to Staal (there may be other factors at play) but it is at least worth noting.
Among forward where do you value him in your league?
I once traded Henrik Lundqvist and Ilya Kovalchuk in return for Peter Budaj and Henrik Zetterberg… have lived in shame ever since.
Fantasy hockey contributor for Dobber Hockey, founder of www.darrenfantasyhockey.com. Admitted Valeri Nichushkin fanboy (of course who isn't?)
You can find me on twitter @FantasyHockeyDK