The other day, I made an off-hand comment that I thought Brad Boyes was better than Lupul. My feeds exploded with people calling me crazy, so I wrote up a little statistical analysis.
The results won't be surprising to anyone who's seen Lupul play Defense! http://thehockeywriters.com/brad-boyes-vs-joffrey-lupul-statistical-analysis/
I tend to agree... people, especially fans of the team love their players and over-rate them. I don't see this being unique to the Leafs, every team does it - IE Canucks & Bieksa/Lack expectations on trade returns.
I think Lupul has an edge to his game Boyes doesn't - he has completely taken over shifts for the Leafs in the past. but can be completely vacant for 2 1/2 periods in a game. No one on the Leafs played D the past two years... if they did, Shanny & co. traded them at the deadline.
TSN I believe ran a similar article on Boyes & how the analyst was shocked he wasn't signed based on the #'s you've shared. I love the PTO contracts the Leafs have handed out.
As long as Boyes is on the other wing from Lupul - Lupes possession numbers should improve. So it'll be a win-win for the Leafs
There really should be no comparison between the two, one plays a 200 foot game, the other doesn't.