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Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watdragon!cjsgro
From: cjsgro@watdragon.UUCP (Carlo Sgro)
Newsgroups: net.sport.hockey
Subject: Re: NHL Rookie of the year
Message-ID: <484@watdragon.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Mar-86 11:29:34 EST
Article-I.D.: watdrago.484
Posted: Sat Mar  1 11:29:34 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Mar-86 23:09:14 EST
References: <1796@dciem.UUCP>
Reply-To: cjsgro@watdragon.UUCP (Carlo Sgro)
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 60
Summary: 

In article <1796@dciem.UUCP> jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) writes:
>Dahlin's great stats are dismissed because
>about half of them (13 goals and I don't know how many assists) have come
>while playing on the top power-play in the league, with people like Mats
>Naslund, Larry Robinson and Bobby Smith helping him out.  On the other hand,
>would that power play be as successful without Dahlin?

Remember Warren Young?  How about the plethora of journeymen wingers that played
on Gretzky's line in the early '80's.  I've seen Dahlin play a few times this 
year and am of the opinion that, if he were on a different line, he would be
an acceptible rookie, but not good enough for the Calder.

>The name I hear the most as the league's top rookie is Toronto's Wendel
>Clark, and that talk is coming from across Canada, not just the Toronto
>area.  Clark is well down the list of rookie scorers and Toronto scorers
>with only 35 points, but what really catches people's eyes is his
>aggressive play and his ability to get things going by whatever means are
>appropriate, and he is seen as a much more complete player than Dahlin.

Definitely!  He can really get a game going with his hitting.  We are 
looking at someone who can lead by example.  Clark will be the captain of
the Leafs three years from now.  He reminds me of Terry O'Reilly, except
with more talent.

>Also, he has scored almost as many goals as Dahlin (26) playing on a bad team
>with nowhere near as much help.  What they fail to mention, however, is how
>such a great complete player can have the second worst plus/minus on the
>team (-27),

But when you watch him play, you don't see any obvious flaws in his defensive 
style.

>but he is being judged the way players should be judged, by
>ignoring the numbers and just watching him play, as indicated
>by opposing coaches often raving about him after playing the Leafs.

True.  Who does the voting, though?

One last comment about Clark ... What I feel cannot be ignored is his ability
to liven up a game by his aggressiveness.  If his example catches on with the
Leafs, we have the makings of a .500+ hockey team.


>
>Mike Ridley of the Rangers may also be ranked ahead of Dahlin.  He's second
>in rookie scoring, 13 points behind Dahlin, but he is leading his team in
>scoring and getting much less help than Dahlin.  He obviously means much more
>to the Rangers than Dahlin does to Montreal.

I haven't seen much of Ridley but, based on the numbers, I would agree with 
Jeff.



-- 

Carlo Sgro
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