MRKL on Ice: December Part 1 (One for the Ages)

There are a lot of numbers below, but don’t worry, your blood flow can stay committed to your stomach and liver for now. While there’s nothing analytically acrobatic going on, I have invented another statistic: points per man-years (PPMY).

PPMY attempts to capture some measure of the overall “keeper league value” of your team by looking at the respective contributions to your scoring roster of variously aged players. I honestly didn’t put too much thought into this, but figured it made some sense to divide each player’s total KL points on the season by their age, and then just add those values up for those players currently on your scoring roster. While I would like to plead complete non-bias in creating this type of statistic, I’m sure subconsciously I knew that my team would fair better than ok.

There is a variety of utility in what follows, however. I’ve listed all teams’ rosters by age from oldest to youngest, so that first and foremost, you all can get a sense of each other’s age distributions. Further, I’ve colour-coded forwards, defensemen, and goalies, to additionally get everyone thinking about which GMs might be looking to get younger by position. I’ve also emboldened scoring roster players to highlight those players who are actually making the greatest contributions but who also might be approaching the heightened need of replenishment.

Teams are discussed below by order of PPMY, which is the uppermost right number in each table. The top of the middle column for each table is simply the average age of the entire roster. Contained within each team’s breakdown is a reference to the rank of that average age, some general outlook, as well as some particular observations that could help accentuate its strengths and weaknesses and incite player movement across the league.

  

Patrik Stefans	25.59	14.60
Alex Tanguay	35	0.69
Johan Franzen	35
Brad Richards	34
James Wisniewski	30	0.50
Jeff Carter	29	0.93
Cory Schneider	28	1.14
Alexander Edler	28	0.36
Kris Letang	27	0.85
Max Pacioretty	26	1.04
Logan Couture	25	1.16
Jake Muzzin	25	0.68
Jake Gardiner	25
Andrew Shaw	24
Patrick Wiercioch	24
Brock Nelson	23	1.17
Tyler Seguin	22	1.95
Brandon Saad	22	1.05
Johnny Gaudreau	21	1.38
John Gibson	21
Filip Forsberg	20	1.70
Anthony Mantha	20
Max Domi	19

The Patrick Stefans roster boasts the most forwards with an individual PPMY of greater than 1 at this juncture of the season (6!); the future of the frontline looks brighter than any other squad in the KL right now, with the likes of Seguin, Forsberg, Gaudreau, and Couture all shaping up to be PPG players and all still approaching their primes.  While the blueline lacks the same sort of young talent, it does have a juggernaut in Letang, as well as other serviceable contributors for the time being. Former Canuck darling Cory Schneider is being given every opportunity to rack up KL points with the number of starts he’s been getting, but unfortunately is proving to be the weakest link this season, and could be ripe to pawn off for someone more reliable for present purposes (winning). Not factored into the overall PPMY are the respective upsides of Mantha, Domi, and Gibson, who each help bring down the average age of this squad to 25.59, good for 3^rd youngest in the KL.

Magnus Faajarvis	26.77	12.93
Lubomir Visnovsky	38
Mike Ribeiro	34	0.85
Tomas Plekanec	32	0.72
Joe Pavelski	30	1.00
Marc-Andre Fleury	30	2.00
Thomas Vanek	30	0.70
Mike Richards	29
Shea Weber	29	0.79
Dion Phaneuf	29	0.62
Andrew Ladd	29	0.93
Nicklas Backstrom	27	1.33
Chris Stewart	27
Sam Gagner	25	0.68
Riley Nash	25
Frederik Andersen	25
James V Riemsdyk	25	1.28
Dmitry Kulikov	24	0.38
Kyle Palmieri	23
Sean Monahan	20	1.10
Morgan Rielly	20	0.55
Seth Jones	20
Nikolaj Ehlers	18

The Faajarvis sit in the middle of the pack (10^th) in terms of overall youth, and are really only 2^nd in PPMY because Fleury has horseshoes up his ass. I may have wanted to eliminate goalies from this analysis, but at the same time, it can’t be ignored that having a… we’ll call him “young enough” goalie on a great team is extremely valuable in this league. I was actually shocked to learn that Fleury was 30 already, but then again, I still don’t believe I’m going to be 33 next year. MAF still has many good years ahead of him, and is, dare I say, the only reason the Magnus Faajarvis are where they are this year. While Jones and Rielly hold promise at the back, this team’s core will mostly all be in their 30s come draft time next season.

Milan Micahleks	25.91	12.92
Zdeno Chara	37	0.22
Patrick Sharp	33	0.52
Radim Vrbata	33	0.76
Jason Pominville	32	0.81
Ryan Getzlaf	29	1.38
Troy Brouwer	29
Damien Brunner	28
Martin Hanzal	27	0.63
Tuukka Rask	27	1.26
James Neal	27	0.78
Roman Josi	25	0.80
Jared Spurgeon	25
Jamie Benn	25	1.20
Marcus Johansson	24	0.88
John Carlson	24	1.13
Charlie Coyle	22
Jon Merrill	22
Brett Connolly	22
Dougie Hamilton	21	0.95
Nikita Kucherov	21	1.62
Darnell Nurse	19
William Nylander	18

The move to acquire Sharp was interesting, as he likely becomes the oldest prospective keeper on the Micahlek’s roster, which I thought was going to make a push to get younger. At any rate, they are actually 6^th youngest. It perhaps shows the importance of balance and the over-emphasis some of us put on youth and potential in the KL (I may be guilty of it on account of this post). In any case, the Micahlek’s look like they have their D shored up for a long while in Josi, Carlson, and Hamilton, if they are content with that trio. Up front, Kucherov is one of this season’s greatest stories and emerging as a star on a Tampa team that should be high powered for years to come. And if Nylander makes hockey look as “willy nilly” as he has at times at the world juniors, the Micahleks aren’t going anywhere for a while.

Joshfrey Krupuls	28.59	12.86
Martin St. Louis	39	0.67
Marek Zidlicky	37	0.46
Andrei Markov	36	0.53
Henrik Zetterberg	34	0.94
Justin Williams	33	0.58
Antoine Vermette	32	0.69
Jay Bouwmeester	31
Kari Lehtonen	31	1.32
Joffrey Lupul	31
Valtteri Filppula	30	0.87
Ryan Suter	29	0.76
Anze Kopitar	27	0.93
Matt Beleskey	26
Patrick Maroon	26
Claude Giroux	26	1.62
Kyle Okposo	26	1.19
Darcy Kuemper	24
Tyson Barrie	23	0.91
Ryan Johansen	22	1.41
Nathan Beaulieu	22
Matt Nieto	22
Nino Niederreiter	22

It’s no secret that the Joshfrey Krupuls got a lot older (2^nd oldest) heading into the 2014-15 season, and looking at the bold names on the roster, it’s several of those acquisitions that are making a difference. It’ll be interesting to see if this old-balls-balls-deep-going-for-it strategy will pay off, whether it’s a one-year plan, or what. Is St. Louis a keeper until he retires? He’s probably the first real all-star forward we’ve seen in our league approach the golden age of 40. How easy is it to replace that production? Mind you, Johansen, Giroux, Okposo, and Kopitar make up a pretty formidable core up front moving forward. If there is a weakness here, it’s likely at the back, where everything looks to fall on Barrie and Suter; there’s room for a blueliner in lieu of Beau.

Los Amjawors Kings	25.68	12.71
Joel Ward	34	0.53
Christian Ehrhoff	32	0.31
Stephen Weiss	31
Antti Niemi	31
Tomas Fleischmann	30
Brent Seabrook	29	0.72
Matt Read	28
Sidney Crosby	27	1.37
Bryan Little	27	0.93
Kris Russell	27
Craig Smith	25	0.76
Braden Holtby	25	1.88
Mikkel Boedker	25	0.80
Sami Vatanen	23	1.04
Ondrej Palat	23	1.00
Vladimir Tarasenko	23	1.65
Tomas Jurco	22	0.55
Cody Ceci	21	0.43
Jonas Brodin	21
Ryan Murray	21
Ales Hemsky	21
Jonathan Drouin	19	0.74

The LAK are the 5^th youngest and have the perennial advantage of Sidney Crosby for the foreseeable future. Drouin and Tarasenko will look to join Sid and create a trio that could rival Ovi, Malkin, Datsyuk of the formerly, yes formerly, dynastic Flyers. Unfortunately for the Kings, there is significant fall-off after that, and no obvious aging productive pieces to move with an eye to developing that young forward core even more. The challenges on d for this squad have been chronicled, and though the addition of sandwich Vatanen helps, there may be the opportunity to move Seabrook or Ehrhoff to a contender in exchange for a player that can join the likes of Brodin, Murray, or Ceci, increasing the odds that one might actually deveop into something serviceable. Finally, Holtby may have accidentally become the franchise goalie on this team for years to come.

G-Phil's Flyers	26.68	12.47
Pavel Datsyuk	36	0.72
Roberto Luongo	35
Niklas Kronwall	33	0.61
Pekka Rinne	32	1.75
Alex Ovechkin	29	0.97
Teddy Purcell	29	0.59
Evgeni Malkin	28	1.46
David Desharnais	28	0.71
Michael Frolik	26	0.69
Jiri Tlusty	26
Mark Arcobello	26
Kevin Shattenkirk	25	1.16
Zach Bogosian	25
Cory Conacher	25
Cam Atkinson	25	0.56
Derek Stepan	24	0.92
Erik Karlsson	24	0.96
Danny DeKeyser	24	0.54
Jordan Eberle	24	0.83
Calvin De Haan	23
Ty Rattie	21
Bo Horvat	19

How quickly the mighty have fallen. You know, it’s scary that the G-Phil’s Flyers are within 15 pts of the KL lead, and you look and realize that any one of their juggernauts could go off and single-handedly make up that difference in a week. Still, I look at this roster and can’t help but key in on the magic man’s age, as well as the fact that Ovi and Geno are approaching 30, and the hopeful replacements of Eberle and Stepan may not be panning out as they appeared to be. With all that being said, the Flyers may hold the most sellable assets in the league, who demand some of the best prospects in return. You could add Kronwall to that list in my opinion, as the remaining trio on the blueline is young and strong. And if you think I’m stirring the pot here, and trying to convince Greg of something that he his not, I also really want to point out that Rinne has put up 60 points this season with his infected and/or bionic hip. If we pretend Rinne and Corey Crawford had been traded for each other at the beginning of the season, we’d currently have a 5 way race for 8^th with the Flyers in the thick of it. Goddam, so much swings on the unpredictability of goalie success in this league. 

Shizzarks	28.00	12.45
Mark Streit	37	0.59
Chris Kunitz	35	0.63
Henrik Sedin	34	0.85
Dan Hamhuis	32
Jason Spezza	31	0.81
PA Parenteau	31	0.48
Ryan Kesler	30	0.90
Rick Nash	30	1.20
Zach Parise	30	0.90
Mike Santorelli	29
Travis Zajac	29
Keith Yandle	28	0.82
Anton Khudobin	28
Cody Franson	27	0.78
Carey Price	27	1.70
Nick Bonino	26	0.81
Gustav Nyquist	25	0.92
Simon Despres	23
Jeremy Morin	23
Emerson Etem	22
Connor Murphy	21
Aaron Ekblad	18	1.06

The Schizzarks are a team of washed up no-good hacks who have hit their dirty thirties. They are the 3rd oldest in the KL, and have teased their GM all season as if to make a run for a final hurrah, which has otherwise been an underachieving core coming to the end of its rope. A myopic view of the forwards might paint a bleak picture for the future, but it is some solace to know that the d and g seem to be in good stead long-term. It might therefore be incumbent on this team to sell high on one of their forwards on whom the sun is setting, in exchange for someone that can complement… wait… NOBODY under the age of 25 with any promise up front whatsoever.

Dicklas Lidstroms	27.14	12.44
Henrik Lundqvist	32	1.59
Marian Gaborik	32	0.56
Mikko Koivu	31
Derek Roy	31
Trevor Daley	31	0.55
Jiri Hudler	30	1.13
Alexander Steen	30	0.73
Jimmy Howard	30
Toby Enstrom	30	0.30
Carl Soderberg	29	0.79
Corey Perry	29	0.76
Derick Brassard	27	1.00
Patrick Kane	26	1.50
Kyle Turris	25	0.92
Colin Wilson	25	0.72
Drew Doughty	25	0.84
Cody Hodgson	24
TJ Brodie	24	1.04
David Savard	24
Evgeny Kuznetsov	22
Ryan Murphy	21
Curtis Lazar	19

I look at the Lidstroms and see a team that is difficult to improve in an obvious way. I think if you just didn’t touch this line-up, you’d be unlucky not to win the KL in the next 5 seasons… of course, we all have to draft meaningful players each season. Still, there’s a core here that will provide as good a foundation as any to which to add, and there’s probably a surplus at the back, which the Dicklas Lidstroms GM could look to part with in exchange for draft position in upcoming years. This team is the 5^th oldest overall.

  

Winter Claassics	26.50	12.31
Brian Campbell	35
Patrick Marleau	35	0.77
David Legwand	34
Curtis Glencross	32	0.72
Matthew Carle	30	0.30
Mike Green	29	0.59
Jaroslav Halak	29	1.59
Blake Wheeler	28	0.93
Nick Foligno	27	1.15
Sergei Bobrovsky	26
David Perron	26	0.65
Mikael Backlund	25
P.K. Subban	25	0.92
Nazem Kadri	24	0.92
Chris Kreider	23
Calle Jarnkrok	23
Cam Fowler	23	0.78
Zack Kassian	23
Gabriel Landeskog	22	1.00
Tanner Pearson	22
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	21	1.10
Mark Scheifele	21	0.90

It’s hard for me not to fawn all over the Claassics (8^th youngest) when I note they own the 1^st, 2^nd, and 7^th overall picks from the 2011 NHL draft, in RNH, Gabe, and Scheif. I look at the d-core, the bright surprise of Halak on Long Island, and see the depth contributions being made, and I don’t understand why this team isn’t vying for a money spot. Then I realize that it’s because these young hyped studs just aren’t getting it done. With a glut of sexy names, the Winter Claassics’ GM could pull some shrewd maneuvers with any buyers who see only the upside (see Nail Yakupov).

Mackhawks	29.36	12.17
Jaromir Jagr	42	0.48
Shane Doan	38
Jarome Iginla	37	0.62
Joe Thornton	35	0.89
Marian Hossa	35	0.66
Rene Bourque	33
Mark Giordano	31	1.13
Tom Gilbert	31
Brent Burns	29	0.93
Clarke MacArthur	29	0.62
Mason Raymond	29
Jonathan Quick	28	1.64
Alec Martinez	27	0.44
Jordie Benn	27
Phil Kessel	27	1.41
Tommy Wingels	26	0.88
Wayne Simmonds	26	0.92
Tyler Ennis	25	0.92
Justin Schultz	24	0.63
Jakob Silfverberg	24
Linden Vey	23
Elias Lindholm	20

  

I’m pretty sure this is the first team all-star line-up from 2003. Like the Krupuls, this team made it abundantly clear that they were “going for it” this season, and mortgaged draft position to do so. It shows. The oldest balls in the KL are still spewing, but not generating many Mackeyas (eyas are baby hawks); and the few that are coming up through the system may have some genetic mutations. The same question I asked about St. Louis I ask here of Jagr, Doan, Iginla, Thornton, and Hossa. For how long can they be kept? As they die off, this team’s core of Kessel, Quick, and Giordano, though impressive individually, is rather thin. 

Vanrooser Canicks	24.45	11.97
Fedor Tyutin	31
Johnny Boychuk	30	0.50
Cam Ward	30
Alexander Semin	30
Andrej Sekera	28
Andrew Cogliano	27
Jack Johnson	27	0.67
Jonathan Bernier	26	1.46
Jakub Voracek	25	1.84
Anders Lee	24	0.42
Victor Hedman	24	0.58
Torey Krug	23	0.57
Beau Bennett	23
Tyler Toffoli	22	1.14
Sean Couturier	22	0.82
Jeff Skinner	22	0.73
Jaden Schwartz	22
Ryan Strome	21	1.00
Jon Huberdeau	21	0.62
Nail Yakupov	21	0.38
Alex Galchenyuk	20	1.25
Valeri Nichushkin	19

Like the Claassics, the Canicks are sexed up pretty through and through, but again, 17 points in 32 games by 2011 3^rd overall pick, 21 year old Jonathan Huberdeau is just not very valuable in our league. At all. I predicted that this 2^nd youngest team had the greatest likelihood of going from zero to hero in any of the next few seasons, and I stand by that, especially with the recent acquisition of Schwartz to the young core of forwards, and owning arguably the best offensive defenseman in the game in Hedman (71 points in his last 82 games at least puts him in the discussion with Karlsson and Mark fucking Giordano). One glaring problem here is that I don’t think the tandem of Ward and Bernier is scaring anyone.

Powder Rangers	25.55	11.44
Vincent Lecavalier	34
Ryan Miller	34	1.32
Michael Ryder	34
David Backes	30	0.53
Mikhail Grabovski	30	0.43
Ryan Callahan	29	0.97
Patric Hornqvist	27	1.07
Niklas Backstrom	26
Carl Hagelin	26
Ryan McDonagh	25	0.44
Steven Stamkos	24	1.50
Alex Pietrangelo	24	0.88
Michael Del Zotto	24
Matt Duchene	23	0.91
Riley Sheahan	23	0.74
Nick Leddy	23	0.70
Eric Gelinas	23	0.48
Reilly Smith	23	0.78
Mikael Granlund	22	0.68
Boone Jenner	21
Andre Burakovsky	19
Sam Bennett	18

The powder has been turning to dust lately, but it’s difficult to predict quite where it will settle for this 3rd youngest squad. Though the Kopitar move may feel regrettable, the Rangers have one of the most talented pair of hands in the game in Matt Duchene to go along with Stammer moving forward. Then comes the sneaky-productive duo of Callahan and Hornqvist, still in their 20s, and this forward unit looks strong enough, specially if Burakovsky and Bennett could have their impacts felt soon, like, I dunno, the way Forsberg and Gaudreau have had theirs. While there’s nothing to panic about at the back, the netminder situation looks worrisome, and yet, it’s never seemed to be something this GM has cared about, and ultimately, it’s never come to bite him.

Teeyotes	26.59	10.90
Dan Boyle	38
Scott Hartnell	32	0.59
Jason Garrison	30	0.57
Dustin Brown	30
Patrice Bergeron	29	0.93
Paul Stastny	29	0.48
Dustin Byfuglien	29	0.69
Matt Niskanen	28	0.43
Ben Bishop	28	1.46
Marc-Eddy Vlasic	27	0.37
Niklas Hjalmarsson	27	0.30
Nick Holden	27
Milan Lucic	26	0.65
Alex Killorn	25
Philip Larsen	25
Tyler Johnson	24	1.54
John Tavares	24	1.29
Jake Allen	24
Nick Bjugstad	22	0.86
Mark Stone	22	0.73
Vincent Trocheck	21
Michael Dal Colle	18

Nick Bjugstad and Tyler Johnson are probably the two quietest superstars in the game right now. Many would argue that their lack of attention is on account of the spotlight never shining on Southern Florida, but I think it has more to do with the fact that they find themselves on the 12^th placed Teeyotes, who in terms of overall age sit 9^th youngest. I don’t know if it is intentional, but is the strategy here to continue to quietly acquire these secret sunshine studs and blindside us all one of these years? Seriously, Garrison, Bishop, and Trocheck fit the mold, as well as T’s second-cousin-five-times-removed Alex Killorn. Oh, and let’s not forget about John Tavares. I think if this defending GM of the year cared a bit more, or didn’t have to go to bed before the west coast games started every night, there’s enough to build around here. A young hyped dman would fit well on this team. 

Moilers	27.18	10.81
Patrik Elias	38
Brian Gionta	35
Daniel Sedin	34	0.88
Jussi Jokinen	31	0.55
Matt Moulson	31
Eric Staal	30	0.63
Corey Crawford	29	1.07
Drew Stafford	29	0.66
David Krejci	28
Anton Stralman	28
Mats Zuccarello	27	0.67
Erik Johnson	26	0.77
Steve Mason	26
Adam Henrique	24	0.83
Tyler Myers	24
Alex Chiasson	24
Oliv Ekman-Larsson	23	0.70
Ryan Ellis	23	0.57
Taylor Hall	23	0.91
Justin Faulk	22	0.91
Brendan Gallagher	22	0.86
Mika Zibanejad	21	0.81

The Moilers are the 4^th oldest and the 3^rd shittiest. Some obvious pieces should be moved in Elias, Jokinen, Staal, even Krejci, and of course Daniel, but unfortunately this GM is disadvantaged by being more easily prone to falling in love with her players than any of us are. The strongest case for a true rebuild can be made here, and I’d love to see her try to pull it off. If Gallagher can continue to develop chemistry on the top line in Mtl, if Zibby's recent tear is a sign of things to come, and if Edmonton can have some mercy on Taylor Hall's soul and trade him, this team could be a couple years away from being back in the playoffs; a lot rides on their GM's ability to turn that aforesaid dogshit into a diamond or two. Oh, and Max Domi would have fit in nicely with this plan. 

Quebec Rordiques	23.50	10.11
Dennis Wideman	31	0.68
Alex Goligoski	29	0.52
Nikolay Kulemin	28	0.50
Jori Lehtera	27	0.93
Bobby Ryan	27	0.81
Jonathan Toews	26	1.19
Patrik Berglund	26	0.42
Jordan Staal	26
Semyon Varlamov	26	0.81
Josh Bailey	25	0.48
Travis Hamonic	24
Brayden Schenn	23	1.00
Ryan O'Reilly	23	0.87
Zemgus Girgensons	20	0.95
Mikhail Grigorenko	20
Jacob Trouba	20	0.60
Rasmus Ristolainen	20	0.35
Derrick Pouliot	20
Andrei Vasilevskiy	20
Aleksander Barkov	19
Sam Reinhart	19
Kasperi Kapanen	18

Many of us have scratched our heads at some of the decisions made in this corner, but the Rordiques have indeed put together the youngest (by far) team in the KL. They have NINE players who cannot legally drink alcohol in the US; surely some of those kids will stay sober long enough to blossom into something special? Why he has guys like Wideman and Kulemin, I still don’t really understand, but I guess they could have some value for someone, and open up the possibility of adding even more young guns through draft promotion next season.

WBS Parkers	25.91	9.52
Dany Heatley	33
Andy Greene	32
Mike Smith	32
Mike Cammalleri	32	0.47
Duncan Keith	31	0.65
Frans Nielsen	30	0.57
Brian Elliott	29	0.72
Loui Eriksson	29	0.72
Tyler Bozak	28	1.00
Kris Versteeg	28	0.96
T.J. Oshie	28	0.46
Brad Marchand	26	0.81
Jason Demers	26	0.31
Tomas Tatar	24	1.00
Evander Kane	23	0.65
Tomas Hertl	21
Hampus Lindholm	20	0.75
Olli Maatta	20	0.45
Griffin Reinhart	20
Teuvo Teravainen	20
Nathan MacKinnon	19
Leon Draisaitl	19

Like the Rordiques, the 6^th youngest Parkers have several players (6) who can’t legally go pick up their GM’s Whitelaw Twining coworker at a bar in the states. You know there’s a problem when Brad Marchand, Loui Erksson, Tomas Tatar, and Kris Versteeg are responsible for half of your team’s points in December; but then again, Rome has been consistent and clear about his tanking intentions for a long while. With only 8 points separating him from Rory, the unfathomable possibility that the Rordiques could finish anywhere but last is very conceivable. There’s certainly the opportunity to move some overachieving pieces here, continue to get younger and better, and try to further weigh down this shipwreck.