Completely Unfair Kessel Comparison that is Nonetheless Fun
by Dominik on May 26, 2011 6:30 AM EDT
in Islanders in Diapers
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Reminder: Doug Weight's big announcement is today at 11 a.m. Meanwhile, our mock draft made it through Columbus last night. We'll have more on the Kyle Okposo contract later, but on-going discussion is in this Fanshot.
Consider, if you will, the record of two NCAA defensemen, both in Hockey East:
| Player A | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Age 18 |
38 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 77 |
| Age 19 |
40 | 13 | 36 | 49 | 50 |
| Age 20 | 43 | 3 | 39 | 42 | 44 |
| Age 21 | 42 | 6 | 37 | 43 | 57 |
| Total | 163 | 27 | 130 | 157 | 228 |
| Player B | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Age 19 |
37 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 14 |
| Age 20 |
38 | 10 | 28 | 38 | 28 |
| Age 21 |
39 | 5 | 22 | 27 | 32 |
| Total | 114 | 21 | 57 | 78 | 74 |
Both had a year or two that makes you think they keyed some offense. Player A is 6'0", 193, while Player B is 6'2", 210. Are you particularly moved by either of them?
Player A is Mike Mottau, who played for Boston College from 1996-2000.
Player B is Blake Kessel, who played for UNH from 2008-2011 after playing two seasons of USHL.
Kessel, of course, recently decided to leave UNH before his senior year to pursue the pros. Thanks to a CBA loophole, if he waits until after June 1 he does not have to sign with the Islanders.
Ways This Comparison Is Completely Unfair
- Their college careers were a decade apart.
- They played on completely different teams. Mottau's future-NHLer teammates included: Brian Gionta, Marty Reasoner, Scott Clemmensen, Rob Scuderi, Brooks Orpik. Kessel's future-NHLer teammates included: James van Riemsdyk (Freshman year), Bobby Butler...maybe another one or two if they're lucky.
- Stats for defensemen are incomplete and unfair. Even more so in college.
- Mottau has played 278 NHL games, hauling close to $3 million in salary.
Ways This Comparison Is Nonetheless Fun
- You have a 6th-round pick and a 7th-round pick. Their routes to the NHL are bound to be winding.
- Each was looked to as go-to offensive defensemen on their college teams -- which is the role of good players at lower levels overall. But that could not and would not be their route to the NHL. Determining Kessel's fate rests not on whether he can score, but whether he can defend against NHLers. It took Mottau eight pro seasons and his third NHL team before he saw his 30th NHL game.
- While Mottau was BC's top scoring D-man during his time there, Scuderi and Orpik were not -- and they stepped into clear defense-first roles in the NHL.
- People around here are pretty down on Mottau, whose tough season was limited to 20 games by two major injuries. But his destiny is sort of "third pair" defenseman, which you have to imagine is what Kessel can hope for at this point.
As was discussed last month and earlier this week, between the AHL and NHL the Islanders pro D pipeline for 2011-12 is fast filling up. So I could understand why -- if Kessel is determined to leave college now -- he might shop for other offers given the rights the CBA provides him. Not so much a numbers thing as an opportunity thing. (On that note, we don't even know that the Islanders offered him anything nor wanted him to leave college now. Last month's flirtation sounded a lot like the player side, while the club has more pro contracts coming off the books next summer.)
On the other hand, Kessel has some size, and homegrown is more fun. So it'll be a bit of a shame if his route to the NHL -- should he make it -- passes through multiple other teams.
The way Mike Mottau's did.
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Mottau Sucks
Consistently dirty (example : Nielsen hit). A lot of it behind the play cheap shot stuff, usually. His skating is pretty lousy. No offense at all. If there is one player on this team I could stick on the waiver wire – after Ricky – it would be him. Heck, a package deal of the two of them to the KHL for a snow shovel would be confetti-worthy.
Kessel/Gregoire signing questions
This is basically a “location” decision, right? Even though they are UFA’s, aren’t they still bound by the CBA to ETL parameters. Isn’t there a MAX and a MIN with bonuses still available for their first contract?
I thought that was discussed when Wheeler was shopping for a new home. I thought I read that Islanders never had much of a chance to sign Wheeler because he could only make so much, so he would just go to the team that offered him the best situation.
If my assumptions are true Kessler is gone… THere’s no way he steps into the NHLthis year, and he’ll most likely be behind Wishart, Katic, CDH, Donovan and Reese(?). He is RH though… an organizational need… but he goes even deeper on the depth-chart if they take Hamilton in the draft.
Lighthouse Hockey: where "you better check yourself before you rec yourself" -bobl
If your life isn't pathetic enough already, follow me on twitter @JPinVA
Kessel...?
Official choice of Lighthouse Dog #1.
by Fabtraption on May 26, 2011 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions
Not sure what your ? is
I don’t see Kessel floating too high on the depth chart without having an outstanding AHL rookie season… that could shuffle things a bit. Even though we don’t have a ton of depth of top notch talent… there will be a helluva lot of young prospects at the same level as Kessel next year in Bridgeport… most a step(Katic) or two(Wishart) ahead. The one advantage he has is that he’s right handed.
Lighthouse Hockey: where "you better check yourself before you rec yourself" -bobl
If your life isn't pathetic enough already, follow me on twitter @JPinVA
i believe he was referring to a typo
you said “kessler” not “kessel”
"Mario Lemiuex… I used to respect you."- Turgeon1992
Yes to both
They still have to do Entry Level Contracts as rookies, which caps how much they can make (not that a bidding war for either would ever approach the rookie max anyway, but…).
So yes, these are location/opportunity decisions on the player’s part, with perhaps a little more money on the table depending on who’s feeling generous.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A doughnut with no hole is Frans Nielsen.
Mottau at least won the Hobey Baker Award
Kessel won the “My Brother Was the Centerpiece in a Terrible Maple Leafs Deal” Award.
Oddly, both these awards are given annually.
We may be in the box, but you get the penalty.
Lighthouse Hockey - a beacon of greatness on the rocky coast of sports blog mediocrity
Non-hockey scribblings at nightflyblog
by mikb on May 26, 2011 10:27 AM EDT reply actions 4 recs
The TML award has gap years...
but only because some of there “CENTERPIECES” were only children.
Lighthouse Hockey: where "you better check yourself before you rec yourself" -bobl
If your life isn't pathetic enough already, follow me on twitter @JPinVA
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1979-80
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May 24, 1980: Tonelli to Nystrom. At long last, the steady build of the New York Islanders from expansion doormat to surprise semifinalist to annual contender reaches the promised land: Buoyed by a late season trade for Butch Goring that gave the team the depth up the middle GM Bill Torrey had been seeking, the Islanders knock off the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.
The victory justified the faith in coach Al Arbour who guided them from their second season to their first Stanley Cup seven seasons later. The Islanders would not be the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, but they would be the only one capable of a dynasty.
1980-81
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May 21, 1981: This time it was much easier. After falling to "only" 91 points in the 1979-80 season, the Islanders returned to their division title tradition, piling up 110 points -- a whole 13 points over second-place Philadelphia.
Between the quarterfinals (where they beat the upstart Oilers in six games) and the finals, the Islanders reeled off eight consecutive wins -- with a four-game sweep of archrival Rangers in between. As they defeated the Minnesota North Stars in five games for their second Cup, their goal difference in the final was a combined +10.
1981-82
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May 16, 1982: Another year, another landslide title. The Islanders won the Patrick Division by a whopping 26 points over the second-place Rangers, and were seven points clear of their nearest competition for the President's Trophy, the still-not-quite-ripe Edmonton Oilers.
A first-round scare against the Pittsburgh Penguins turned in the Isles' favor thanks to John Tonelli's heroics, and a true dynasty was on its way: Past the Rangers in six games, then an eight-game sweep of the Quebec Nordiques and Vancouver Canucks to run away with the Stanley Cup.
1982-83
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May 17, 1983: Not so fast, whipper-snappers. The Edmonton Oilers' steadily rising challenge for league supremacy took them all the way to the finals for the first time, where the New York Islanders summarily dispatched them in a four-game sweep. For the Islanders, the Dynasty was secured. For the Oilers, it was a powerful lesson in where talent ends and the demands of playoff hockey begin.
Four years, four Cups, 16 consecutive playoff series wins (a record that would grow to 19 until the rematch with the Oilers the following year). Mike Bossy scored 60 goals yet again, and Wayne Gretzky became acquainted with Billy Smith's crease.
