FanPost

Is Reasoner really an upgrade over Konopka? Numbers say no.

People always seemed to have cried for Konopka in the offseason, earlier this season, and it’s still ongoing. Some dismiss it as people who love “teh gritz” and fighting, but when you look at how bad reasoner is, a case for Konopka being a similar 2-way hockey player to Reasoner can certainly be made.

Reasoner was supposed to be brought in as a 2-way 4th line center that can play better hockey then Konopka and be a defensive/PK/faceoff specialist better then Konopka was. By the eye test and glancing at the numbers, he hasn’t done close to what some expected from him. I will show the comparative numbers below of Konopka’s stats from last year and Reasoner’s stats thus far this year. I will break down this debate of Konopka vs Reasoner as in-depth statistically as I can think of. Here are the comparison numbers below and a conclusion after:

Faceoff win percentage:

Konopka : 57.7%
Reasoner: 53.8%

O-zone start percentage:

Konopka : 30.2%
Reasoner: 48.8%

Corsi Relative Quality of Competition:

Konopka: 0.020
Reasoner: -0.562

Corsi:

Reasoner= -7 corsi
Konopka= -23 corsi

Penalties drawn vs penalties taken per 60min (positive is good, negative is bad):

Konopka : -0.9
Reasoner: -0.3

Fighting majors: (aka, sometimes standing up for your team)

Konopka : 25fights in 82gms
Reasoner: 0fights in 82gm equivalent

Goals/points scored:

Konopka : 2goals/9pts in 82gms
Reasoner: 0goal/12pts 82gm equivalent

Plus/Minus:

Konopka : -14 in 82gms
Reasoner: -39 in 82gm equivalent

Hits:

Konopka : 110hits in 82gms
Reasoner: 52hits in 82gm equivalent

Blocked shots:

Konopka : 52bs in 82gms
Reasoner: 37bs in 82gm equivalent

Giveaway to Takeaway ratio: (Negative bad, Positive Good)

Konopka : +5 in 82gms
Reasoner: -17 in 82gm equivalent

Shots:

Konopka : 56shotsin 82gms
Reasoner: 92shots in 82gm equivalent

TOI:

Konopka : 8:26ES/10:11total
Reasoner: 9:51ES/11:30total


Intangilbes:

Konopka: scrummed more, was very vocal in the media for the team, very vocal in the locker room.
Reasoner: I can’t really think of anything Reasoner brings that can’t be seen on any statistics we have.

In conclusion and broken down into simpler terms this means:

Konopka was, in comparion to Reasoner:

-A better faceoff specialist

-Worse at drawing penalties vs taking penalties

-A lot more willing and better scrapper/fighter, “middleweight enforcer”

-A better goalscorer

-A twice as physical hitter

-A better shotblocker

-A better puck possession player (takeaway to giveaway ratio)

-A more vocal leader on the ice and off the ice

-A better scrummer(lol)

-A more intangibles 4th liner

-Less of a shooter with the puck

-A smarter decision maker with the puck (plus minus is what I’m making this a

judge of, if it was closer I wouldn’t, but this margin is huge enough to make this

distinction)

-Definitely arguably a better 2-way hockey player surprisingly (with nearly 20%

less offensive zone starts and comparatively in terms of rel.quality of competition, Konopka faced weakish 3rd line competition while Reasoner’s been babied so

much you could say he’s facing ahl competition thus far. I’d estimate if there were

“more lines/weaker lines”, you could say Konopka is facing weak 3rd line

competition vs Reasoner’s facing weak 5th line competition. In my calculations,

Konopka being this close in corsi to Reasoner given their o-zone starts and

rel.qualofcompetition weighted is a huge plus for Konopka. Reasoner loses the

debate as a better 2-way hockey player. )

Conclusively right now, it looks like a mistake to have let Konopka go and signed Reasoner in his place. Konopka’s positives outweigh Reasoner’s positives by a good margin so far in their islander tenures. In hindsight, we should have kept Konopka if this is the Reasoner we are going to have to live with for his tenure here, no ifs ands or butts about it. Take this as a fact: “THUS FAR, KONOPKA>REASONER ALL AROUND AS A HOCKEY PLAYER ON OUR TEAM”. So when people yack off for wanting Konopka as die hard gritz fans, think again because there is a very serious case that Konopka would have been a more positive impact player on this team then Reasoner has been thus far. Thoughts and comments?

PS-sorry if the copy and past job didn't come out great.


<em>Submitted FanPosts do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or SB Nation. If you're reading this statement, you pass the fine print legalese test. Four stars for you.</em>