Videos of Reasoner's offensive abilities

Just to start off, Konopka doesn’t have a long nhl tenure, but he has been a solid pt producer in the ahl and even a decent goalscorer, averaging around a goal every 3gms or 25goals/season in his career. Watching his game, you could definitely argue this isn’t because of Konopka’s having “great” offensive skills, but most likely due to his strength/battling/determination/“grit”. That combo of things can take a player a lot farther then one would think. 2 main examples: Milan Lucic and Tomas Holmstrom.

Holmstrom has very little “hockey skills”, but the man’s determination, battling, and grit playing hard nosed in front of the net has made him a 5X 20goal scorer in his career and a useful PP tool, not to mention a 30goal threat/and 1X 30goal scorer in his prime. Does Holmstrom have a good amount of “hockey skills” or “hockey IQ”, not really, but the man has found a way to be a very successful nhler and solid goalscorer in his career still.

Lucic, the man is a physical animal, as are a handful or 2 more forwards in the nhl. He is an average at best skater, doesn’t have a great shot, and has limited puckhandling skills, “but” the man is as strong as an ox, plays a physical agitating style, wins a lot of puck battles, hits everything that moves, and plays with extreme determination and grit. Lucic had/has the hockey skillset of a bottom 6er, but because of his playing style, strength/size, physicality, and determination/grit/toughness, he has turned himself into a solid top 6 powerforward and is on the verge of getting a 2nd career 30goal/60pts season and is looking like he will be a repeat 25goals/55pts scorer for most of his career barring injuries.

I’m not saying that Konopka has the, how can I put it, “non-direct hockey skills” that holmstrom or lucic do as top 6 forwards with lower natural skills/IQ, but he similarly makes the most of what God gave him. He battles, plays with fire, fights in front of the net, throws the body a lot, and we all know “has the gritz/toughness” team’s want to see from their players. I think those things makes him better on paper than anyone would think. And the ability of separating a player from the puck on offense I think is an underrated ability (which as seen by martin’s play this year, can create shots/turnovers/scoring chances when done).

Then there is reasoner, obviously has more “hockey IQ”/“offensive hockey skills” then konopka, but he seems to play a more laid back/less-determined/less-dire type of offensive game (maybe it’s because he concentrates more of defense, but that’s what I see). I do think I underminded reasoner’s o-skills a bit in my post, but I still don’t think he brings anything to the table where he is a “generator” of 4th line scoring by himself, but neither does konopka though, both are limited offensively. I still think it’s closer then one would think for the reasons I stated. That said, I hope Reasoner turns it around and I certainly think he has the ability to look better then he did in his 1st 2 months/3months overall of hockey, where he looked really bad at times.

I like that selection. And the idea on some of those shots is not necessarily to score directly, but to cause good rebound chances: the first and last clips, the shots to the low far posts, are perfect examples. Those are difficult shots for goalies to kill the rebound, because the same instinct and muscle memory that kicks pucks to the corner can put those pucks into the circles or slot area. And Wallace got a great second shot off the one chance, that was also stopped.

Part of this is a demonstration of something I read in passing elsewhere, that Reasoner’s PDO has been among the lowest among forwards so far. And it’s not just on the offensive end either, the Isles’ goalies haven’t done well keeping pucks out of the net while Reasoner’s out there.

With a little better puck luck, this is probably a conversation that doesn’t need to happen – though I’m glad that it is, because digging into why stats look the way they do is fascinating and informative.

I stand behind my pre-season comments that the Zeke for Reasoner roster swap will, has and will continue to benefit the Islanders.
When you have a free weekend maybe you can justify the Rolston deal with a series of videos of pucks scuffing up the boards from every conceivable place on the ice.
Brian Rolston, the Islanders’ PANDA: eats chutes and leaves.

When he was signed, I thought that Reasoner was an upgrade because he should at least be able to play a regular shift without hurting you much defensively and take defensive zone face-offs. He’s been a major disappointment (at least to me) in both areas. Does he just not want to be here?

Konopka was bad in his own zone, and a bit of a loose cannon, so I have no objection to the fact Isles replaced him. The real issue, though, is whether Garth could’ve have gotten a better “scrub” type 4th line center to eat up some minutes than Reasoner. Maybe he couldn’t, but it’s too bad he didn’t.