No Matthews?

Just a tad early for this isn’t it?

Matthews hasn't exactly wowed me with the eye test on defense... His analytics indicate pretty good things but I just haven't seen it with the eye test

Just a tad tbh

Kotkaniemi 62.3% offensive zone start. 51.9% xg% 5v5

Sheltered minutes AGAIN for the guy with zero lifetime selke votes

I'm pretty sure ridly Greig has yet to be on the ice for a goal against. Gaps all these guys imo

Smallest canes fan overreaction

Also -1 (hate to do it but still), and has already taken 5 minor penalties, team has a 6% higher xGoals% with KK on the bench

Not getting scored on the PK in 7 games, defensive puck recoveries and board work, IMO, the eye test says he should be a front runner for the Selke

this list isnt biased at all

That would appear to be accurate

you know you actually have to watch for the eye test to work right?

Canes fans are broken by the offersheet and insane contract. It's hilarious

Believe me I know. They were trying to tell me he was comparable to Nico Hischier last year

Everybody on the canes has had a bit of a penalty problem but he's been stuck on the ice a lot with Tony D as a defenseman which doesn't help in the slightest when it comes to anything on the defensive end.

Coming in to fill the hole left by Patrice Bergeron

Do you guys actually watch the Hurricanes? Like KK is a very good player who's near a PPG over his last 30 regular season game and is very good to elite on the defensive end

It's the Hurricanes the top three lines are always going to have a very high % in the offensive zone... it's just the way their system works... They spend a lot of time in their own zone and KK and Staal are the two shutdown centers

Carolina has been very terrible defensively. Not at all a surprise you ignore that for this list lol

They've had a bit of an adjustment period and Staal and KK have been very very good defensive forwards. They have also spent most of this young season on a west coast road trip and playing 5 games in 7 days

Homerism on huge display

a 30 game sample size from 2 seperate seasons to justify this is wild. And that 30th game just so happens to be his singular 5 point game. If you start after that game he was at 13 points in 21 games to end the year, and he had 12 points in the 23 games before that.

It's not even like its some 19 year old and you're talking about his breakout where sure it might make sense to erase that other sample.

His eye test sees the maple leaf on his chest and then all else goes red

Matthews been fantastic defensively this year. Back to his 21-22 form. Maybe he'll be 1 year on 1 year off bc he was pretty mid defensively in 20-21 and 22-23, but he looks elite on that end this year and was a stud in 21-22

That thirty-game sample size is crucial because that is about the only time since he's been a hurricane that he's actually been getting top-6 minutes... It isn't about showing a favorable sample it's about showing a sample which it represents what TOI he's getting