JJfromKansas

There are plenty of ways to get pluses and minuses; I won't bore you with details. You're welcome over any time to argue the merits of individual scores. Until then, keep fighting the good fight, man.

Yet somehow they're not. Weird how it defeats an argument for reducing to the ridiculous when you look at what I've actually done. Ah, superlatives and hyperbole, how strong they remain when used so often... Janik got a minus rating for the fight exactly because it was ill-timed. There was no good reason for it, and it broke up an odd-man rush at a time the Wings had an opportunity to build momentum when they were only down 0-1. There's no way to say that it would have made any difference in the way that game turned out, but lots of players got minuses on that game. The pass was worth -2.5. Turning the puck over across the middle while your team is trying to transition up ice is a cardinal sin. Even worse, it was an unforced error. It makes a lot more sense to give Janik extra minuses on the play than it does to allow both Helm and Miller to have kept their minuses when they did absolutely nothing wrong. I mean, as long as we're talking about ridiculous things... Funny you should mention that because Salei DID get an extra minus for failing to cover Carter in front of the net, leading to a goal. http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2010/10/24/1770212/cssi-analysis-red-wings-5-ducks-4 2nd period - 6:34 Salei got an extra minus. Cleary and Hudler both did their jobs on that play and did not receive any minuses. So you're either a big fan of Janik or just love taking the contrarian approach. Have fun with that. Janik has consistently been outplayed by both Kindl and Salei. As far as Babcock commending Janik, but not Salei or Kindl, I would let the fact that both of them averaged more ice time than Janik speak for itself. The guy's an AHLer; I appreciate that he's a serviceable NHL defenseman when he's up with the big club, but when it comes to organizational depth, he's the #8 guy. I'm sure he appreciates having a white knight out there, but if you're looking at the official stats to tell you that Janik has not been the worst defenseman the Red Wings have dressed in more than five games this season, you're wrong. I don't know what more I can tell you.

Yes, there is subjectivity to the adjusted scoring index. I welcome individual feedback on any plays people think I've judged either too harshly or not harshly enough. If you're going to dismiss the entire project because of the somehow-overblown nature of the word "subjective', then I won't try to stop you. The fact remains that I'm not the only fan who believes Doug Janik was the worst Red Wings defenseman on the team during his stint with the club. I would say that Mike Babcock and Ken Holland agree with me, since he's been sent back to Grand Rapids. I just have a scoring index that backs up my claim with statistics that aren't skewed by the concept of forwards making blueline turnovers or goals scored as power plays expire.

Hey guys, J.J. from Kansas from Winging It In Motown here. I do the CSSI tracking for each game. First off, thanks for taking an interest. titanium2 has a pretty good explanation for what the CSSI tracking is all about; I'm trying to correct the stats for context in a way that will meaningfully show which Red Wings are really doing the best out there. For instance, Drew Miller's official stats have him at a -4 rating, but he's been doing his job as a fourth-line grinder very well this season and I don't think that rating accurately reflects Miller's contributions to the team. For the case of Janik, I don't hate the guy and he's the best solution out of Grand Rapids we had while Ericsson and Rafalski were both out, but he's proven this season why the scouts say he's a career AHLer. I've adjusted his stats a few times here and there, but I can remember the two main instances that have his rating 2.5 points worse than official. 1. He was awarded a minus for the first period fight in the Dallas game. The decision was a very poor one and the timing of the fight killed an odd-man rush for Detroit. 2. I gave him an extra 1.5 minus for the turnover to Danny Syvret in the 2nd Anaheim game. The cardinal rule of defensemen (especially defensive defensemen) is to never turn the puck over in your zone up the middle. Despite much better options on that play, Janik tried going up the middle to a covered Darren Helm and had his pass intercepted and turned into a goal. At any rate, thanks again for the interest. I'm enjoying doing the analyses so far and I think we've got a pretty good system in place. It's still a work in progress though. If anybody has any questions, feel free to email me at jjfromkansas [at] gmail [dot] com