Signed Jakub Kindl signs 4 year extension, $9.6m total, $2.4m/yr

[Euro_Twins 4,476]

quincey only has one year left on his contract, thank god. - 3,775,000

Yeah, Holland will lock him up to 6 years $36 million extension

[Guest The Axe]

You may disagree but mine actually is a reasonably sound argument. I've used statistics to support my case, but as I mentioned repeatedly, it also relies on watching the games. Sorry if it offends you because I said something mildly critical of one of your favorite players, but that doesn't make it baseless.

A baseless argument would be this one.

First, he wasn't playing big minutes. As has been covered, his average TOI per game was 18:33, which puts him at #6 on the depth chart when everyone is healthy. 2:36 of his minutes were on the PP, which means he only average 15:40 per game at Even Strength, and 15 seconds on the PK. That average ES TOI puts him 7th. 6th if you dont' want to count Cola. Kronwall by comparison was playing 18:01 ES minutes per game. And Ericsson was close behind with 17:55. Those are big minutes against top competition. In the playoffs the gap between the top pairing and other D men because even more pronounced.

Second, +/- is in no way a great indicator of taking care of business in your own end. I've used this example before, but Lidstrom finished a -2 in 2011. Using your reasoning, Brian Rafalski was best on the team at "taking care of business in his own end" with a +11 while Lidstrom was apparently worst at it among the regular defensive corps. Watching the games tells us that's not actually the case. Rafalski was often a liability defensively with his small stature and ailing knee.

There's also the small point of Lidstrom winning the Norris that year, but I guess that's not a stat really so it doesn't count.

Youre getting closer. Im totally in agreement with you on +/- being a "loose" stat. Ian White had a huge +/- a few years ago because of his partner and he's a benchwarmer without Lidstrom. But Im not in agreement with you on your TOI argument. Smith passed Kuba on the depth chart during the playoffs, and possibly DeKeyser as well. But 18 and a half minutes a night out of Kindl is HUGE. There are only 120 minutes to divide between 6 defensemen. If each one plays equal minutes, thats 20 each right? Top pairing gets a little more. 2nd/3rd pairings get a little less, right? Kindl is gobbling up minutes because he's dependable This is where you are off. Maybe one more season will change your mind. Playing with DeKeyser will help too.