Relative unknown Brett Festerling resigned with Anaheim, a two year deal. With the departure of Chris Pronger in the early offseason trade with Philadelphia, let’s examine who are the best blueliners the Ducks have to offer:
Anaheim Ducks’ defensemen, Regular season 2008-9
| Name | ESOR | ESDR | ESTR |
| Brett Festerling | -0.89 | +1.28 | +0.39 |
| James Wisniewski | -0.14 | +0.51 | +0.37 |
| Sheldon Brookbank | -0.21 | +0.54 | +0.33 |
| Nick Boynton | +0.37 | -0.27 | +0.10 |
| Scott Niedermayer | -0.15 | -0.06 | -0.21 |
| Ryan Whitney | -0.20 | -0.41 | -0.61 |
| Luca Sbisa | -0.73 | -0.02 | -0.75 |
Leading the list is: Brett Festerling. The 22 year old from British Columbia has taken steps to prove that he is a good stay at home defenseman in his first 40 NHL games, sporting a +1.28 Even Strength Defensive Rating in 570 minutes of ESTOI. Anaheim doesn’t have any top end defensemen, with the deterioration of Niedermayer’s talent, so an infusion of young talent is necessary (Mind you, any hope of a change of scenery igniting Ryan Whitney has already proven fruitless).
Regarding Luca Sbisa, don’t get too concerned with the poor showing above. Remember that he’s an excellent prospect who won’t turn 20 until well into next season. Given patience, Sbisa could develop into a cornerstone for the future.
Hey Timo, I’m following your work and the work of all the people at puck prospectus with great interest. GVT is from what I understand a measure of the production from a player, and should remain relatively consistent from season to season with some exceptions just like individual players production in other areas of the game.
I want to ask if you think that your new metric total rating will behave in the same manner, because there are some names on your list of best players that apparently had great seasons but are unknown by fans around the league. So can us Dallas fans expect to see Jeff Woywitka leading the team defense in total rating next season, can Anaheim fans expect the same out of Brett Festerling and James Wisniewski? keep up the great work, I’m looking forward to seeing your non ESTR rankings and if they are at all consistent with the even strength rankings
A great strength of GVT is that it allows players to be compared historically. GVT is measuring offensive and especially defensive contributions differently than what we do. I think it’s a great stat.
Without focusing on what GVT is and how it’s different from what we do, I think the logic behind what we’re doing is very simple, straightforward, and powerful. Defensive contributions have not been well measured, in hockey or other sports. I’m confident that our metrics will uncover some diamonds in the rough among heretofore unacknowledged great two-way players.
As you’re well aware, Dallas did not make the playoffs last season! So your good news is going to be limited. The guy to hold onto is your top performer, forward Loui Eriksson. He was +0.79/+.030/+1.09 (ESOR/ESDR/ESTR). Hold onto Loui!
haha I don’t think there’s any danger of the team selling off Loui Eriksson for picks – we spent a good decade without any promising young goalscorers coming through the system, we won’t let this one go cheaply
I honestly do think that Dallas does have a chance to impress this year. I guess the one person that will make or break the season is Marty Turco – if he plays anything like last season Dallas has no chance.