What’s with all the love for Tomas Kopecky?
It’s not just the highly skilled Marian Hossa that’s jumped around from Stanley Cup finalist to Stanley Cup finalist, but his relatively unimpressive countryman as well. Yes, Kopecky won a Cup with the Red Wings against Hossa in 2007-8, teamed up with Hossa to lose one to the Pens in 2009-10, and now is within a game of the promised land yet again.
At 28 years old, the Slovakian winger is certainly not a developing youngster by any stretch. And at 0.21 points per game over 257 career games, Kopecky makes Max Talbot look like an offensive force, which is really saying something. By Goals Versus Threshold, Kopecky’s 3.0 GVT this season has actually taken him above replacement level, for a whopping 2.5 career GVT. Kopecky has also ridden his career year to rating as a nearly average NHL skater by Even Strength Total Rating, at -0.03. But is this really what you expect from a first or second line forward?
As I quipped on Twitter, Kopecky’s main hockey-related talents might include “Skating w/o falling down very often” and “Guy other teams like to hit”. But maybe Dan Carcillo just sees red all the time anyway.
Options for Chicago? How about swapping roles with Troy Brouwer? Brouwer looked great in Games 1 and 2, and was miles ahead of Kopecky with a fine 8.0 GVT and +0.30 ESTR in 2009-10. I’d even consider resurrecting Adam Burish from the press box and into the starting lineup over Kopecky. Sure, he looks like a lumbering hulk, but Burish’s 0.7 GVT in 13 GP would have pro-rated out to more than 4.0 over the course a full season. And in a handful of minutes last season and during a cup of coffee this season, the underrated right wing had a well above average +0.36 and +0.78 ESTR.
But don’t hold your breath regarding Kopecky moving out of the “top six forwards” for Chicago. After all, Coach Joel Quenneville stubbornly stuck with Nikolai Khabibulin last postseason well past the threshold where most coaches would have given Cristobal Huet a shot, and in these finals, it took him a full four games of complete nothingness before he budged and broke up his first line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien.
That said, there’s no time to fool around here. While I assume that we all know that the Blackhawks are the better team, if this goes to a Game 7–which seems likely in a “home ice series”–Philly’s gamers are going to smell blood. And those wily veterans may just figure out a way to get to the finish line ahead of the Hawks if Chicago doesn’t close it out tonight.