Paul Stastny Is an All-Star (in my Pants)

Couple weeks back, Jew Grimson--the grimy weeper--and I were back-n-forthing about the upcoming All-Star Game. With the new format, we might actually see the 8 best centers in the game...in the game, unencumbered by the limitation of picking the top 4 each from the East and West. So, naturally, the topic of Toews (OH-VER-RATE-ED! boo!) and Stastny (THE WORLD'S...GREATEST...THIRD-LINE CENTER...IN THE WORLD! yay!) came up.

Grimson thinks "Top 5? No way. Top 8 Maybe." I went home and pounded through all my magazines and came up with the following list.

Stastny: 81 games played, 20 goals, 59 assists, +2, 50 PIM, .5 faceoff percentage.

Guys What I Admit Be Better'n Stastny¹
Malkin (67, 28-49, -6, 100, .4)
Crosby (81, 51-58)
Backstrom (82, 33-68)
Thornton (79, 20-69, 17, 54, .539)
Kopitar (82, 34-47, 6, 16, .497)
Datsuyk (80, 27-43, 17, 18, .551)

Guys What I Consider 'Bout the Same (Tie Goes to the Guy with His Dad's Name in the Rafters)
Sedin (82, 29-83)
Getzlaf (66, 19-50, 4, 79, .474)
Toews (76, 25-43, 22, 47, .573)
Staal (70, 29-41, 4, 68, .418)
M. Koivu (80, 22-49, -2, 50, .569)
Krejci
Savard
Sharp (82, 25-41, 24, 66, .517)
B. Richards (80, 24-67, -12, 14 .515)
M. Richards (82, 31-31, -2, 79, .507)
Carter (74, 33-28, 2, 38, .524)

No Thanks
Antropov (shockingly high numbers last year) (76, 24-43, 13, 44, .434)
Weiss (80, 28-32, -7, 40, .524)
Plecanec (82, 25-45, 5, 50, .49)
Zajac (82, 25-42, 22, 24, .529)
Tavares (82, 24-30, -15, 22, .475)
Spezza (60, 23-34, 0, 20, .505)

Obviously, I rate faceoffs pretty highly--and note that at the moment, Stastny is taking as many faceoffs as anybody not named Sidney Crosby. I also rate--maybe overrate--durability, and don't have much use for 30-goal scorers who end up a minus on the season.

So...according to my metrics, The World's Best Third-Line Center...IN THE WORLD is no worse than the 7th-best center in the game, essentially the same as Toews: both top-notch two-way centermen who are a notch below Datsuyk in that category.

In case you were wondering.

Now, does that mean he'll be an All-Star? I doubt it. Every name above his on the list is really likely to make it (maybe not Kopitar, still underrated and on a slumping team as I write this), Toews is a lock, based on reputation and last year, and you've got to think the Flyers will contribute at least one center. Which is more or less why I'm writing this: Stastny won't make it, but he deserves a bit more pub than he gets.



-Collision, 1 assist, +2, 7 PIM

¹This is mostly based on my sense of how last year's numbers reflect average years they could be expected to have going forward, taking into account Stastny's 5 year, 33 million wing-wang contract.

Image stolen from: http://letsgodu.blogspot.com/2008/11/Stastny-embodies-old-time-hockey.html