In the pantheon of brutally difficult things to accomplish in the National Hockey League, succeeding as a 21-or-under defenceman ranks near the top. Kyrie Irving White Jersey . It takes a unique combination of talent and early physical development to even bring a guy into NHL consideration at such a young age, and only a portion of this small-group can hold down regular shifts without getting killed against the world’s toughest competition. And, it’s worth remembering that a huge majority of 21-or-under players are not NHL-regulars – the junior leagues, international leagues, and American Hockey League are filled with guys still rounding out their game. There are myriad reasons why making a super-early jump as a defenceman is tougher than as a forward, but two of the big ones include expectations and exposure. Expectations at the position are tied into shot and goal suppression, and slowing down some of the world’s best players from scoring is a tall task. Exposure also makes things tricky – it’s a bit easier to insulate a young forward with at least one quality linemate, or hide the player on a third or fourth line in limited minutes. On defence, since only six defencemen play, it’s harder to hide a guy by sheer limitation of ice-time. You can run out a quality partner with the young defender, but doing so ensures that they’ll play a fair amount each game. No third-pairing minutes here. Naturally, I’m always intrigued to see how coaches bring along these players, because it varies from team to team. Believe it or not, there are only 11 regular 21-or-under defenders this season. Success has been variable. First, let’s take a quick look as to how these skaters have been deployed based on teammate quality and competition quality. For the sake of this graph and this graph only, I have omitted both Nikita Zadorov and Rasmus Ristolainen. As is always the case this season, the Sabres – by virtue of being a historically awful hockey team – distort data visualization. Just know that both players frequently play with terrible teammates and against difficult competition, and would sit far east of Morgan Rielly in the graph below. The dotted line gives us a nice first look at what the players are generally seeing on a day-to-day basis. The three names to the left (Rielly, Ceci, and Murphy) of the dotted line generally see more oppressive competition, somewhat due to the fact that they play on average or subpar teams. Severson splits the middle. On the other side, you can see that Aaron Ekblad, Dougie Hamilton, and Seth Jones are being supported by virtue of their common linemates being of higher quality than their opposition. Quality of Teammate and Quality of Competition isn’t the only way to look at how a player is being used, though. We can also look at how frequently a player starts in the offensive zone as another way to capture whether or not a playing is being insulated in his deployment. Here, we can look at Relative Offensive Zone Start% -- players above 0.0% start more shifts in the offensive zone relative to the team norm, players below 0.0% start less shifts in the offensive zone relative to the team norm. We know from the first graph that Morgan Rielly, Connor Murphy, and Cody Ceci were seeing significantly tougher competition than teammate quality. Here, only Cody Ceci sees tough deployment as it pertains to offensive zone start numbers – he sees fewer shifts than the regular Ottawa Senator in terms of starting in the offensive zone; Morgan Rielly and Connor Murphy, on the other hand, see more shifts than the regular player from their respective teams. The two other names that pop from this table are Damon Severson (brutal zone starts) and Aaron Ekblad (lofty zone starts). At this point, we can start to draw conclusions about a handful of players, and use it to craft future analysis: Damon Severson, Cody Ceci, are in pretty tough spots for young defenders, and Morgan Rielly – by virtue of team effects – isn’t far behind. Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones are well protected. Both Buffalo Sabres guys are getting killed by their team, but Rasmus Ristolainen sees much more difficult deployment than Nikita Zadorov. Through this, we can contextualize to some degree the performance of each player by their raw Corsi% numbers. For each of the eleven skaters, I pulled each team’s Corsi% with the player on the ice, and each team’s Corsi% with the player off of the ice. We know Seth Jones and Aaron Ekblad are being put in positions to really succeed, so we expect the team to have a better Corsi% with them on the ice than off. For both players here, that’s true, though the data seems to suggest Seth Jones is having a more favourable impact than Aaron Ekblad in fairly comparable minutes. This graph is the most damning for Connor Murphy. Recall that Murphy has been given plenty of offensive zone starts, and he isn’t experiencing the kind of competition/teammate disparity that the two Sabres’ skaters, Morgan Rielly, and Cody Ceci are. Despite that, the Arizona Coyotes are significantly better with him off of the ice. Who is the player with the most encouraging underlying numbers? Damon Severson. Severson’s numbers and deployment are somewhat to comparable to that of Cody Ceci and Morgan Rielly, but both of those players had significant NHL-experience last season. Severson’s a full-blown rookie. For that reason, New Jersey should be thrilled about what they have found in their 2012 second-round pick. Richard Jefferson Jersey . -- Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus is dealing with soreness in his right forearm and will be sidelined for at least a few days.Timofey Mozgov Cavaliers Jersey . -- His voice cracking with emotion, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice acknowledged Friday that he "failed miserably" and apologized for the actions that led to his arrest on assault charges.SURREY, B.C. - Kevin Glenn wants everyone to take a deep breath. Despite guiding the B.C. Lions to a sluggish 0-2 start to the CFL season — including an anaemic offensive performance in last weeks 24-9 road loss to the Montreal Alouettes — the clubs veteran quarterback is confident things will turn around soon. For a team that has designs on playing in the Grey Cup game set for its backyard, they better. "I wouldnt push the panic button just yet. Its a long season," Glenn said after Tuesdays practice. "There is a sense of urgency and I think everybody understands that around here just because of the nature of our profession. We dont have to panic. We just have to go make sure we understand whats going on and we go out and execute in the game." Starting in place of injured No. 1 quarterback Travis Lulay, Glenn has thrown six interceptions and has been sacked nine times through two games. Its a small sample size, but also a troubling trend for a team that has a new offensive co-ordinator, a new scheme and a rebuilt offensive line in 2014. "Theres no excuses around here," said Glenn. "Weve just got to believe in each other, believe in the systems and what were doing and just get this thing turned around." In truth, the Lions offence has been ravaged by injury early in the season, with both the receiving corps and line taking major personnel hits. B.C. head coach Mike Benevides is hoping to get receivers Marco Iannuzzi and Emmanuel Arceneaux back for Saturdays visit to Regina to take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders (1-1), but its clear everyone on the roster has to be better. "I think what it has come down to, and I have told the players this, is making plays," said Benevides. "Its different if we just cant get squat done. But theres points where theres a throw to be made into the end zone, lets make it. Theres an interception to be made, lets make it. Theres a ball on the ground ... lets all run to the ball and get the ball. "Every single one of us, and that includes us with the whistles, we just have to find ways to make some plays. We have go gain confidence and we have to get better right away because right now its not good enough at all." The offensive line lost three starters to retirement in the off-season and new starting left tackle Andre Ramsey went down to injury in the season opener. The Lions brought in Ryan Cave last week, but he was victimized by Montreals defence in the first half after taking part in just two practicees with his new teammates. Matthew Dellavedova Jersey. Still, Benevides said Glenn — who has just two touchdown passes to go along with a 58.5 per cent completion rate — has to make the right decisions in crucial moments. "Five sacks (against the Alouettes) are too much. The hits are too much. We have to fix that right away, but there are certain plays he has to make himself and he knows that," said Benevides. "Two weeks in a row there was a play to be made in the end zone without pressure, lets make that play. He knows that." In his first season with B.C. after being acquired at the CFL draft in a trade with the Ottawa Redblacks, Glenn has been through his share of ups and downs in his career and said the Lions are still a confident bunch. "Weve got a lot of guys here that believe in each other and I think thats the biggest thing," said the 35-year-old. "If you still have guys that believe in each other and know that its going to get done ... its going to get done." Answering questions about early-season struggles is something many of the Lions have had to deal with in the not-too-distant past. The 2011 team started 0-5 before rallying to not only make the playoffs, but win the Grey Cup at B.C. Place Stadium — the same field where the big game will be held in November. That doesnt mean they want to take the same route in 2014. "At the end of the day weve got a lot to build on. Our foundation is still solid and everybody still has confidence in the locker-room. We just have to apply it to the field," said veteran defensive back Ryan Phillips, before cautioning: "Everybody should be concerned to some degree. We cant go off the past and say weve been here before and things like that. "Our backs are against the wall right now and thats the reality of it. Youre only as good as your last game." On top of looking for their first victory of the season this weekend in what is sure to be a hostile environment in Regina, the Lions will take on a Roughriders team that ended their season in 2013 before capturing the Grey Cup. "We are pissed off, weve lost two in a row. They are going to play at home," said Benevides. "Its loud and its hard to play there. Our guys have done it before and challenged them really well. I really dont care about the opponent. Its about us performing better. "There is no need for any extra motivation right now. We suck. We havent won two games in a row and we have to win right away." Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale JerseysCheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
