| 28 January 2009
Some will reason that the timing of the All-Star break was a contributing factor for the Sens loss to the New Jersey Devils last night. Others will ignore the fact that Brendan Shanahan wanted to remain in the Tri-State area and use last night's loss as an opportunity to shit all over Bryan Murray's decision-making. Some, like the guys at TGOR or Black Aces, will question why Jason Smith was a healthy scratch. And the ones with their heads in their asses will use Jason Smith's benching as an opportunity to call in to the post-game show and inexplicably shit on Hartsburg's refusal to bench Jason Spezza for his non-physical game and his numerous giveaways.It's abso-fucking-lutely mindblowing how many Sens fans will sensationalize Spezza's gaffes. Why do they sensationalize these things? Because they watch every fucking game and disregard the fact that other elite players do the same fucking thing. Why? Because when you tune into a channel like TSN, they only display the goals, hits, assists, and saves. You never see a player like Ovechkin turn the puck over consistently unless you're watching him play .
Look at the NHL Leaders in Giveaways:
1. Alex Ovechkin - 58
2. Derek Roy - 56
3. Andrei Markov - 55
4. Mike Richards - 55
5. Mike Green - 54
6. Jason Spezza - 53
7. Brad Richards - 51
8. Ilya Kovalchuk - 50
9. Sidney Crosby - 49
10. Drew Doughty - 49
Pretty elite company, right? Now let's look at their Takeaways:
1. Ovechkin - 36
2. Roy - 29
3. Markov - 36
4. M. Richards - 42
5. Green - 25
6. Spezza - 37
7. B. Richards - 35
8. Kovalchuk - 25
9. Crosby - 30
10. Doughty - 23
If you're looking at their turnover differential, Spezza's on par with the other elite players. Sure, his soft play may limit his ability to generate more turnovers like a Getzlaf or a Malkin, but his turnover differential has improved dramatically from last year when he had 96 giveaways and 44 takeaways -- for a TO differential of -52. Through the stats, it's obvious that Spezza's game has become more complete under Hartsburg, maybe it's time for some fans to find another whipping boy for a team that simply isn't very good.
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