you can look at it which every way you want with the numbers, yes stepan has better numbers, but he plays with nash. i feel if the line was brassard zucc nash it would work better, we tried putting stepan with so many different players but nothing seems to click with this guy, he is not clutch, he doesn't play with a chip on his shoulder, it just seems he is meh when it comes to his numbers and it fine with that, i feel brassard wants it more has more to prove...... again this is just my peronal opinion from what i saw this post season (not counting regular season) because post season is where you can judge a player, (joe thorton). We can bring down every centers number and what he makes and say this and that...... but a person gets paid on what value he brings to the team. Can we saw we get to the stanely cup without the brassard line? hell no, but if stepan wasn't on the team we still get there imo, idk seems that stepans points come in garbage time, i can remember a game against philly where the game was a blow out and stepan scores 2 goals when its already 4-1 . Just my observation,!
so just looking at random numbers, a lot of which don't mean anything but here i go ill share them anyway, stepan, finals 2 assiasts, brassard, finals goal 2 assists, stepan series by series, PHI 2g 2a, pit 2a, game 6 n 7 , mtl 3g 4a (best series) brassard phi 2a, pitt 4g 1a, mtl 1g 1a. pretty much as even as it gets in terms of numbers, brassard played better against PITT, tougher opponets and kings and stepan played better in MTL and PHI. It is what it is, i think as playoffs went on brassards role was more involved as he was playing so well. Either way can't wait to start the season and what these guys can do in year 2! btw at first i was against Pouliout leaving but after seeing that he only had 10 points, he is definitley replaceable, it just seemed he did better then that. IDK who is going to replace him but hopefully they do better then that.
Stepan needs to get into better shape this year, and Stempniak should come close to Pouliots production I'd think, maybe a few less goals but better defensively.
Here is the bottom line Sleeps, across the board just about every number is better for Stepan, like 95% of them. He scores more regular season. He scored more last post-season. His worst season in his 4 pro seasons is just about equal to Brassard's best season in his 6 seasons. He is just a better player. I am sorry but there really isn't much to debate here. Just about every single number favors Stepan, and he is 3 years younger also. That's it really. Now with that said you are 100% entitled to like Brass better. You are 100% entitled to think Brass will be better going forward, no one can see the future so it could happen, but I am sorry I just don't see how anyone can spin that up to this point Brassard has been better than Stepan, just no way bro. And yes...I 100% agree with you that I am looking forward to the season. About 10 more weeks and we drop the puck....
Some of you really underrate Stepan in here. The guy is at .670 points per game in his career. He just turned 24. In his 4 full seasons in the NHL he has NEVER missed a game. NEVER scored less than 17 goals. NEVER had less than 45 points (his 44 points in 48 games during the lockout season would have put him WAY over 45 points in a full season). NEVER been worse than a + 8, and outside of his rookie season never been worse than a + 12. Those are some really good numbers for a 24 year old. Sure we all want more, but have patience. I see 60 points this season, he had 57 this past season, and from there we'll see where he goes in his career. He is a very good player already at 24.
Totally agree about Stepan Chuck and on a team perpetually struggling for offense the Rangers need a guy like Stepan. I think Glen overpaid but at least it was for a 27 year old Brassard with potential upside instead of a 37 year old Thornton with no upside. I thought Stepan showed a lot of grit playing with a broken jaw last postseason. I don't expect him to become a physical presence though it would be nice but Stepan really needs to improve on faceoffs (45.2% wins on 1,500 attempts doesn't cut for a first liner). Brassard could easily surpass 50 points if he could hit an open net, missed way too many last year, also unacceptable.
Faceoffs will be interesting this season. Boyle took a ton of big ones with Moore. Then Richards. Now with Boyle and Richards gone Stepan and Brass need to improve on faceoffs. Moore cannot take every single FO. Great point on the Brass signing panzer. Sather paid 5 mill per for a 27 year old about to really enter his prime C (which I don't believe was overpaying if you compare it to what Brass would get as a UFA next summer...and even if it was an overpay it was very slight as Brass would get 4.5 at a minimum as a UFA). If Sather didn't sign Brass you know we go out there and sign some big UFA C in his 30's for 8 mill or more per, and that is a much bigger risk than re-signing Brass for 5 mill per.
