In trading for Marc Methot, the Dallas Stars bolstered their blueline without signing overrated lockdown defenseman Karl Alzner.
On Monday evening, the Dallas Stars finalized a deal that sent recently-drafted goaltending prospect Dylan Ferguson and a second-round Entry Draft selection in 2020 to the newly-christened Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for stay-at-home defenseman Marc Methot.
Vegas and general manager George McPhee have been sending the defensemen they have selected in the Expansion Draft since last Thursday’s Trevor van Riemsdyk and David Schlemko movements. Since they grabbed 13 defensemen and traded for two more when their team – the 31st in the National Hockey League – was initially built on June 21st, their blueline is far too full.
Methot, who had been picked from the pool of available players out of the Ottawa Senators, spent just five days as a Golden Knight before packing his bags and heading to Dallas. It’s better for Methot, and far better for the Dallas Stars, that the 6’3″ Ottawa native will now reside in the Metroplex.
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That’s mainly because of what the other, most-publicized option, was bringing in unrestricted free agent defenseman and Washington Capitals mainstay Karl Alzner. Alzner rolls off the tongue as a reliable left-handed defenseman, but boy, does he stink in essentially every measurable quality. The Dallas Stars made the right decision in acquiring Methot, or frankly, anyone else over Karl Alzner. The statistical comparisons of Methot’s numbers and those of Alzner are ugly.
According to Left Wing Lock, an tremendously vast set of line-combination services, Karl Alzner played alongside the Washington Capitals’ two strongest possession defensemen – John Carlson and Matt Niskanen – for over 85% percent of all of his shifts. Carlson was paired with Alzner for 55.03% of his shifts in the 2016-17 season, while Niskanen was Alzner’s defense partner for 30.83% of Alzner’s 1,604 minutes on the ice.
Despite the help from the two strong and steady offensive defenseman, Karl Alzner tallied a horrendous 41.2 Corsi For Percentage (CF%). When Alzner was on the ice for the Capitals this season, Washington’s opponents had a total of 1,696 shot attempts (blocked shots and missed shots included), which is dreadful compared to the 1,186 the President’s Trophy winners had for themselves while Alzner skated.
If Alzner can’t be helped out by two defensemen (Carlson and Niskanen) that are widely regarded to be top-30 defensive talents in the National Hockey League, then there’s no way his results would have been different with John Klingberg, whose offensive game needs support from a stay-at-home partner who can get the puck out of the zone. The reason as to why Alex Goligoski, now a member of the Arizona Coyotes, was so effective with the 24-year-old Swede was his responsibility and calm demeanor under pressure; Alzner’s advanced metrics indicate nothing but the polar opposite.
Marc Methot is far from the best defenseman in the world, an honor held by his longtime defensive partner in Ottawa, Erik Karlsson. However, Methot’s advanced metrics are far better than those of Alzner. Methot is right around even for his career in terms of Corsi, and three times over 51% with Ottawa as far as CF% goes.
This can be accredited to Karlsson, who will look good anywhere with anyone, but Methot has proven that he can hang with and support elite, right-handed defensemen like Klingberg. Methot will almost certainly begin the season with Klingberg while the options of using Methot with Julius Honka or Stephen Johns are not too far fetched either. Methot is a fix-all, dependable, defensive-defenseman.
Next: Marc Methot Is Right Choice For Stars' Defensive Balance
The missing piece in 2016-17 on the Dallas Stars blueline was a reliable, stay-at-home, veteran defenseman alongside John Klingberg, whose ceiling as a 70-point defenseman could be reached this season. The Stars got that piece in Methot, and thankfully made no mistake in opting to ignore Alzner.