Defining Clutch: Stats back up Toews, Kane abilities to rise to the occasion in elimination games & more in Today’s TIOPSDailyFive

*Rumblings, Musings, Opinions*

1. Jonathan Toews willed the Chicago Blackhawks back to the Stanley Cup Final with a 2-goal performance in Game 7 and Toews two first period goals took the life out of the Ducks before the game was even 20 minutes old. That’s what makes Toews so great and such a unique player. He rises to the occasion and he’s the Mark Messier of this era or the Steve Yzerman of this era, whatever great clutch player those like to link Toews to.

Anytime Toews rises to the occasion, somehow Sidney Crosby comes into the discussion and that was the case Saturday night on social media.

No matter whether Toews ends up winning five Stanley Cups and Crosby just one, it won’t make Toews a better player than Crosby, just like Mark Messier winning six Stanley Cups to Mario’s two, didn’t make Messier a better player than Mario Lemieux.

Defining what makes a player more clutch than another is difficult to measure but how a player rises to the occasion in elimination games is something you can measure because the stats are there to back it up and that’s where Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews trump Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in a big way.

It is what it is. There’s not a thing the biggest homer Penguin fan can make in Crosby’s favor when it comes to Crosby’s ability to rise to the occasion compared to Toews, Kane.

Sidney Crosby last nine elimination games — 1 goal, 3 assists — the Penguins are 3-6 in those nine games. Three of Crosby’s four points came in a 10-3 Game 4 win vs the Flyers in the 2012 playoffs.

Patrick Kane last eight elimination games — 3 goals, 12 assists, the Blackhawks are 7-1 in those eight games.

Jonathan Toews last eight elimination games — 4 goals, 4 assists, the Blackhawks are 7-1 in those eight games.

2. Bruce Arthur a prominent Toronto columnist was trending in Pittsburgh over the weekend. Here’s Why:

I still say I’d be damned interested to see what Chicago would have done with Crosby for all these years instead of Toews. I say: better.

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 31, 2015

 

3. The Penguins like many teams are going into their organizational meetings this month with scenarios in place of the salary cap being as low as $68 million to $71 million. However, that’s not going to change the plan of being aggressive in the trade market to add a top-6 forward who could cost as much as $5.5 million per season against the cap. What it will impact is what they can offer a role player like Blake Comeau, a player tabbed as a priority who is seeking to double his salary from last season.

Gary Bettman’s $71.5 million projection is based solely on the players accepting the 5% escalator. Buzz among agents is that the players accepting the full 5% escalator is unlikely and Elliotte Friedman reported over the weekend that the NHL’s inflator may well be less than 5% but more than zero. The players meeting in the middle and accepting a 2.5% escalator would put the cap around $69 million next season.

4. When the Devils requested permission to interview John Hynes, New Jersey signed a waiver for the Penguins to receive compensation if Hynes ended up being hired. This is how the rule is suppose to be, receive compensation for employees CURRENTLY WORKING FOR YOU. Once the hire becomes official and it will be barring a breakdown today, the Penguins will receive a third round pick in one of the next three years. The Penguins would love to get a third round pick for 2015 (Devils have one) but securing a third round pick from the 2016 draft appears likely. New Jersey has three, owning the Red Wings pick from the Marek Zidlicky trade and the Panthers third round pick from the Jaromir Jagr trade.

Hynes fits the Devils previous motto of discipline defensive hockey, he’s a great teacher in that area, but he’s not a coach who suffocates players from playing an offensive game. From a style standpoint, his belief of 200 ft hockey should play well into today’s NHL and while Hynes a very demanding coach, players at the AHL level have loved playing for him.

5. Johnny Manziel was involved in an incident this weekend at a golf course and has been a reported disaster in OTA’s and labeled by ESPNCleveland as a “fish out of water”. Merril Hoge last September predicted this will would a quick, sad ending similar to Tim Tebow. “This will be the saddest, quickest ending we have seen in quite some time,” Hoge said in September. “It’ll be like a Tim Tebow.”

Manziel at this point will be lucky to ever reach Tebow status at the NFL level.

Tebow was 8-6 in 14 career starts with 17 touchdowns, 9 interceptions. Not to mention he beat Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers in a playoff game, scoring 3 touchdowns, throwing for 316 yards.