Podcast Ombudsman Report for Blueshirt Bandwidth Ep. 77

Welcome back to the Blueshirt Bandwidth Podcast Ombudsman Report. Each week, Charlie Vidal will listen to the latest episode of the podcast and correct the record on anything Joe and Eric get wrong. If you aren't already, you can listen and subscribe to the podcast here.

90s Nostalgia

While talking about the 1990s (the decade as a whole, not the final three seasons of Rangers hockey that it contained), Eric said that “the 90s were pretty great.” It needs to be clarified that Eric’s positive perception of the 90s is colored by the fact that he didn’t have actual responsibilities and his body wasn’t in constant pain.

9 shots on goal

The New York Rangers were held to a paltry 10 shots on goal against the Ottawa Senators last Monday, March 23. As Eric tweeted out from his personal account, 17 times this season a player has had 10 or more shots on goal individually. Four players—Roope Hintz, Kiril Kaprizov, Matthew Coronato, and Jack Hughes—have all had more shots in a single game this season than the Rangers did against the Senators:

Additionally, Alex Ovechkin has had 11 or more shots on goal in a game 27 times throughout his career: 

Lafrenière Shooting Percentage

During the discussion on Alexis Lafrenière’s recent hot streak, it was mentioned that, “at the beginning of the year, he was shooting 6 percent.” I actually investigated the team’s shooting percentages early in the season. Through 14 games on Nov. 6, Lafrenière had a 3.3 percent shooting percentage. He increased it to 12 percent by Dec. 30, and is now at 14.8 percent on the season, which is slightly above his career average of 13.7 percent.

During his early March heater when he had 14 points in 10 games (March 2 vs CBJ to March 19 vs CBJ), Lafreniere had a 25 percent shooting percentage (7 goals on 28 shots on goal).

J.T. Miller Buyout

Joe said that “I don’t think that you can buy out a player with a no movement clause.” From an explanation of the NHL’s CBA, “a No-Movement Clause does not restrict a team from buying out or terminating a player’s contract.”

Mika’s Career

During the discussion of the Mika Zibanejad trade and how it was one of the best trades that the Rangers ever made, Eric brought up the point made in the Banter Slack that Mika now has 809 points in his age 32 season. Of the 53 players who have reached that many points at this young of an age, only three are not in the Hall of Fame despite being eligible: Bobby Smith, Bernie Nicholls, and Vincent Damphousse. Below is the list of the 52 players with their point totals through their age 32 season:

Interestingly, Hockey Reference has Mika’s top 5 comparable players as Taylor Hall, Jacques Lemaire (HOF), Jonathan Huberdeau, Frank Mahovlich (HOF), and Alexei Yashin.

Dylan Garand

When discussing why Dylan Garand only recently got his first NHL start despite Igor’s injury earlier in the season, it was mentioned that Garand was not at the top of his game in January, which is why Spencer Martin was called up instead.

Spencer Martin got his first start of the season on Jan. 17 against the Philadelphia Flyers. In Dylan Garand’s three games prior to Jan. 17 in Hartford, he gave up 6 goals on 30 shots (Jan. 9 at Springfield), 5 goals on 33 shots (Jan. 11 at Bridgeport) and 3 goals on 24 shots (Jan. 16 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton).

In Garand’s last three starts prior to being called up for his NHL debut last week, he gave up 2 goals on 29 shots (March 13 vs. Cleveland), 2 goals on 32 shots (March 17 and Charlotte) and 2 goals on 22 shots (March 18 at Charlotte).

Oilers Goaltending Mess

While discussing the mess that is the Edmonton Oilers, Eric mentioned that Tristan Jarry is hated by his teammates. This sentiment stems from a March report by Elliotte Friedman that Jarry was “getting into it” with teammates at practice.

The Oilers acquired Jarry for their prior underachieving goalie, Stuart Skinner, in December. Since then, Skinner’s play has rebounded in Pittsburgh while Jarry is a solidly below-expectations goalie:

Eric also mentioned Trent Frederic’s terrible contract. Frederic signed an 8-year contract with an AAV of $3.85 million this past offseason. Frederic has not had a great season, scoring four goals and two assists in 67 games while being a below-replacement level player per Evolving Hockey: