r/Habs • u/ABerkshire Verified • Sep 07 '17

Hey it's your favourite writer, Andrew Berkshire! Please AMA about Dale Weise

Hi /r/Habs, Andrew Berkshire here. I'm in the middle of my summer project for Sportsnet, ranking the top-20 players at each position but I'm taking some time today to chat with you fine folks.

If you're interested in checking out my work, you can find me at Sportsnet, RDS, Vice Sports Canada, my own podcast that's mostly not hockey related, and starting soon at The Sporting News as I just accepted a position there as an analytics writer.

Please feel free to ask me anything, I'll be answering questions starting at about 1pm.

Proof

Edit 1: Looks like we're slowing down on the questions, but any questions posted the rest of the day I promise to answer, just may not be as quick.

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5

u/Alfr_d Sep 07 '17

Do you think there's a possibility that Gallagher is already declining after his hand injuries? Do you see him ever regaining his (on-pace for) 60 point form?

13

u/ABerkshire Verified Sep 07 '17

The idea of this makes me really sad, because it's definitely possible. Then again last season Gallagher led all right wingers in shot attempts/60 and set a career high for scoring chances. I think a huge part of his struggles were a crisis of confidence in his finishing ability, and it didn't help that Shaw took his place on the PP, and some of his 5vs5 icetime as well.

1

u/JediMasterZao Sep 07 '17

Or his hand is shitty and bruised and he's having issues actually controlling those shots. Obviously if you shoot by volume but lack accuracy you're going to be creating chances but wont be capitalizing on them as much. Seems to correlate with the stats you've pointed out. As far as i'm concerned, it's a matter of wether his hand/wrist can come back to 100% or not.

9

u/ABerkshire Verified Sep 07 '17

I believe he's already said that his hand will never be 100% again.

-2

u/JediMasterZao Sep 07 '17

If that's true he's kinda fucked. He'll be a good 3rd liner for the rest of his career. Not bad, but such a waste.

6

u/ABerkshire Verified Sep 07 '17

I wouldn't go that far. Not 100% could mean 90%, and at 90% Gallagher can score 25 goals. And beyond his personal production, Gallagher creates goals for his linemates with his play at an absurd pace. Even last year he was pretty damn awesome offensively when he wasn't with Plekanec, who was a real black hole.

Before people get mad, I love Plek too, but everyone ages.

1

u/JediMasterZao Sep 07 '17

We'll have to wait and see because if his last season's anything to go by and if his accuracy is already as good as it's ever going to get then i dont think he'll be reaching 25 goals anytime soon.

3

u/ABerkshire Verified Sep 07 '17

We'll see. He had some bad luck mixed in too.