Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Christian Ehrhoff Production And Value

It would seem by listening to Vancouver sports talk radio that Canucks fans are prepared to say goodbye to 50 point defenseman Christian Ehrhoff saying that he does not deserve to be paid more than Dan Hamhuis (who had 23 PTS in 2010/11). The question is being asked; has Ehrhoff been successful because he's on a great offensive team, or is the team strong on offense because of Ehrhoff's puck moving ability? Here's all you need to know, when the Canucks acquired Christian Ehrhoff as a salary dump from San Jose, his production went up only 2% from 42 to 44 PTS. He did not experience a large jump in numbers because he joined teams with the Sedins. On the flip side, Henrik Sedin jumped from 82 to 112 PTS when Ehrhoff joined the team because they finally added an effective puck moving defenseman to improve the break-out and transition through the neutral zone. Ryan Kesler had 59 PTS pre Ehrhoff, and jumped to 75 when he was added to the roster.

I'd say the Canucks benefited far more from having Christian Ehrhoff than the player benefited from playing on this team. Canuck fans saying that Ehrhoff should not be paid more than Dan Hamhuis need to give their collective heads a serious shake. Hamhuis is a 25 point defenseman, Ehrhoff is a 50 point defenseman. He is worth at least $5 million, though because of position scarcity in free agency, he could get as much as $6.5M. I doubt Detroit will offer him more than Lidstrom.

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