Comments on: 2008 Final Grade: Marek Svatos

By: David Driscoll-Carignan

David Driscoll-Carignan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:32:17 +0000

“Does your grading system penalize players if they seem to have more potential/skill?”

possibly. These are meant to be an indication of the player’s overall contribution to the team. Svatos contributed 37 points, 48 if you prorate that to 82 games, but not a ton of other things. Guite contributed 22 points, killed penalties, blocked shots and hit people. Is that enough to get him a slightly better grade than Svatos? In my book, yes. It doesn’t sound like it is in yours, and that’s totally cool with me.

I don’t have an ultra-scientific method for this. It probably would make more sense for me to do all the grades at once, but the reality is that I do the grade when I do the write-up. So, looking back at Hejduk, I agree that his B- probably could be a B. But, I gave him a B last year for his 70 point season and I couldn’t give him the same grade this year. You can see how easy it is for these grades to start getting a bit funky.

By: JCCMZ

JCCMZ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:18:53 +0000

The grade seems a bit low. Maybe a B would be more fair. I mean you gave Guite a B. You seem to overlook the value to the team of those timely goals Svaots scored and the fact that he was working his butt off on many nights when the rest of the team was injured or just slogging along.

Does your grading system penalize players if they seem to have more potential/skill? Does your grading system penalize players if they have a more prominent role on the team, like being a scorer versus a “placeholder while scorers take breaks”? I can’t remember Guite doing anything aside from grinding and mucking, and he got a B. Bizarre.

The grade is supposed to be for this past season, and you cited how Svatos has been repeatedly injured in other seasons. You make it sound like its his fault when everyone has said that Svatos’ injury this season could have happened to anyone (did you see Crosby’s crash into the boards) and its nature would have taken out everyone, regardless of whether they have a history of injuries.

He helped win a lot (maybe even a majority) of the 1 goal game wins in March (when Sakic and Stastny were injured) with game-tying and game-winning goals, so why are people hung up on his lack of assists? The Avs would NOT have made the playoffs this past season if Svatos hadn’t been around. He scores goals as a sniper and also by picking up tons of garbage rebounds right in front of the net, which means he is willing to go into the thick of things and shows his willingness to hustle. And I have to disagree — I have not observed a consistent lack of willingness to go into the corners.

After seeing Guite’s grade, I think your B- to Hejduk is low too.

By: Dario

Dario — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:44:06 +0000

So you’re saying they will play hard ball with Svatos in his last restricted year and sign him to a 1 year 1.8 million dollar deal, thus losing him as a UFA next year?

…yeah, maybe you got a point. Perhaps they will do that.

By: Bob in Boulder

Bob in Boulder — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:54:08 +0000

Ruh roh. I agree with everything you said, Dario. But once I got to the “The Avs are out of their minds if …” part, I choked. Didn’t they just sign Granato and bring back Willsie? Svatos is gone.

By: Dario

Dario — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:14:49 +0000

I had a lot of problems with Svatos in 06-07 and even his years before. Despite his scoring abilities I thought he left Bruno and Sakic out to dry with the hard work in the corners while he floated. He would score a goal and inevitably go to the box for a dumb penalty. A practice that convinced me that the player in the pentalty box deserves a “minus” in their +/- statistic for every time they give up a goal. This year was so much better. He was playing defense and going to the corners but most importantly he stopped the damned hooking penalties. He showed better play making at the tail end of the season but that’s still not a real strong part of his game.

The Avs are out of their minds if they don’t sign him to the 2.5 million and lock him up for 4 years or so. Even if you don’t like his game in a couple of years, that’s going to be an easy contract to trade if you need to.

By: Mike @ MHH

Mike @ MHH — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:55:30 +0000

You can bet your life that when I see a game this coming season at The Can that I’m bringing my “Domo Arigato, Mr. Svatos!” sign with me.

Mine will read: Cha-Ching Goes the Svats Machine!

By: Americanario

Americanario — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:02:03 +0000

My biggest concern about Svatos has been his inability to avoid injury. I hope this is seriously looked at if he ends up in the arbitration hearing. How can you rationalize paying a guy big money when he has missed almost as many games as he’s played?

Having said that, I really liked the way he and Wolski connected this past season. Imagine what it could have been like, or possibly how many more assists both Wolski and Svatos could have had, if Arnason could hit the broad side of a barn.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:47:29 +0000

You can bet your life that when I see a game this coming season at The Can that I’m bringing my “Domo Arigato, Mr. Svatos!” sign with me.

By: thedoctor

thedoctor — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:06:58 +0000

for the record, I’m not a huge Svatos fan. He did improve on a lot of areas like you said, but the way the lines he’s on are only scoring when he is — mostly because he’s a poor passer and follower of the play — really frustrates me. I wish he’d learn from Hejduk both how to pass and how to be in the right areas of the ice on offense. and of course he’s always hurt.

if he stays healthy, it’s going to create some nasty questions for the Avs. Keep Svatos? Keep Hejduk? What to do with Jones and Stewart if you keep both Svatos and Hejduk? I predict one of Hejduk or Svatos will go — probably Svatos.