He needed very little prompting to jump into a passionate and well-reasoned defense. Nashville coach Barry Trotz was explained the situation: Rob Vollman, an advanced stat guru for Hockey Prospectus, polled some of the sharpest minds in the hockey statistic world to find out which summer signings they liked best. On Monday, we ran the results of the most popular signings. On Tuesday, Rob compiled the worst signings of the summer as determined by the stat guys.
Nashville's Paul Gaustad was No. 2 on the worst list, trailing only Dennis Wideman. The Gaustad signing garnered only a 28.3 percent approval rating among the advanced stat experts, which is a bit surprising considering he contributes in areas of the game stat guys usually appreciate. But his four-year deal worth $3.25 million per season was more than they thought a checking line player was worth.
Naturally, Trotz disagreed.
"We just don't sign guys without thinking about it," he said.
And there were plenty of reasons why this one made sense for Nashville.
To see what NHL GMs and Craig Custance thought of the summer free agency evaluations from our panel of stat-heads, become an ESPN Insider today.
- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
Follow Craig on Twitter: @CraigCustance
And fire off a few probing questions for his weekly mailbag while you're at it.
