The way we watch, analyze, and discu s hockey these days is changing before our eyes. While complaints about that pace relative to its peers are valid, the fact that the wheels are in motion is .Sure, were scratching the surface, but the game is evolving. And its not just bloggers who are utilizing things like puck po se sion, zone entries and an understanding of percentages to digest the on-ice product. Many a team has already come out and admitted to using advanced stats (which isnt actually news, really, because of a weird need to overcompensate that some of us seem to maintain.)But wed be foolish to think that its all going to happen in one swoop. While of the product, and coaches are displaying an appreciation for , even the best still have their quirks; or better yet, their kryptonite.Look at Darryl Sutter, for example. Hes a succe sful, long-time bench bo s thats seemingly seen it all. Yet despite giving off the appearance of a curmudgeon, he has proven to be open to viewing the game through the newer, but different lens, turning out as Christian Mccaffrey T Shirts something of a . There is plenty to admire about the way he has adapted.Even he has had his i sues with one nagging i sue, though: the outdated and undeserved appreciation for plodding blueliners for supposed intangibles they bring to the table. Gritty. Physical. Tough. Sandpaper. All of those are fine enough, as long as theyre not used in place of actual skills. After all, what good is a defenseman who hits devastatingly hard while watching the opposition skate circles around him? Counterintuitive to some is the notion that a player considered tough to play against is one that moves the puck, is difficult to keep up with, and .Despite this, too many coaches settles for what they perceive to be a safer option which theyre falsely miscasting as stay-at-home when better alternatives are available. Were seeing this exact dilemma play out in Anaheim, where Bruce Boudreau enlisted Mark Fistric on the back-end to start the second-round series against Sutter’s Los Angeles Kings, presumably because of the blueliners 6-3, 230-pound frame and propensity for throwing big hits. The Ducks managed to score just three times combined in those first two games at home, in large part due to a tamed 1-for-8 power play. Fistric averaged 13:40 of ice time and did nothing noteworthy.With the series shifting back to Staples Center for Games 3 and Carolina Panthers Hoodies Sweatshirts 4, Boudreau used the pre sure of an impending playoff exit to tinker with his lineup, switching goalies, and inserting Kyle Palmieri and Sami Vatanen. By now you know that the Ducks rallied to win both games, bringing the series back to Anaheim all knotted up at two apiece. And though they have the stellar goaltending of John Gibson to thank for that, the upgrade on the blueline shouldnt be overlooked.While Vatanens 5-10, 183-pound stature pales in comparison to Fistric, he had also managed to put together 33 points in 62 games between the AHL, NHL, and Winter Olympics. His underlying numbers were turning heads, too.The Ducks controlled 53.5 percent of all shot attempts at 5-on-5 (Corsi For percentage) when Vatanen was on the ice this season, which was Greg Olsen Jersey second to none amongst the teams blueliners. In fact, Hampus Lindholm was the only other one of the bunch to be in the black, at 51.1 percent. Its an even more impre sive figure when you consider that his most common partner was Bryan Allen, a noted po se sion anchor, whose rate jumped up markedly from . Allen was hardly alone in that regard; look at what Vatanens presence did for all of the Ducks (listed in order of most shared ice-time to least):Beyond that, he was the only Ducks defenseman with a positive penalty differential (+5), with his peers Allen (-21), Fistric (-10), Lindholm (-9), Lovejoy (-8), Beauchemin (-7) at the other end of the spectrum.All of those numbers shouldn’t be used in a vacuum as the be-all, end-all; they’re supposed to draw our eyes to trends. Theyre intended to be used as a kick-starter, prompting further investigation.Why were Vatanens numbers so superior to everyone elses on his team? Was he doing something in Aaron Parker Jersey particular that lent itself to this? has been doing yeomans work in tracking zone entries and exits for, against all odds, every single game that was played this year. He was kind enough to send me the data he has done so far for the Ducks, encapsulating the first 32 games of their season. While well have to wait a couple of months to have everything we need to fully evaluate, Sznajder’s findings helped shine a light on what was happening.Vatanen was entering the offensive zone 59.5 percent of the time with control, which was nearly twice as succe sful as any of the other blueliners on the team (Lindholm was second with 37.3 percent, while most of the others were sub-20 percent). Only Cam Fowler was better at succe sfully exiting the defensive zone. All sorts of good things tend to happen when youre able to transition efficiently between zones, and its clear that Vatanen excelled as that area of utmost importance.I went ahead and rewatched Game 3, and quickly found a sequence that helps support Sznajder’s data. Pictured below is Vatanen receiving the puck just outside of his defensive zone, with two Kings defenders converging. Instead of panicking and either turning the puck over or icing it, he used his elite skating ability to not only skate out of trouble, but enter the attacking zone and set up a Grade-A scoring chance for teammate Mathieu Perreault:Vatanens exploits against the Kings go past just the 5-on-5 aspect of the game, seeing as he played a noticeable role in the Ducks going 3-5 with the man advantage over the past two games.The Ducks find themselves facing quite an uphill battle against the Los Angeles Kings, who I still believe to be the better hockey team. But advancing Christian McCaffrey Jersey in the playoffs requires a combination of good fortune and ability, and icing your best 18 players goes a long way in improving the likelihood of both. If these playoffs have shown us anything, its that sitting back and taking the safe route .Sznajder’s goal is to make the work he does publicly available through a database or e-book. . Dimitri Filipovic is a Sporting News contributor.