Chicago Blackhawks' Trevor van Riemdsyk Needs Role Scaled Back
The Chicago Blackhawks defense is still a group trying to find its identity, but we can safely say we know what Trevor van Riemsdyk brings to the table
Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville won’t be reading this blog anytime soon, but I think it’s important we underscore just how bad Blackhawks defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk really is.
There’s no sugarcoating this. I’m jumping straight into it. No extended intro to tease to the point. TVR is really not a good NHL defenseman, and it’s hurting the Chicago Blackhawks.
In last night’s 4-3 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild, TVR was obliterated in possession stats. He posted a Corsi-for of 32.56 percent. Broken down, it means TVR was on the ice for 29 of Minnesota’s shots on goal, missed shots or shot attempts that were blocked, compared to 14 such Blackhawks chances he was on the ice for.
It was just the latest negative performance for TVR in a season full of them. Just think, he started the season posting a 19.23 Corsi-for mark against a St. Louis team that could miss the postseason entirely.
TVR had a nice little stretch in December when he came back from an early-season injury. You can actually see that reflected in the Corsi-for marks he posted, as between Dec. 11 and Dec. 30, he carried possession at 50 percent or better in eight of 10 games.
But things have gone straight downhill since then. Let’s take a closer look at this conundrum and see what the Blackhawks can do to work around it.
Analyzing TVR’s troubles
Now, TVR’s season Corsi-for is 49.4 percent, which isn’t awful considering he starts 48.8 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone. However, I think his December surge has been a huge reason for his Corsi-for percentage staying even this high.
When you watch TVR play, it’s clear he doesn’t have a great idea of where he needs to be position-wise on offense or defense. When his team has the puck, TVR can very often be found chasing it into the corners behind the opposing goalie. All it takes is one quick move or outlet pass, and the Blackhawks are on the wrong end of an odd-man rush.
On the defensive end, TVR often seems extremely indecisive when he gets close to Corey Crawford or Scott Darling. He tends to either overcommit to someone streaking up the wall or linger near the side of the net and see what happens with his playing partner.
TVR’s partner for a majority of his playing time this season has been Brian Campbell, who’s not having a very good campaign on his own merits (we’ll get to that later). TVR has been on the ice 255 minutes, 28 seconds with Campbell this season, well above TVR’s time on ice with the next-closest Blackhawk (Patrick Kane, 186:13).
Campbell is more of an offensive-defenseman in his own right, so he’s not exactly a guy you’re going to want to watch try to shut down an opposing attack. Yet this is what TVR often does, and it leaves him staring at the puck as it whizzes past his goaltender.
One of the most heinous examples of this came in the season opener against the Blues, when TVR stood in front of Crawford as Blues defenseman Colton Parayko skated straight at him, lost his footing and managed to get around TVR on one knee for a shot attempt.
TVR doesn’t have the speed to chase people down, and he occasionally seems to know that (makes his cutting-off attempts at the half-board pretty silly, though). However, he also doesn’t have the size (6-foot-2, 188 pounds) or positional awareness to shut off plays, either.
Essentially, TVR just brings the ability to chip in on offensive plays, which he often endangers the team with as well. He tried to start an offensive possession last night with an outlet pass through the middle of the ice. He had one guy to beat in Chris Stewart and managed to throw the puck right onto Stewart’s tape.
Considering TVR has seven points in 31 games while seeing more than 18:30 in ice time, on average, this season, I’d say using a blueline spot on his perceived offensive merits is not a worthwhile venture for the Blackhawks.
TVR’s recent results
Let’s look at a few recent Blackhawks outings and see how TVR fared in those.
Just last night against the Wild, Jordan Schroeder suited up at forward. If you don’t know who Schroeder is, that’s OK. He’s spent parts of five seasons in the NHL with Vancouver and Minnesota, recording 35 points in 128 games. He’s a filler forward, essentially, though he saw some time last night with the entirely capable Eric Staal and Nino Niederreiter.
Schroeder posted a Corsi-for of 92.31 percent when on the ice with TVR last night. When he was on the ice without TVR? That number fell to 45.45 percent, much more in line with his 44.6 mark for the season.
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Staal and Niederreiter are good players, but they’re not going to pull a Kane and Artemi Panarin job and drag you to looking like an All-Star. How in the world does someone like Schroeder post that high a possession rate against another NHL player?
Going back a week to the game against Arizona, TVR again was getting burned by mediocre competition. Christian Dvorak, a rookie forward with a 44.6 percent Corsi-for mark for the season, scored a 69.23 mark while playing with TVR. That number fell to 45.45 when TVR left the ice and Dvorak remained.
Shane Doan, who needed to retire a couple years ago, carries a 48.1 Corsi-for mark in 2016-17. He carded a 62.5 mark when on the ice with TVR last Thursday and saw that number fall to a motley 33.33 when TVR was off the ice.
Against the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 26, the Blackhawks crushed the Jets in possession (57.39-42.61) despite losing 5-3. So the Corsi-for marks posted by individual Jets were pretty much all hideous. But that didn’t stop Winnipeg from exploiting TVR.
These are the guys who were aided by TVR simply being on the ice, as far as Corsi-for rates go: Paul Postma (25.00 with, 12.50 without), Mark Stuart (50.00/12.50), Andrew Copp (42.86/30.00), Adam Lowry (37.50/33.33), Blake Wheeler (50.00/40.00), Dustin Byfuglien (47.06/38.46), Toby Enstrom (57.14/23.81) and Mark Scheifele (47.37/46.15).
Some of those guys are quality players, but to see guys like Lowry and Byfuglien and even Enstrom handle the puck so much better just with TVR on the ice has to say something.
Jan 24, 2017; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell (51) takes a shot during the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
The case for Brian Campbell
Now, one could argue that TVR’s struggles have to do with Campbell’s down season. After all, I did mention earlier TVR spends most of his ice time with Campbell. And Soupy’s 48.2 Corsi-for mark with 53.5 percent of his starts coming in the offensive zone is not a pretty stat.
But what if it’s TVR who’s bringing down Campbell?
There are some numbers to suggest that. Campbell’s Corsi-for with TVR this season is 50.11. Entirely acceptable. However, that number improves to 51.43 percent when Campbell gets away from TVR. And TVR’s Corsi-for when he’s away from Campbell drops to 47.62.
If you look at all of the Blackhawks and their time spent on the ice with TVR and Campbell this season, you’ll find that Campbell has posted a positive Corsi-for mark with 14 of the 22 Blackhawks he’s seen the ice with.
TVR, meanwhile, has a positive possession rate with 10 of 23, and one of those guys was Spencer Abbott. He was with the team for one game (a game in which Campbell didn’t suit up).
The reason I’m bringing Corsi-for into every aspect of this discussion is it’s a far more appropriate indicator of success than many other stats in the NHL. If you possess the puck more frequently, you tend to win more games.
Eight of the league’s 10 worst possession teams across all situations are non-playoff teams right now. Minnesota and Ottawa bust that mold. Yes, Minnesota, the team that TVR got walloped by in possession last night.
Meanwhile, blocked shots, hits and giveaways/takeaways are all stats arbitrarily decided by someone in a given building on a given night. Not that TVR is very good at compiling any of those stats outside blocked shots, either.
I’m not downplaying the importance of something like Niklas Hjalmarsson continually putting his body on the line by blocking shots. I’m just saying it can be dangerous to get sucked into arbitrary stats when looking at certain players.
How to minimize the TVR issue
The Blackhawks have enough questions on defense to make TVR’s case get pushed to the side on occasion. Duncan Keith looks a step off (whether intentional or not remains to be seen). Brent Seabrook, though better this season than last, still is missing a step or two.
Campbell is having a bum year (though, again, getting him away from TVR may offer a semblance of improvement). Gustav Forsling offers a ton of questions on the defensive end. Michal Rozsival is being Nikolai Khabibulin‘d.
Apparently, Erik Gutafsson and Ville Pokka just aren’t NHL-capable in the Blackhawks’ eyes, and I don’t really want to see Viktor Svedberg crawling down the United Center ice anytime soon. General manager Stan Bowman seems more likely to make a move to improve the offense than the defense as well.
So it’s not just a TVR problem on the Blackhawks blueline. But his play is so egregiously bad that his usage is just inexcusable.
TVR managed to receive 20:38 in ice time against Minnesota, more than Seabrook and any Chicago forward. He also got 1:52 on the penalty kill, which seems like the exact opposite of what you’d want to see, considering TVR overcommits on guys, loses himself when getting close to the net and doesn’t move quickly in any direction.
Quenneville is never going to outright bench TVR. That ship has sailed. He may have done it briefly after the first couple games of the season, but TVR was also hurt then, so it didn’t show as a benching. Therefore, Q has got to find a way to minimize TVR’s minutes.
Hjalmarsson (who was the Blackhawks’ third star last night behind Crow and Jonathan Toews) is having a dandy season. Keith and Seabrook are far better than TVR. Campbell can play better than he has, it’s just a matter of finding the right combo for him.
Know who I haven’t mentioned yet? Michal Kempny. This guy should be the Blackhawks’ No. 4 D, not TVR.
Kempny is continually benched for reasons unknown despite carrying play at a really strong pace for a first-year North American defenseman. He spends almost all his time at 5-on-5 and holds a 55.0 Corsi-for mark (albeit with 54.7 percent of his shift starts in the offensive zone).
However, Kempny has shown a capability of having puck-carrying success with most of the Blackhawks. Kempny has played with 23 different Blackhawks this season and has a positive Corsi-for rate with 18 of them. A 19th, Forsling, has been on the ice with Kempny for 25 seconds this season.
Now, two of those 18 have seen less than 10 minutes of ice time with Kempny this season, but that’s still 16 guys who Kempny has posted strong possession ability while playing with. That’s far better than TVR’s 10/9.
Kempny’s Corsi-for marks since the calendar turned to 2017: 50.00, 62.96, 40.91, 56.67, 65.71, 62.86, 68.97, 47.37, 43.33, 42.31, 66.67, 59.26. Yes, he’s spent a lot of time at even strength and in the offensive zone, but if the Blackhawks are going to change their forward lines every 10 minutes, why can’t Kempny get a look at No. 4 D? Can he possibly be worse than TVR? I doubt it.
Kempny has also shown better ability to win board battles, position himself appropriates at the net and make more purposeful passes (though he wasn’t immune to a couple slip-ups last night, either).
TVR might be an NHL-capable blueliner, but it’s not as a guy who sees more than 10-12 minutes a night. Even that might be too much. He’s at least young enough to teach some things, but he’s iffy to bad in so many important areas it might not even matter.
I’d love to see the “TVR at No. 4 D” experiment end as soon as possible. If it continues into the postseason, the Blackhawks may not be long for the ride to the Stanley Cup.
(Thanks to naturalstattrick for pretty much all the stats in this post.)
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