holtbaest:

ok LISTEN. first of all, keep your tom wilson hate out of my inbox. let’s just get that out of the way right now. alright, moving on.

clearly you have no idea what a power forward is, because you said, and I quote, “whatever the fuck you were talking about”, so let’s review that first. according to wikipedia, a power forward is “a forward who is big and strong, equally capable of playing physically or scoring goals and would most likely have high totals in both points and penalties.” wikipedia ALSO mentions that power forwards are also often referred to as the ‘complete’ hockey player.“ (source) wikipedia not a good enough source? ok, let’s look at a bleacher report article, where the author defines power forward as “a big guy who puts up points and likes to throw his weight around.” (source) let’s throw in another definition, just for good measure…oh, how about one from former NHL head coach Barry Melrose: “There is a certain criteria a player has to fulfill to meet my definition of a great power forward. He has to be a frontline player, he has to be very physical and he has to fight. A power forward to me is not just a big guy who scores goals. He is a big, mean, nasty, physical, tough guy to play against as well as being a very good hockey player.” specifically, they “have a lot of penalty minutes, they have a lot of goals, but they [are] also the type of guy the other team didn’t like to play against.” (source) so, to put it neatly, the main components of a power forward in the NHL are:

1. high point production
2. physicality
3. lots of PIM

now that we’re all clear on the definition of a power forward, let’s move into what we all came here to talk about, tom wilson. let’s look at his stats from the past 3 years and compare them.

(source) (these stats haven’t been updated after tonight’s game, so his GP is at 66 and he tallied another assist tonight which brings him to 20 on the season and 100 career points)

even just looking at his goals, assists, and point totals you can see the offensive improvement. PLUS the 15-16 and 16-17 stats are for a full 82-game season, but he’s only played 66 games so far this year. he’s ALREADY surpassed all 3 of those stats. additionally, look at the MASSIVE increase in shooting percentage he’s had this season! he went from 7.4% last year to 11.1% this year. that’s a team-wide top-10 stat.

speaking of team-wide stats, let’s check on a few other stats and see where he falls this season (team stats accurate prior to tonight’s game):

average TOI: 10th (15:50)
points: 7th (30)
+/-: 6th (+7)

another interesting stat to look at is point shares, or an estimate of the number of points contributed by a player. his PS for this season is 2.8, ranked 12th on the team! and then we have OPS (points contributed by a player due to his offense) and DPS (points contributed by a player due to his defense). wilson’s OPS is 1.3 and his DPS is 1.4, ranked 10th and 8th on the team respectively. those are great stats!

(team stats source)

still not convinced on his offensive production? let’s look at an article RMNB published titled “Tom Wilson is the new bacon bits” (source) where they discussed Wilson’s top-line production. I could re-type the important points but I think a screenshot will suffice, no? here are some fun stats on how wilson has improved the two lines he’s skated with the most this season:

but point production and good offense isn’t the only marker of a power forward, right? I know what you must be saying right about now: “but what about his penalties?! he’s such a dirty player! he spends so much time in the box!!” yeah. yeah he does. but remember the second and third points we listed at the beginning? physicality and lots of PIM. wilson is currently ranked 2nd in the league in PIM with 166 on the season (source). he is ranked 8th in the league in hits with 207 (source). so yeah. but I would like to point something out about his penalties. some of the calls against him are due to what I like to call the “Skating While Tom Wilson Effect”. wilson gets called on some things that other players don’t because of his reputation. and whose fault is that, you may ask? yeah, it’s his. because in prior seasons, he was more of a goon. but this season I think he’s trying to distance himself from that label and grow into the player we thought and hoped he would be when he was drafted. he doesn’t take nearly as many boneheaded penalties as he used to. and I am by no means trying to excuse every time he gets sent to the sin bin, because sometimes he does something stupid or blatant and you’re like “oh that’s definitely 2 minutes.” but tom wilson is by NO means the only player to whom that applies. you’re telling me that your fave player has never done something stupid to get sent to the box? I don’t think so.

I would ALSO like to add something that not a lot of people (especially people who share your opinions, anon) talk about, and that is the fact that while tom wilson spends a lot of time in the box, he also draws a lot of penalties. wilson has drawn 30 penalties this season, which not only leads the team, but is also tied for 7th in the league so far. so yes, he spends a lot of time in the box, but he offsets it by drawing on average .462 penalties a game. (source)

bottom line, tom wilson has been playing top-6 minutes this season and he deserves it.

ok so. we’ve talked about tom wilson a lot. now I would like to talk about something else. don’t you DARE insinuate that I, or any of my friends, only like players because of how they look, or that we don’t know what we’re talking about, or that we are lesser fans than you. I am so fucking tired of being looked down on as a female sports fan. we do not have to prove ourselves to anyone, we do not have to show you how much we know, because, quite frankly, we don’t owe you shit.

also, SO FUCKING WHAT if people like to look at players because they think they’re pretty? you think male sports fans have never looked at, oh I don’t know, women’s beach volleyball players and gone “oh yeah, she’s hot”? you can bet your fucking sexist ass they have. so, with no due respect, shut the fuck up.

don’t you fucking dare come at me with this sexist shit again. I am so over it.