I love posting this photo of Shawn Horcoff. He looks like he's straight out of the 1930s with the haircut and those ears are memorable in any era.Shawn Horcoff came from a ways back, and you know what? He's a pretty damn good hockey player no matter how you slice it. He was named BCHL Player of the Year (1996), Brett Hull Trophy (BCHL Top Scorer)(1996), BCHL First All-Star Team (1996), CCHA First All-Star Team (2000)
CCHA Player of the Year (2000), NCAA West First All-American Team (2000) and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker once.
Horcoff was drafted 99th by Edmonton in 1998 NHL Entry Draft, behind a nice group of young men now employed as night watchmen and bouncers.
Horcoff ranks 15th among 1998 draftees in terms of NHL games played and will probably end his career among the top 10 in that category. That list of 15 includes several players whose careers have and will lap the field (Vincent, Gagne) but amazingly there are precious few you can say are head and shoulders above him in terms of career value in the show:
- Vincent Lecavalier 629
- Martin Skoula 563
- Jaroslav Spacek 561
- Scott Gomez 548
- Karlis Skrastins 539
- Alex Tanguay 531
- Robyn Regehr 510
- Brad Stuart 507
- Simon Gagne 502
- Brad Richards 490
- Manny Malhotra 486
- David Legwand 484
- Vitali Vishnevski 483
- Ossi Vaananen 430
- Shawn Horcoff 427
The point isn't to compare him to each player, the point is that he was taken 99th overall without having anything really wrong with him. He has decent size, can skate, has some skill. He's a determined player. Spacek was drafted later but he was an overager.
When we're discussing this team moving forward, I think it's important that guys like Shawn Horcoff get their due. If the Edmonton Oilers are to climb back to respectability anytime soon, it'll be on the backs of players like him.
Bill James did a article identifying factors in a player being underrated. The ones that apply to hockey are as follows:
ReplyDelete1. Specialists and players who do two or three things well are overrated; players who do several things well are underrated.
This fits Horcoff perfectly.
4. Players who play for championship teams are often overrated; players who get stuck with bad teams are often underrated.
Unfortunately...this probably fits as well.
5. Players who play in New York and LA are sometimes overrated, while players who play in smaller and less glamorous cities are sometimes underrated, although this factor is not as significant as many people believe it to be.
Yep.
6. Players who are glib and popular with the press are sometimes overrated, while players who are quiet are sometimes underrated; again this factor is not as significant as many people think it is.
I've never thought of Horc as a great quote.
9. Undocumented skills (leadership, defence, heads-up play) tend to be forgotten over time. Everything else deteriorates faster than the numbers.
Horc's a pretty unique player in terms of his defensive role. There are something like two forwards who played more than 30% of their team's ES minutes, and 40% of PP and PK minutes. It's him and Brind'amour. Playing on the PK does nothing for you in terms of street cred.
He's one of my favourites right now and I'd be willing to bet that he's around for a long time in the NHL.
I think the best credential Horcoff has to offer is that he soaks up hockey knowledge like a dry sponge. From coaches, from systems and from other players and i think all three have contributed to what we see as Shawn Horcoff today.
ReplyDeleteHe's learned how to play great two-way hockey, and i think this can be attributed to MacT and his coaching style, but also the players Horcoff was surrounded with in recent years. Personally, Peca did wonders for Horcoff's career last year, and we're still seeing the benefits of it. He became a shutdown centre under Peca's tutilige last year, and i bet he learned a thing or two from him in the faceoff circle too.
Let's not forget that during the lockout, he went over to Europe to learn how to be an offensive threat. I remember reading a quote from Horcoff mentioning something similar to that, and he backed it up to the tune of being top-5 in scoring in his league. I could be wrong, but im pretty sure he was at least top-5.
I don't think Horcoff's career with the Oilers will be over any time soon, because he's an asset to the team, but also because of a hefty contract that is probably preventing him from being traded. He doesn't quite have the offense to be a dominant first-line centre in the NHL, but he's carved out a great niche in the Edmonton lineup for years to come.
Give the guy Hemsky and a LW who can put the puck in the net and he's gold - perfect foil for 2 high skill wingers. Massively under-rated and I still remember him diving face first to block that last gasp shot against DET in the playoffs last season - can't see Lupul doing that. I like the guy a ton....
ReplyDeleteHe's also a great guy based on everything I hear in the area and my brief experience with him.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to a 60 plus point season from him this year.
The cap could be at 51 mill before the puck drops for the '08 season so I'm not so sure that we'd have a tough time getting rid of Horc's salary. Not that I'd want to mind you, but I think some folks forget that the cap keeps going up and up and some teams actually spend along with it!!!
ReplyDeleteAh God, Markov signed for 20 million/4 years. The season from hell continues.
ReplyDeleteHe became a shutdown centre under Peca's tutilige last year, and i bet he learned a thing or two from him in the faceoff circle too.
ReplyDeleteBill James must have something about this as well. Horcoff was a good defensive centre long before Michael Peca ever showed up.
Did James mention that trophy winners were vastly overrated?
One more thing, I can't see how Horcoff's contract is too big. I bet there are 25 NHL GMs that would love to have Horcoff at $3.6MM/yr and nearly all of those would flip one of their top two centres to get him as well.
Ah God, Markov signed for 20 million/4 years. The season from hell continues.
ReplyDelete#$@#%
Why? That just became one of the best contracts in hockey.
Sigh.