Oct 21, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman
Michael Del Zotto(15) skates with the puck against Chicago Blackhawks right wing
Kris Versteeg(23) during the third period at United Center. The Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
As our own Gus Richardson reported, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they avoided arbitration with Michael Del Zotto Thursday and signed the 25 year-old defenseman to a 2-year extension.
Couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of the flyers organization for another 2 years. #flyguys https://t.co/JtwkZVKWwJ
— Michael Del Zotto (@MichaelDelZotto) July 16, 2015
The cap hit for Del Zotto’s new contract will be $3.875 million per the Courier-Post’s Dave Isaac. I initially thought that AAV was a little high but after pouring over some data the Flyers’ offer seems to be fair market value.
Below I put together a table of Michael Del Zotto’s eight closest cap comparables. Using General Fanager I took the four players below and above MDZ in regards to cap hit and plugged them into War-On-Ice. The data I used was at all team strengths. A link to the data and player comparison page I used can be found here.
Del Zotto placed second in points per 60 minutes rate and goals scored among his peers. Not bad for a guy who was a cast-off two years ago after completing his worst professional season when he was traded from the New York Rangers to the Nashville Predators.
It certainly seems like the Philadelphia Flyers are comfortable, based on this extension, with Del Zotto being one of the team’s top-4 defenseman. And with the production the team got from the kid last year it’s hard to argue against giving him that type of role.
That wasn’t the only area in which Del Zotto excelled though. Del Zotto was one of the most effective defenseman the Flyers had in leaving their defensive zone.
Thanks to the superb work put in by Jess Schmidt over at Pattison Ave. we have the data to extrapolate the effectiveness of Flyers’ defenseman in leaving their own zone. While you won’t see this in ESPN’s box score, this kind of information has helped transform our idea of what makes a good player good and a great player great.
Del Zotto placed 3rd on the Flyers in percentage of total successful zone exits behind only Mark Streit and Braydon Coburn. In addition, Del Zotto placed 1st in successful zone exits with possession. Both telling statistics in which we can conclude that he’s both comfortable handling the puck and that he has the speed to exit the zone without having to rely on an exit pass.
Combine those attributes and his point production and as I stated in the beginning of this piece, it becomes clearer that the Philadelphia Flyers gave Del Zotto a very fair contract.
My biggest concern with Del Zotto though isn’t so much with his talent but with how new Philadelphia Flyers’ coach Dave Hakstol plans to use him.
Del Zotto’s offensive start percentage relative to his teammates has always been very high. Before last season, Del Zotto had logged more offensive zone starts than defensive every year. What that means is that he was sheltered and as you can see below it had a positive effect on his CF%.
The Rangers knew Michael Del Zotto had offensive talent. And they used him accordingly.
With the injury and trade of Kimmo Timonen as well as the trade of Braydon Coburn Del Zotto was asked, seemingly for the first time in his career, to play in more defensive situations. As a result his CF% dropped below 50 for the first time in his career.
Now that the Flyers seemingly have depth at the blue-line again, perhaps Hakstol could resume using Del Zotto in a more offensive role again. We’ll see.
As many have expounded already on Twitter, the 2-year deal seems to work out perfectly for the Flyers. Hopefully by then the plethora of defensive prospects will be ready and, barring any trades, Streit, Del Zotto, and Nick Schultz will all be free agents.
For now though, the Flyers took a chance on Michael Del Zotto and it worked out well enough for them to sign him to an extension. I’m hoping for the best.
Let us know why you voted the way you did in the comments below.
Next: Philadelphia Flyers: The First Line