Does Andy Greene Really Equal Wins?

If you follow any Devils fans on Twitter, by now you must have seen some (most) of us use a #AndyGreeneEqualsWins hashtag.

I was recently thinking that using this hashtag so carelessly without investigating the message behind it is not only silly, but very irresponsible. I mean, how can we go around claiming that a single man, a defenseman no less, can actually equal wins!?

So I’ve scoured the Internet in search of proof that #AndyGreeneEqualsWins is not being used as just a silly statement,  but is indeed a fact that needs to be recognized by all. So please look over the information I’ve gathered during hundreds of hours of research (okay, so maybe it was only a few hours on Behindthenet ). Once you go through these stats, feel free to comment and let me know if you think that Andy Greene, indeed, equals wins.

Andy Greene Equals the Following Stats:

• He has played in 42 of the New Jersey Devils 45 games this season
• In those 42 games, the Devils are 32-10
• In the three games he hasn’t played in, the Devils are 0-3
• In the 19 games where he has registered a point, the team is 17-2
• In the four games where he has two points, the Devils are 4-0
• The team is 3-1 when Andy Greene scores a goal

Okay, that was fun…but let’s get to some real stats:

• When he is on the ice, the team scores 2.23 goals per 60 minutes. They let up 1.31 G/60. That’s almost a full goal more (0.92) that the team scores over what the team gives up when he is on the ice. Mark Fraser is a +0.94, but he plays almost a full 7 minutes/game less than Greene. Fraser has also played in only 37 games to Greene’s 42. The next best D-man (w/ 30 games or more played)  is Johnny Oduya at +0.69
• The team has scored 29 goals with Greene on the ice and given up 17. That +12 margin is the best on the team among defenseman. Next best is Fraser with a +7 (16/9). Mike Mottau? -2 (30/32)
• The 2.12 goals per 60 that the team gives up when Greene is off the ice is the most that the team gives up when any of the defenseman on the team with regular playing time is off the ice
• He is the only defenseman on the team, with regular playing time, that draws more penalties (0.5) than he takes (0.1) per 60 minutes. Bryce Salvador takes 1.2 penalties per 60 and draws 0.5
• His 0.77 points per 60 mark is the best among defenseman with regular playing time.
• The team is a +0.92 when he is on the ice, a +0.38 when he is off the ice. That +0.54 margin is 2nd on the team to Fraser’s +0.59

So there you have it. You can now judge for yourself whether or not you feel Andy Greene equals wins. Going through the stats, it seems Mark Fraser has a bigger impact on the team, but the fact that he plays just over 12 minutes per game may affect those numbers a bit.

There’s no question that Andy Greene has become a fan favorite because of the way he has stepped up this season for a team that has lost its best defenseman, Paul Martin, for an extended period of time. For that reason alone, in my opinion, #AndyGreeneEqualsWins. What do you think?