STAT!

Martin Marincin’s rookie season is beyond expectations—and then some! How does Marincin’s rookie season (so far) compare to Jeff Petry’s? Is the big Slovak trending beyond what the college man did in 2010-11?

All of these graphs are from behind the net. This shows that Ryan Whitney, Jason Strudwick, Tom Gilbert and Ladislav Smid were facing the tough opponents. Petry? He’s exactly where he should be, playing against softer foes.

Petry zooms up the charts here, because (as we’ve discussed) he was playing against the soft parade.The 2010-11 team had about 20 rookie forwards (well, a lot) and not surprisingly the guys playing the tough opposition had a more difficult time. The one guy who doesn’t show well in this graph set is Taylor Chorney, who played soft opps AND was outshot badly (this is all at 5×5).

35 games into his career, Petry looked like a keeper.

This is unusual, and in a big way. Marincin—partnered with Jeff Petry—is facing the toughest opponents so far this season. Now, there are some things to note: Marincin has played only 22 games (less than half the others) so the comparison isn’t across the entire season. Second: The top four are all facing tougher opps, so the gap isn’t quite as large 1-6 as it was in 2010-11.

Huh. The veterans here (Nick Schultz, for one) are playing softer opponents and delivering subpar performance. Nick Schultz is on the ice most often at 5×5 with Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle—and that may be part of the problem (that line has had its own issues this season). Schultz certainly didn’t have the same problem with the 1line a year ago.

Either way, Marincin is rhyming well with anyone who jumps over the boards with him.

By math and by eye, Martin Marincin is bona fide. The Oilers need 5 more. Stat!