Comments on: 2011-12 Year-End Review: Keith Aucoin

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 24 May 2012 23:22:00 +0000

Nate I agree with you 100%.. Thanks for sticking up for the little guy..

By: Nate Hays

Nate Hays — Thu, 24 May 2012 05:55:00 +0000

Peter, you’re copping out rather than having honest disagreement. I enjoy your blog, and I understand the “defend the piece against all comers” mentality. But I do have a point here, and you’re washing over it while you defend your writer. My point is a casualty of the bigger picture in your mind, and such is the nature of your position.

My intent is not to become at odds, but to simply point out that some people see this as patronizing and minimizing of a dedicated professional athlete’s life long efforts and dreams. No big deal if he plays for the Flyers, but he plays for our team. I am not the only person who feels this way. My suggestion isn’t an attack of the character of the writer, and I make no assumptions of her intentions. You have decided to make assumptions of my intentions by suggesting that I’m “willfully deafening myself to the tone of the piece”. So am I to assume that you are insulting my intelligence, or my character? My arguments are not far fetched by any means.

By: Peter Hassett

Peter Hassett — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:25:00 +0000

Nate,

It seems you are willfully deafening yourself to the tone of this piece.

Enjoy the jokes and have a good day.

By: Nate Hays

Nate Hays — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:20:00 +0000

Ana, I’m convinced that wasn’t your intention, but it comes across as patronizing at the very least. The guy spends years working his way through the minors, completely dominating in the AHL, and he doesn’t get a fair shake for more than emergency duty because of his size. He made the best of his chances with the team this year, putting up solid numbers playing next to fourth-liners (most of the time), potentially earning himself an NHL roster spot somewhere next season, and what’s the prominent thing his own fans talk about? His size. I understand that his diminutive stature is unusual in the league, so it’s difficult to not mention it. But Ward is the only black guy on the team, and I’m sure you’d find it tasteless to repeatedly point that out throughout the “Ward Year End Review”, and for good reason.

Here’s what I’ve taken from this Keith Aucoin year in review: He’s still small. He was called up when the Caps were so hard pressed for talent that they had no choice but to offer this little guy a sweater. Again, I’m certain that wasn’t your intention, and there are clearly worse things that can be said about a guy, but Aucoin has earned massive respect for his contributions to every Caps fan’s second favorite team, the Hershey Bears (not to mention the Bears fans who couldn’t give a crap about the NHL). When Helmer played with the Caps for a stretch, people talked about his unseen leadership contributions to the young Capitals in the system playing for Hershey, and he was only with Hershey for two years. Good thing for Helmer that he was 6’1″.

By: Peter Hassett

Peter Hassett — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:10:00 +0000

Simon,

We do have teenagers writing for this site, but Ana is not one of them.

If this review seemed juvenile, that’s an unfortunate side effect of it being deliberately juvenile.

This is a fun review of the cultural impact of the player. Enjoy it, but don’t confuse it for what it isn’t.

By: Simon Braun

Simon Braun — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:25:00 +0000

The review seemed juvenile. Why use snark about his height to comment on his play? Are teenagers writing for this site?

By: Rhino40

Rhino40 — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:35:00 +0000

Gold Coin! Gold Coin!! Gold Coin!!!

By: Ana

Ana — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:17:00 +0000

Nate: It was not my intention to trash Aucoin at all. I love the guy and I think he did great work with the team this year.

By: Priscilla Villanueva

Priscilla Villanueva — Wed, 23 May 2012 03:15:00 +0000

we need to add a charisma stat in here.

By: Nate Hays

Nate Hays — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:15:00 +0000

This is my least favorite post of the year. How can you trash a player that works as hard and is as skilled as Aucoin? The guy never got a fair shake in the league.

Aucoin averaged a point scored every 27 minutes played, and that was on the 4th line . To draw a comparison, Marcus Johansson recorded a point every 29 minutes played, and he played primarily second line minutes. In fact, Keith Aucoin was the fourth most efficient forward on the team in terms of point production, behind only Ovechkin, Semin, and Backstrom. To make things more impressive, every other regular member of the fourth line experienced dramatic dips in production this year.