[A] Player Evaluation: Jamal Mayers

It came as a surprise to all of us when Jamal Mayers was signed to a contract extension after Joel Quenneville opted to bench the veteran forward in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.



Mayers, 37, didn't necessarily have a poor season for a 4th line center. He appeared in 81 games last season, scoring five goals and adding nine assists. His face-off percentage was shockingly brilliant, winning at a 56.1% of his draws at the dot which was good enough for 2nd best on the team behind Jonathan Toews. As a measuring stick, John Madden completed 53% of his draws as the 3rd/4th line center when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup... he also produced more points than Mayers but in all fairness he also played nearly 6 more minutes per game and he played for a championship team.



Mayers saw most of his workload in the defensive end, where he had 54.2% of his starts. When he was on the ice in defensive situations, his line won 55.2% of their face-offs, which again, placed him 2nd on the team behind Jonathan Toews.



Not only does Mayers excel in the face-off circle, but he also excels as a great teammate on and off the ice. His toughness and his leadership off the ice are two intangibles that probably kept him in Chicago. Mayers had 102 hits last season which placed him 3rd on the team. He also accumulated 91 PIM's over the course of the season -- 55 minutes of that was served due to fighting majors, placing him 1st on the team.



He was able to maintain a sub-par minus-4 rating, but playing on the 4th line gave him the worst quality of teammates on the roster (according to players that played over 20 games) by a long shot. His corsi rating was nothing to write home about either, which was among the worst on the team.



It's difficult to tell whether or not Mayers will appear in as many games as he did last season. Fortunately for him, the Blackhawks still lack depth at center and until that is resolved he should get regular duties again. Whether or not the Blackhawks address that issue later in the season is yet to be determined, but as of now we'll have to project his role based on how the roster stands.



PREDICTION: 72 GAMES | 5 GOALS | 5 ASSISTS | 10 POINTS | MINUS-2 | 76 PIM | 84 HITS



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I love Mayers on the hawks, I do think he has enough talent to play 3rd line but we dont have a 4th line center to replace him.

Is it 100% fact that Q benched him and it wasn't injury related? If it were just a flat out benching I will never understand that move.



None the less..I too liked him last year. Thought he pretty much was the 4th line all himself in many games last year.

Jamal was my favorite addition last year. Maybe not the most talented, or the one with the most impact on the ice, but that is one signing I 100% endorse and give Stanbo credit for.

Supra' timestamp='1347496521 said:

I love Mayers on the hawks, I do think he has enough talent to play 3rd line but we dont have a 4th line center to replace him.

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If Mayers couldn't get the puck moving in the right direction against other 4th liners, what makes you think he'd stand a chance against an opponent's 1st line?



When Bolly's out of the lineup, the 3rd line doesn't even sniff the opps top line. Q plays 1's vs 1's, etc in those situations. 3C is basically the most important position in Q's system. I honestly don't mean this to sound offensive, but I think that moving Mayers to 3C would be the single worst move Q could make since joining the Hawks.



I think Mayers is a great character guy and an obvious fan favorite, but he's a step down in class compared to the talent level of the rest of the team. Plus, Q can't afford to (but probably will) ice both Bollig and Mayers simultaneously. And FO wins are nice, but overrated. Statistically it take about 100 net FO wins to equal 1 extra goal.



I'd personally prefer Kruger at 4C and Mayers rotating in at wing. He can still take draws from there. Aside from FOs, he's just not effective down the middle.

Supra said:

I love Mayers on the hawks, I do think he has enough talent to play 3rd line but we dont have a 4th line center to replace him.

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Hahahahahahaha! Mayers talented enough for 3rd line?



That's worse than saying Frolik is better than Stalberg...wait.

Honestly I think Mayers would be a good substitute winger on the 3rd line in a pinch.



Still, I liked him last year. He was a good soldier on a team with too many generals.

ChicagoNativeSon said:

If Mayers couldn't get the puck moving in the right direction against other 4th liners, what makes you think he'd stand a chance against an opponent's 1st line?



When Bolly's out of the lineup, the 3rd line doesn't even sniff the opps top line. Q plays 1's vs 1's, etc in those situations. 3C is basically the most important position in Q's system. I honestly don't mean this to sound offensive, but I think that moving Mayers to 3C would be the single worst move Q could make since joining the Hawks.



I think Mayers is a great character guy and an obvious fan favorite, but he's a step down in class compared to the talent level of the rest of the team. Plus, Q can't afford to (but probably will) ice both Bollig and Mayers simultaneously. And FO wins are nice, but overrated. Statistically it take about 100 net FO wins to equal 1 extra goal.



I'd personally prefer Kruger at 4C and Mayers rotating in at wing. He can still take draws from there. Aside from FOs, he's just not effective down the middle.

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http://www.nhl.com/ice/search.htm?filter=none&q=jamal+mayers



Never said move him to 3rd line C. Just 3rd line. The NHL lists him as a winger. He's playing center because we have no one else to put there (and doing a decent job at it). But yes I feel he could be a winger on the 3rd line just fine.

what a beauty, he's a western mich university bronco. that's all that needs to be said here, move along.

Mayers isn't a 3rd line winger. The Hawks have come to far with depth to do that. Put Shaw and Bickell with Bolland. All 3 have good skill and can grind it out too.



Mayers is a typical 4th line journeyman. Great on faceoffs, hustles his ass off, good defensively. Offensively, he's crappy.

ChicagoNativeSon said:

If Mayers couldn't get the puck moving in the right direction against other 4th liners, what makes you think he'd stand a chance against an opponent's 1st line?



When Bolly's out of the lineup, the 3rd line doesn't even sniff the opps top line. Q plays 1's vs 1's, etc in those situations. 3C is basically the most important position in Q's system. I honestly don't mean this to sound offensive, but I think that moving Mayers to 3C would be the single worst move Q could make since joining the Hawks.



I think Mayers is a great character guy and an obvious fan favorite, but he's a step down in class compared to the talent level of the rest of the team. Plus, Q can't afford to (but probably will) ice both Bollig and Mayers simultaneously. And FO wins are nice, but overrated. Statistically it take about 100 net FO wins to equal 1 extra goal.



I'd personally prefer Kruger at 4C and Mayers rotating in at wing. He can still take draws from there. Aside from FOs, he's just not effective down the middle.

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Could not disagree more.

no way face off wins are overrated. i think its one of the few important stats and one which correlates with wins and loses. crazy? maybe. but the game is all about puck possession in my opinion.

depends where the faceoffs are won and lost.



I could care less if he was 20% in the attacking zone if he was 75% in his own end.

Trev said:

Mayers isn't a 3rd line winger. The Hawks have come to far with depth to do that. Put Shaw and Bickell with Bolland. All 3 have good skill and can grind it out too.



Mayers is a typical 4th line journeyman. Great on faceoffs, hustles his ass off, good defensively. Offensively, he's crappy.

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Mayers was not brought here to be an offensive threat.

daze71 said:

Mayers was not brought here to be an offensive threat.

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Thank you for repeating my sentiments...

Mayers was brought in for his offensive threats



He threatened all the white women in Chicago.

the canadian dream' timestamp='1347567012 said:

no way face off wins are overrated. i think its one of the few important stats and one which correlates with wins and loses. crazy? maybe. but the game is all about puck possession in my opinion.

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Nope. There's almost 0 correlation between FO wins and game wins. A simplified example: TOR, CAR, MIN, COL, CBJ were 5 of the top 10 teams in FOs last season.



Again, statistically it takes about 100 net FO wins to equal just a 1 goal advantage. It doesn't mean FO wins aren't good. But when even an excellent FO guy typically wins only 5% more than he loses, there really isn't much advantage. Better to have a skilled player on the ice who isn't great at the dot, like a Bolland, than one who's average and good at FOs.

Watch a PP next year.



When they lose the draw...kills about 20-30 seconds on the power play.



You don't think that effects scoring chances? Same if you're killing the penalty...lose the draw other team gets more zone time.



Which one of those teams plays a puck possession game like CHI?



You are the first person I have every heard of saying faceoffs are over rated.

I don't have the time to do an actual case study on face offs and how they influence or correlate to goals within single games and single shifts. It would take looking at every single goal scored in a game and seeing how the face off played into it then developing an argument...that would take far too long and i don't have the resources to do it (I would just be looking for events to support my bias anyways). An overall season face off % isn't going to sway me or make a very good argument for or against the importance of face offs . For now all I have to go on is what I have witnessed in the past...right or wrong. It's not enough to win in a debate over stat monsters so I will wave the white flag on this one. I don't have the energy. This research is something I would demand to get paid for if I did it.



I'm an eye on the game type not really a stats guy (dont get me wrong stats can be fun i dont dismiss them totally) . If I were a real stats guy I would just look at the box score at the end of the game and not bother wasting 2 hours with actually watching the game on the ice shift after shift.



I don't really know what any of this really has to do with Jamal Mayers though? His face off numbers are not the reason I like him and I doubt it's really the selling point on many Mayer fans or non fans. When I think about Mayers his face off abilities are not even close to the first thing that I think of. Just a nice bonus that he does actually know how to win some.