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Eric Tangradi has been a source of contention among Penguins fans. Once upon a time looked at as the main piece in the Ryan Whitney trade, in many fans' eyes he has turned from being a major prospect to a major bust. Is this true, or can he still claim the status of budding power forward?
Let's start with what we know about Tangradi. He's in his age-23 season in his fourth year as a professional, and he doesn't score well at the NHL level. Let's take a look at where he's come from and where is he now.
YEAR AGE TEAM LEVEL GP G A PTS Shots SH% 2006-07 17 Belleville OHL 65 5 15 20 2007-08 18 Belleville OHL 56 24 36 60 2008-09 19 Belleville OHL 55 38 50 88 2009-10 20 Wilkes-Barre AHL 65 17 22 39 136 12.5 2009-10 20 Pittsburgh NHL 1 0 0 0 3 0.0 2010-11 21 Wilkes-Barre AHL 42 18 15 33 138 13.0 2010-11 21 Pittsburgh NHL 15 1 2 3 18 5.6 2011-12 22 Wilkes-Barre AHL 37 15 16 31 86 17.4 2011-12 22 Pittsburgh NHL 24 0 2 2 20 0.0 2012-13 23 Pittsburgh NHL 5 0 0 0 4 0.0
Two things strike me about this set of data. The first is that Tangradi is not getting shots on net at the NHL level, with 1.0 shots per game as compared to 2.5 shots per game in Wilkes-Barre. I haven't done the research to know whether this is because he's missing the net, getting his shots blocked, or simply not getting chances, but it's worth mentioning. The second thing is that his shooting percentage in the NHL is well below his career AHL numbers over a much smaller sample size. So the first conclusion we come to is that if he had been as lucky in the NHL as he was in the AHL with 13.9% shooting, he'd have 6 goals instead of 1. Still not lighting it up, but it might have earned him more ice time with which to toss more shots at the opposition's net.
Let's look at a few players who profile similarly to Tangradi, in that they're somewhere around 6'4" tall and in the 215-to-230-pound range.
Player 1
YEAR AGE TEAM LEVEL GP G A PTS Shots SH% 1998-99 19 Omaha USHL 51 14 22 36 1999-00 20 St. Cloud St. WCHA 38 9 21 30 2000-01 21 St. Cloud St. WCHA 36 7 18 25 2001-02 22 St. Cloud St. WCHA 41 24 25 49 2002-03 23 St. Cloud St. WCHA 27 16 20 36 2002-03 23 Wilkes-Barre AHL 3 0 1 1 2 0.0
This is the entirety of this player's career through his age-23 season. He was drafted after the 36-point effort in US Juniors, which is to say nothing terribly impressive, and not much he did after that point indicated that he'd have much of an NHL career.
Player 2
YEAR AGE TEAM LEVEL GP G A PTS Shots SH% 1983-84 18 Boston College ECAC 37 6 14 20 1984-85 19 Boston College H-East 40 13 23 36 1985-86 20 Boston College H-East 42 17 27 44 1986-87 21 Boston College H-East 39 35 35 70 1987-88 22 United States Nat-Tm 44 22 23 45 1987-88 22 Pittsburgh NHL 16 5 2 7 22 22.7 1988-89 23 Muskegon IHL 45 24 41 65 1988-89 23 Pittsburgh NHL 24 12 3 15 52 23.1
This player was drafted the summer before the first season listed here. It's clear that the player progressed fairly linearly, but still did not make a huge impact in the NHL until his age-24 season when he was finally able to log a normal-looking number of shots on goal.
Player 3
YEAR AGE TEAM LEVEL GP G A PTS Shots SH% 1987-88 18 U Vermont ECAC 31 12 22 34 1988-89 19 U Vermont ECAC 18 9 12 21 1989-90 20 U Vermont ECAC 10 10 6 16 1990-91 21 U Vermont ECAC 33 25 20 45 1990-91 21 Montreal NHL 10 2 5 7 12 16.7 1991-92 22 Fredericton AHL 8 7 7 14 1991-92 22 Montreal NHL 59 8 11 19 73 11.0 1992-93 23 Montreal NHL 72 19 25 44 139 13.7
Again, we're seeing a certain pattern developing here. Like Player 2, this player was drafted before any season listed here.
Player 4
YEAR AGE TEAM LEVEL GP G A PTS Shots SH% 1987-88 16 Hamilton OHL 47 6 6 12 1988-89 17 Niagara Falls OHL 48 20 35 55 1989-90 18 Niagara Falls OHL 65 57 70 127 1990-91 19 Adirondack AHL 6 3 5 8 1990-91 19 Detroit NHL 58 3 12 15 33 9.1 1991-92 20 Adirondack AHL 42 21 24 45 1991-92 20 Detroit NHL 35 6 10 16 27 22.2 1992-93 21 Detroit NHL 73 15 17 32 75 20.0 1993-94 22 Detroit NHL 78 31 42 73 155 20.0 1994-95 23 Detroit NHL 45 15 27 42 96 15.6
The only one of the bunch not to go to college, this player was drafted after his second season at Niagara Falls and went on to play in the NHL in his first season as a pro, much like Tangradi did, although this player saw 58 games rather than 1. Still, he failed to hit the point-per-game level until he was in his age-29 season (also his last good season, incidentally), although he was established as a perennial 25-goal scorer before that point.
Unfortunately, all this means is that the results are still inconclusive. As much as we'd hoped that Eric Tangradi would be the second coming of Dave Andreychuk, he's well past that point now. However, these three players should hopefully serve as a model for Tangradi's future if he continues to work hard and keep his head on straight.
Bonus InternetPoints™ to whomever can figure out who the anonymous players are in this study.