As we noted on the blog yesterday, the Winnipeg Jets signed defenceman Adam Pardy to a cap-friendly, one-year contract. Today we take a look at some of his 5-on-5 and 4-on-4 advanced stats to determine what is it the Jets are actually getting with the 6’4″ defenceman.
Below are Pardy’s stats over the past three seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames:
| Year | Team | 5v5 min | Corsi Rel | QoC rank | zonestarts | 4v5 min |
| 2012-13 | Buffalo | 14.98 (5) | 5.3 (4) | .56 (5) | 46.1 (2) | 1.18 (5) |
| 2011-12 | Dallas | 15.33 (6) | -5.2 (6) | -3.57 (6) | 51.3 (7) | 0.81 (6) |
| 2010-11 | Calgary | 13.66 (5) | 9.9 (2) | -1.51 (7) | 59.7 (6) | 0.61 (5) |
The numbers seem to indicate that Pardy can be a serviceable bottom pairing NHL defenceman. He has never played anything beyond bottom minutes and except for his time in Calgary where he got an easy ride, his Corsi rating seems to suggest that's all he's capable of.
Overall, I'm not a big fan of this signing, particularity in conjunction with the Grant Clitsome's three-year extension. At least Pardy was signed at a good price, but he doesn't seem to be what this team really needs.
I wanted to see a quality top four defenseman added. However, in usual Cheveldayoff fashion, instead of spending for one quality player, we get two mediocre players instead. Furthermore, a bottom pairing defenceman on this team needs to be able to kill penalties which Pardy doesn't have a track record of doing.
Another point of contention with the signing is that it now creates a logjam at the bottom of Winnipeg’s lineup. We now have Mark Stuart, Zach Redmond, Paul Postma, Arturs Kulda and Pardy fighting for the last two available roster spots. This is assuming that Chevy will make the right decision and send Jacob Trouba to St. John’s, which I’m not completely certain will happen.
While depth in rear-guards is never a bad thing, Claude Noel has shown a consistent trend in playing older, dependable types on the bottom pairing. What this means is guys like Redmond and Postma who should be getting ice-time may end up wallowing in the press-box, a notion that I'm not on board with.
