Carolina Hurricanes General Manager Jim Rutherford held a press conference at the PNC Arena Friday morning and spoke to the media regarding the signing of Alexander Semin. The GM confirmed that not only did the team thoroughly research the star winger before offering him a contract, but they also took into consideration some extensive analytical profiling before making their decision.
I spoke with the GM after the press conference to get more details and asked him if he meant that Semin played better at both ends of the rink than many thought.
"The stats we look at provide much more detail," said Rutherford. "Jason looks at this and the stats show how a player performs under certain circumstances. If he can perform under pressure, at the end of the game, with the score tied, and against the best competition. The results of our analysis show that this player performs right at the top of most categories."
Rutherford went on. "Some critics like to point out that he did not do well in the playoffs, but that happens to many players from time to time. For most of his career he has performed very well under pressure."
While Semin disappointed in the most recent playoffs, (three goals and a total of four points in 14 games), career wise he has 15 goals and 34 points in 51 playoff games.
Rutherford also pointed out that the addition of Semin should help the Hurricanes improve their woeful record in shootouts.
Check out the entire press conference after the jump.