Player Name/Position: Brad Staubitz, RW
Overall Grade: D-
Contract Status: One more year at $637,500 cap hit and $650,000 cash
2013 Stats: 15 GP, 1-1-2, 6:12 TOI/G, 41 PIM (accrued in only four of his 15 GP including a game misconduct)
Playoff stats: None, thankfully.
Offense: The only reason I didn’t give him an F was that he ended up with one point less than Patrick Maroon (3) while playing two more games. Maybe that should just lower Maroon’s score from a B-, but he gets credit for leading Norfolk in scoring. Two points is about all we could expect from Staubitz, but the problem is that every time he was in the lineup it was at the expense of a more talented teammate. I’d rather have Emerson Etem in the lineup over Staubitz any day of the week.
Defense: As Robert Plant once said, you know sometimes words have two meanings. Most of Staubitz’s defense is done with his fists but even so, he was only credited with two fights on the season. According to fan votes on hockeyfights.com he went 1-1 in those two tilts. Unfortunately, he was also assessed an instigator and 10 min misconduct penalty for the fight that he won against Bryan Bickell. That’s where he hurt the team the most, with stupid penalties. The misconduct against Bickell was only one game removed from being ejected for a retaliatory spear in Dallas. When he’s in the lineup he’s not helping, and when he’s in the box for extended time or kicked out he puts even more pressure on the rest of the team to play a man down. In his defense he did settle down as the season wore on and refused to be goaded into penalties/fights that carried no value for the Ducks. But it’s a bad sign that the best we can really say about him is that he took fewer stupid penalties later in the season.
Highlight of the Season/Postseason: Of course the highlight of his season was his goal, that ended up being the game winner thanks to a 5-on-3 goal by Vancouver late in the game. It was also his last appearance so I guess he finished on top. Still, I'll always remember his first season as a Duck for that idiotic spear in Dallas.
Expectations for Next Year: Staubitz was never going to replace George Parros. Bob Murray explicitly said that the reason Parros wasn’t brought back and the reason Staubitz was brought in was because George wanted/expected to play every game and with Bruce Boudreau’s system the Ducks couldn’t guarantee that. With that in mind it might be a little harsh to give him such a low grade, in that the expectations were only of a player who would bring a physical presence in a handful of games. I don’t think we can expect much more from Staubitz next year, but based on Murray’s comments on exit interview day, he might get a few more opportunities to bring the “team toughness” that the GM is looking for. Which I’m not looking forward to.