Noon Number (October 23rd): 72.9%

Somehow, Stoner has managed to reinvent himself this year and has performed very very well. He has passed the eye-test in every game except for the one in Buffalo, and has received praise from bloggers, writers and his coach. Now, those are just opinions, but at least it shows that he's not just putting-up good numbers while looking awful. This doesn't mean that people who were critical of him in the past were wrong, because he was terrible for years. This turn-around in encouraging, though I wonder how long it can go on before he reverts back to his old self. Hopefully he can maintain some kind of high level throughout the season because that would be huge for the Wild, almost like getting a totally new defenceman on the roster.

I think fans still have a knee-jerk hatred for Stoner based on past experiences. Go search his name on Twitter and you'll find dozens of Tweets about how terrible he is and how he needs to be sent to the press box. It's a shame that he has built up such a bad reputation, because he has been doing a good job this year.

Jeez, what does the guy have to do to win these people over?

-Here's some basic info about him:

-Here are his underlying numbers this year in Close situations (Includes only players with 75% games played):

-In case you need a refresher:

So Stoner's numbers are pretty incredible. He is leading the Wild and the league in Fenwick and Corsi which is no mean feat for a guy who is normally a possession black hole. Sneer at it if you like, but the numbers show that when Stoner is on the ice, he tilts it in the Wild's favour. I'm sure some people will be quick to point out the flaws in his game, and there are flaws, but if they were as prominent as people would have you believe, it would show-up in the numbers. If a guy is turnover machine in his own end, or can't move the puck up the ice, then that will show-up in his numbers. If it doesn't, then it's probably not as prominent as you think.

I'm not saying that Stoner is the best player in the league, nor do I believe he will keep this kind of performance up for the year, but the guy deserves a pat on the back for his performance, and, even if his play drops-off, I will be happy as long as he keeps his possession numbers above 50%.

-Let's take a look at his usage so far this year (Wild defencemen with 50% of games played:

Stoner is getting pretty even zone starts between all 3 zones against fairly soft competition, though he ranks last among Wild defencemen in Quality Of Teammates. The Competition and Teammates stats are somewhat unreliable at this early stage of the season, but at least there's nothing there to suggest he is being carried and/or playing ridiculously soft minutes which is resulting in his great possession numbers.

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(Don't forget to check out the amazing ExtraSkater.com which has provided all the numbers for this article. This website is a game-changer this season and I recommend adding it to your browser's bookmarks. Whether you're looking for possession numbers or shot distance statistics, Extra Skater has it all.)

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