Like Dustin Boyd and (hypothetically) Mikael Backlund, David Moss is a tough player to slot in the Flames depth chart. Since he broke into the league two years ago, Moss has served on just about every forward unit (besides Jarome's) from "energy" and "checking" to "scoring". His emergence complicated Tony Amonte's life once upon a time and made Chuck Kobasew expendable.
Last year, Moss fell prey to the dreaded "high ankle sprain". The injury cost him almost half the season and an ensured spot in the line-up. By the time Moss returned, Keenan didn't seem to know what to do with him: the sophomore bounced around the line-up and was occasionally scratched in favor of demonstrably weaker players (Nystrom, Godard).
It's hard to blame Keenan. As mentioned, Moss is a tough guy to figure out. The late bloomer was basically a throw away 7th round choice for the Flames in 2001. He played for the University of Michigan for 4 years, never really differentiating himself from many other college players, before making his pro debut with the Omaha Knights in 05/06. That year, Moss managed a fairly decent 21 goals and 48 points in just 63 games, earning himself a call up to the big club when Chuck Kobasew got hurt. In his first 3 games Moss scored 3 goals, including a game-winner, pretty much guaranteeing his spot on the roster going forward and inflating expectations everywhere.
The truth is Moss isn't much of a scorer. He doesn't really have a nose for the net, soft hands or a great shot. And that's the the challenging thing about Moss - he doesn't appear to be especially good at anything in particular. While he's a passable skater, no one would say he's blazingly fast or smooth. He doesn't deliver bone crushing hits or get into fights. He almost never kills penalties, so he can't claim "defensive specialist" status. And he has yet to do anything worthwhile on the powerplay.
The one thing that can be said about Moss - and it's probably the primary reason he's still a part of the big club - is he doesn't make a lot of mistakes. It's only something that appears after watching him closely over a long period of time, so it's easily missed by the casual fan. Moss rarely commits the bonehead defensive zone give-away. He's frequently in position. He's never the guy that carries the puck over the blueline when it's obvious the best play is to dump it in deep. Perhaps his greatest strength can be summarized as "playing well within his means". Moss doesn't run around trying do too much, nor does he freeze up in the neutral zone for fear of making a mistake. He's adequate. He's capable. He's the kind of guy that can be passably inserted on either a scoring or checking line for a brief period because, well, he isn't going to royally fuck things up.
Almost none of Moss' numbers from last year are impressive: he played against soft competition with terrible teammates. His ESP/60 rate was pedestrian (1.55) and he got scored on relatively frequently. The one stat that stands out like a sore thumb, oddly, is his corsi (difference between shots for and shots against) number of +7. Only Iginla, Huselius and Langkow were better. In contrast, many of Moss' linemates were well in the red by this measure - Primeau (-10.9), Godard (-11.3) and Nystrom (-7.7) were bottom of the barrel, for instance.
It's hard to reconcile the difference between his other advanced stats and the corsi rate. Assuming the latter isn't some kind of anomaly or artifact of chance, it suggests that the puck moves in the right direction when Moss is on the ice. This positive effect may be of use to a line needing a stabilizing influence in the offensive zone (Lombardi et al?) or one looking to avoid being scored on (Conroy et al?).
I think my not-so-secret comp for Moss is another late Calgary draft pick, Travis Moen. Like Moss, Moen is a big guy who isn't really great at the "big things", but has turned a talent for doing the "little things" right into a viable NHL career. Combined with highly capable line mates like Pahlsson and Niedermayer the younger, Moen has become a fixture on what is probably one of the best shut-down trios in the league. If the Flames can convert Moss into a Moen clone on their own "shut-down" line, it could help take the considerable pressure off of Iginla's line as well as the potentially weaker 2nd scoring unit.
Whatever happens, though, I'd very much prefer NOT to see the likes of Roy and Nystrom dressed ahead of Moss next season.
