Ex-Flame and Maple Leaf Jamal Mayers has reportedly signed with the San Jose Sharks. I made an off-the-cuff remark on Twitter that the move made the Sharks a little worse and it sparked some friendly debate. So here's where I'm coming from.
Mayers doesn't look too bad when you watch him once or twice: his fundamentals aren't terrible, he can win a face-off, he works hard and he's tough. Thing is, his results are awful. Really awful. He was roundly despised by the end of his tenure in Toronto...and while the howling masses in the center of the universe can sometimes be less than rational, this time it was for good reason. His underlying stats from last year are just putrid: a corsi rate of -11.37/60 despite playing for strong (Leafs) and middling (Flames) possession teams is bad. That he garnered that rate playing against nobodies (only Nystrom and McGrattan saw easier qual comp on the Flames) and starting more often in the offensive zone (53.8%) is that much worse. I recently took a spin through the scoring chance numbers I collected for the Flames last season...and let's just say that Mayers was consistently on the wrong end of things.
Glancing at the Sharks current line-up, I'm guessing Mayers has been signed to be a hired goon and not much else. He's probably more functional than your average enforcer (think Derek Boogaard) since he can win a face-off and scores more than once a year, but he's not much better. At 35 years old he won't be improving either.
