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Here is Cole and Bertuzzo side by side at War On Ice. They look relatively comparable except for two aspects. First, Cole has played more minutes than Bertuzzo. Second, Cole has slightly higher corsi than Bertuzzo. Could this be the result of how they are being used on ice? Bertuzzo is seeing two way minutes while Cole has been seeing minutes as "less sheltered". They are pretty much on opposing corners of the Player Usage Chart over at Hockey Abstract.
However, my issue is that Cole has seen a lot more minutes than Bertuzzo and this season is the most ice time Bertuzzo has seen per game (bubbles above and below are sized by toi per game).
My problem with the trade though is with their goals for and goals against per 60. Granted Bortuzzo hasn't seen as much as time as Cole so far this season, but Cole's GF/60 and GA/60 is 2.3 and 1.1 while Bortuzzo's is 1.8 and 2.1. When Bortuzzo has been on the ice for the Penguins, teams tend to score more against the Penguins. When Cole is on the ice for the Blues, the Blues tend to score more goals than their opponents.
I know what a lot of you are saying. They had to make the move because of salary or whatever. If that is the case, there probably wasn't much Armstrong could've done. But I still don't like this trade.