I certainly would be wary of judging any player based on +/-, which is
one of the most useless stats in hockey today.  It is highly dependent
upon who else a player skates with and who his line tends to play
against.  Think of the fact that when a goal is scored, at 5x5, 10
players on the ice will receive a + or a -, and chances are only a few
of them were directly responsible for the goal happening (in a good or
bad way).
 
Besides that, I note the following:
 
* Michigan and BG have similar power play numbers.
* Michigan has many more good offensive players.
 
I'm going to guess that Holzinger, because of his abilities and the
fact that he is easily the most important player BG has offensively,
tends to play a LOT on the power play and that this is where he picks
up many of his points.  He may have only 5 PPGs in league play, but
since BG has 43, I bet he has quite a few PP assists.  (A category
that should be kept track of along with PPGs, btw.)
 
Of course, I don't know that this is true.  But it could be, and if
so, it is a clear example of why you cannot just look at +/-.  And the
combination of Holzinger picking up many PP points and perhaps playing
with defensively weak players could easily account for his low +/- but
high point total.
 
I suppose I am saying, look at everything...don't just take one stat
and use it to compare players.
 
I've got a question for people who follow BG.  How good would BG be
without Holzinger?
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93