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Islanders: According To Advanced Analytics Josh Ho-Sang Deserves To Be In NHL

By Matt O'Leary

TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 29: Josh Ho-Sang #26 of the New York Islanders skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on December 29, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Islanders defeated the Maple Leafs 4-0.(Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 29: Josh Ho-Sang #26 of the New York Islanders skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on December 29, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Islanders defeated the Maple Leafs 4-0.(Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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Last week, New York Islanders forward, Josh Ho-Sang was put in the spotlight after releasing a statement and it reminded us how much he deserves to be in the NHL.

Last week, New York Islanders prospect Josh Ho-Sang put out a statement following the George Floyd murder regarding racial injustice. He wasn’t the only one who did it, but as a mixed hockey player, and someone who looks a little different than most hockey players, it’s extremely important to truly listen and learn, especially at a time like this. That’s the only way we can get better as a society.

Ho-Sang, who in the past has been classified as immature, couldn’t have been more mature with his long, thought out post on Instagram. Ho-Sang speaks on supporting a better world for all humans and leading with love over hate.

If you wish to read the entire statement, you can do so right here:

The Islanders made sure to share Anders Lee’s message and Scott Mayfield’s message. Unfortunately, Ho-Sang’s message is nowhere to be found on the Islanders or Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ social media pages.

Anyway, since Ho-Sang’s message still made the rounds on social, his name was brought to our attention again. This time, it was JFresh, who is a hockey analyst whose work has been featured on The Athletic and Sportsnet.

JFresh says it’s absolutely ridiculous that Ho-Sang isn’t in the NHL somewhere. He uses GAR (goals above replacement), WAR (wins above replacement), and weighted even-strength points to make his point.

Over his three-year sample size, his WAR was 1.6, 1.1, and 2.5 which was good enough for 71 percentile, 61 percentile, and 88 percentile in the entire league.

As we can see his A1/60 and P1/60 are significantly above average as well. One of the biggest knocks on his game is his defense, and we even saw that significantly improve in the limited time we saw him in 2018-2019 according to JFresh’s findings

With the Islanders bottom six, especially the third line being so dreadful, there’s really no way that Ho-Sang couldn’t play on the right side. The Isles ended the season with Ladd – Pageau – Komarov as L3 and their projector war was 0.6.

After requesting a trade before the season, Ho-Sang missed a majority of the season as he wasn’t moved and was told not to report. After returning in the A, and playing 22 games, Ho-Sang had 13 points (3 goals, 9 assists) to his name. Last year, in 56 AHL games he had 43 points.

We’re really to believe that not one of the 31 NHL teams could have this guy on their roster? The argument that’s going to get brought up is that nobody claimed him when he was waived, and there’s likely a pretty simple explanation to it.

Reputation. The NHL, and to an extent the Islanders, have a preconceived notion on what Josh Ho-Sang is and won’t budge on it. A kid who speaks his mind to the media is considered sacrilegious in NHL culture.

A culture that has been proven to be pretty toxic. Ho-Sang isn’t 100 percent blame-free for what’s happened to him, but a far majority of the blame goes to the Islanders and the rest of the league, for mismanaging this kid.

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Someone with 24 points in 53 games in the league and a career 5.2 WAR can’t make the NHL? To put it in JFresh’s terms, it’s absolutely stupid.

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