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So, I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. I’m going to try to blog more.

Not just the live blogs of games, but I’m trying to do some more opinion stuff too.

So, you have that to look forward to. The problem, though, is I don’t want to just throw any old opinion at the wall and see if it sticks. I want to make sure I can back up my claims. So when all these sports-related thoughts pop into my head, I actually have to take the time to sit down and figure out if they’re, you know, intelligent.

I’m sure few of you would be surprised to find that sometimes, the answer is a resounding “NO!”

But, anyway, this is a long way to explain that such a notion hit me recently when I saw the North American Hockey League’s All-Rookie team.

The thought — I bet Nick Guran, Fairbanks’ “diamond in the rough,” is as good as any of the players on there. I’d seen the man play, seen him revitalize an entire line for the Ice Dogs, and figured that he was as deserving of a Rookie of the Year nod as anyone.

But then, I hadn’t seen too much, if any, of the other guys, so I had to get down and do some digging.

We at the Lost Blog figure it’s our due diligence to at least TRY and not look like complete morons.

So what do the numbers say?

The man introduced as “Nasty Nick” can at least hold his own on this squad.

Here’s the important, vital, don’t miss small print: Guran, getting signed out of Junior B over Christmas break, only played 25 games with the Ice Dogs. This probably means he never had a chance to be on the actual team.

Good, now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at how he stacks up against the other Rookie Team forwards: Brandon Brodhag of Southern Minnesota, Eriah Hayes of Topeka and Mike Merrifield of St. Louis.

Hayes and Merrifield were flat-out studs this year. They had to be the no-brainer selections of this team.

Hayes tallied 53 points in 53 games, picking up 30 goals and 23 assists. Merrifield went for 57 points in 57 games, recording 18 points and 39 assists. Merrifield also had the disgustingly impressive-looking +33 to his resume. But then, when your team scores about a thousand more goals than they let up (editor’s note: St. Louis actually scored 101 more goals than their opponents, not 1,000), even the water boy is going to see his plus/minus climb into double digits.

Still, when you’re averaging a point per game, it’s fair to say you’re welcome to skate for the Lost Blog’s pickup team any day of the week.

Then there’s Brodhag, who tallied 29 goals and 16 assists for 45 points in 57 games. A still-impressive-but-not-as-much .789 points per game.

So how’s Nasty Nick fit in? If he had a full year under his belt, Guran would probably have supplanted Brodhag on this list.

Guran, in the 25 games he played for the Ice Dogs, scored 11 goals and 10 assists. For the folks who haven’t broken out a calculator yet (or who can do really impressive mental math but just don’t feel like it right now) that’s .84 points per game. Projected out over 57 games (which seemed like a popular number to play this year) that’s 25 goals and 23 assists (well 22.8 assists, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt since the Lost Blog was taught in something like second grade to give five and above a shove).

It’d leave him as a slightly less prolific goal scorer than Brodhag, but a better assists man, and his current rating of +14 would probably be in the stratosphere after a full season. So he’d be a legitimate snub if he were left off the team, even if you didn’t factor in that he did all his good work after being moved from the wing to center.

So, what’s all this tell us? Maybe not that much, expect that Ice Dogs fans should be really, really happy if the rookie comes back to Fairbanks for a sophomore campaign.