So both Dan Wagner at PITB and Cam Charron here at Nucksmisconduct have given their two cents each about Cody Hodgson's minutes today, and I thought, hey, I've got some change in my pocket too, why don't I throw in two cents more. (And if we combine our 6 cents, maybe we can get together and split a 5 cent candy? I vote for one of those gummy-on-one-side-marshmallow-on-the-other frogs, but I could accept a sour key as a compromise, so long as it's a sour key that has at least one purple segment).

Anyhoo, I took a look at the rookie scoring race, and noticed the discrepancy in time on ice per game (TOI/G) amongst the top 10, ranging from 18:23 for Buffalo's Adam Henrique to 12:32 for our boy Cody. The range was wide, with only around half of the players on the list playing top 6 minutes. Which made me come up with a little thought experiment--what if these players kept up their current points-per-ice-time pace, but actually played the same minutes per game as the top forwards in the league? What would the rookie scoring race look like then? Well let's go find out!

Here's the current top 10 rookie scoring. As you can see, CoHo is very respectably situated in 5th place with 22 points so far this season:

Now look at how the top 10 would look if each rookie's points-per-minute were maintained but they each played the same amount of minutes per game as the top 10 scorers in the NHL (For you Nerdy McNerdnerds out there, these numbers were obtained by dividing the average TOI/G for the top 10 scorers in the league (19:43) by the TOI/G for each rookie and then multiplying the result by that rookie's current amount of points.):

GODSON MODE ACTIVATED! SECOND IN THE LEAGUE AND RIGHT ON THE HEALS OF RYAN NOOGIE HOPKINS! And with the Nuge now injured for who knows how long, CoHo has a legit shot at taking over the top of my revised list. Which is a trick he might have learned from the brothers Sedin, who both won scoring races by overtaking potential victors sidelined by injury.

Now granted, we all know that with increased minutes and responsibility comes tougher opposition and tougher situations in which one plays, so it's completely unrealistic to extrapolate that these scoring paces could be maintained, blah blah blah blah, whatevs, I get it, you don't need to be a dick about it, ok? The point is, CoHo's numbers are beyond just respectable for a rookie, they're extremely good given the role he currently holds on the team. I would be comfortable declaring that CoHo could easily be a lesser team's top scorer if given the opportunity (probably with very ugly defensive results, mind you).

In conclusion, Cody Hodgson is awesome. And by playing just 12 minutes instead of 18 minutes a game, it gives him plenty of time to focus on his other interests, like narrating episodes of HBO's 24/7.