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Player Evaluation: Jake Muzzin

August 30, 2014, 10:18 AM ET [6 Comments]
Jason Lewis
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
If you missed the evaluation on the departed Willie Mitchell, check it out.

Jake Muzzin #6
Age: 25
Contract Status: $1.00MM AAV through 2014-15 (RFA)


Stats:



Other stats:

Corsi on: 23.94
Corsi relative: 13.5
Quality of Competition relative: +.556 (2nd on team behind Doughty)
TOI: 19:01
Hits: 169 (2nd amongst Dmen)
Shooting %: 2.9

His season:

Fantastic. Really though. For as much criticism as young Jake Muzzin took all year from fans, he was absolutely fantastic. Yes, he did start off a little shaky, but what can you expect from a second year player who was thrusted into the top-pairing? It was a learning process from day one, and when you look at the progress in which Muzzin made over the course of the year it is really impressive. As the young defenseman started to get more and more comfortable with his partner, Drew Doughty, it was apparent that it wasn’t just Doughty who was making Muzzin look good in both a statistical and visible way. Muzzin can certainly hold his own, and it shows when you look at his possession stats independent of Doughty. Muzzin with Doughty was a 60.4% corsi, and without him he was a 64.5%. Doughty without Muzzin? 55.1%.

The two formed a strong partnership that really blossomed late in the year and into the postseason. His physical and imposing style works well with Drew Doughty, who was able to carry the puck more freely with Muzzin taking over the more defensive duties. With that in mind, No 6. is a solid offensive contributor as well. His shooting percentage was incredibly low this season, but he still mustered up five goals and 19 assists on the regular season. That isn’t bat considering the woefully low 2.9 shooting percentage. He picked it up during the playoffs, shooting at a 12% clip and recording 6 goals and 12 points in 26 games. Those are fantastic numbers. Muzzin also faced some of the toughest competition in the league and really locked it down. For example, in the long and arduous series against Chicago, Muzzin finished up at just a -1 rating while playing well over 22 minutes a night on many occasions. That was a series in which he was lining up against Toews, Hossa, Kane, Sharp, Saad, Shaw, etc. on regular occasion.

While he had a really scratchy start, Muzzin battled, and the arc of his season is something I think we can all be satisfied with. He definitely has his critics (#Muzzkill amirite?), and at times was probably the most polarizing Kings figure during the year. Should he have been on the top pairing? Is he a true No.2 defenseman? Hell, when the trade deadline came and passed and the Kings didn’t acquire a top defenseman there were people going crazy. I feel as if the faith the Kings put in Muzzin was reciprocated by his strong overall play. And how could those eyebrows not put the fear of God into anyone who faces him?



The common flaw which plagued the early goings of the season for Jake was turnovers. He tends to be fairly risky with his plays at times, and can occasionally force plays into bad areas. It isn’t the worst thing in the world to take risks, but sometimes Muzzin makes needless ones. Other times he takes the right risks and the team is rewarded. That balance came into play later in the season as it seemed he was making the right play more often than the wrong one. He also had some really iffy powerplay contribution, but again, when you look at his shooting percentage some of that has to be attributed to flat out bad luck. He has an excellent, booming, shot, and all through the 2012-13 season we saw how well he could put it on net. 2013-14 didn’t quite see the same production level from him, but you can’t help but feel that will straighten out next year. All in all it was a satisfying season for the 25-year old, and I think we are looking at a legit top-3 defenseman. It wasn’t quite so clear at the start, but by the finish it was.





(Note the solid recognition by Muzzin to jump into the play here. Also, that Kopitar guy is kind of good at hockey)



Moving forward:

Muzzin has a big year in front of him. It is the dreaded contract year. While he is an RFA and will certainly be retained by the Kings, how much he is worth is up for debate. The going rate for young and talented defensemen is at a high right now (See Schultz, Justin), and Muzzin could really vault himself into a worthwhile financial category with another step forward in 2014-15. His contributions on offense need to get a little bit better, and he also needs to find a balance in the risk/reward plays to placate the criticism he receives from fans. At 25, with a solid season and cup run under his belt the Kings covet a fairly strong asset in Muzzin, and I doubt they will let it go unrecognized come contract time.

With his natural and cohesive partnership with Doughty, there is no reason to believe that No. 6 will be anything but a top pairing defenseman next season. Now that teams are aware of him though, the challenge becomes maintaining the high level of play. Whereas Muzzin was a relatively mysterious figure in 2013-14, I don’t think anyone is unfamiliar with him by this point. He will have to decide if his sophomore (full) season is of the slumping variety or the thriving one.

The future is bright for the Woodstock, Ontario native. He has come a long way for the Kings, and heck, how is that for getting value from a free agent signing who was cut loose by his draft team? (Thanks so much Pittsburgh.)

His start was rough, but the finish was outstanding. The growth and potential is there for even more. It is a solid A for me. No doubt in my mind. If you told me at the start of the season that Muzzin would be part of the top pairing that leads the Kings to their 2nd cup I would have laughed in your face. Expectations completely decimated. Well done.

Final Grade: A

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