If you are a regular reader of the blog, it is has been no secret over the years:
We like Jake Muzzin.
However, there are a lot of people who upon hearing the name Jake Muzzin being named to Team Canada scoured the internet for information on the guy that beat out Letang and Subban (Most notably).
I do not plan on sitting here and dissecting the defensive selections of Team Canada, nor do I plan on telling you WHY Subban and Letang were not selected. Today, however, we highlight Jake Muzzin and just why you should feel fine with the 27-year old donning the red maple leaf on his chest.
Who is he?
Muzzin has had a somewhat unique background and development through the ranks of hockey. He was taken by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2007 entry draft. However, just one year in he dealt with two herniated discs in his back that caused him to miss all of his first year of development and go under the knife later that season. His 1st true year with the Greyhounds was difficult due to the injury recovery and adjustment from bantam to CHL. He struggled the ensuing two years, although showing marginal improvements each year. Pittsburgh, after three years, did not tender him an ELC and he re-entered the 2009 draft without being selected. He then signed with the Kings in December of 2009 as a free agent after attending Nashville Predators training camp.
He went on to have a breakout year with Soo, captaining the team and scoring 67 points in 64 games from the back line. He joined up with Manchester after his junior season that year.
Fast forward a bit, after just about two years with Manchester, Muzzin made the Kings roster after a couple of different call ups of mixed success. He seemed to have the offensive acumen but showed some risk defensively as well as some needed skating improvements. Despite not being a super high scorer with Manchester, the Kings tentatively penciled him into the lockout shortened season's opening day roster. That was more solidified after the Kings were hit with some injury setbacks. The team had lost Willie Mitchell due to knee surgery, but also lost Matt Greene in the first game of the season.
From there his stock has skyrocketed and he has become one of the Kings most proficient defensemen the past four years and a giant cog in the team's success. How?
What kind of game does he play?
Muzzin is an excellent transition defenseman. He has the skills and puck moving ability of a more slick European defenseman, while still coveting the size and physicality to excel in his own zone. His mobility and foot speed, which is arguably his weakest trait, is still good enough where you do not see him beat one on one too often. He is also one of the Kings most aggressive and perhaps confident defensemen, and we will go over what exactly that means later.
When you talk about Muzzin though you have to really highlight one exceptional ability he has that may actually be one of the best in the league in this category:
His stretch and breakout passes.
Muzzin is a tremendous transition defenseman mainly due to his laser precision stretch passes.
View post on imgur.com
Sometimes those passes are threaded through a sea of sticks and legs, but somehow almost always find their targets.
View post on imgur.com
View post on imgur.com
That is one of the elements of "Confidence" that can be talked about with No. 6. He attempts passes that perhaps other defensemen wouldn't. It is a risk, no question, and it is a risk that punished him earlier in his career when he would look for the more difficult outlets versus simple plays. We still see flashes of that today, which is why when Muzzin makes a mistake in his own end, it is usually glaring.
However, he has really become a much better defenseman over his development at picking his spots and also utilizing the short simple outlets in an effort to get the play up ice.
View post on imgur.com
His head is up at all times in his own zone and he is constantly looking for openings to move the play. In this regard, Muzzin is a rather new aged defenseman. If you are worried about his defensive game, well, he does not play in his own end much despite getting hit with a lot of defensive zone starts. That is a pretty good trait.
He will skate the puck out with that confidence as well, although not as frequently as his Team Canada teammate Drew Doughty.
View post on imgur.com
These are plays that have become massively important in today's NHL. The game often starts on the stick of your defenseman. If you want speed through the neutral zone you have to either have A) a defenseman who can skate, ala Drew Doughty or Erik Karlsson, or B) a defenseman who can move the puck extremely well ala Jake Muzzin or Roman Josi. Obviously some defensemen can fall into both categories.
The other really important aspect of Jake's game that is often overlooked is his aggressive blue line and red line play. Again, if you have kept up with the blog most of the year you know what play we are talking about.
It is a designed play with the Kings that is described in full detail right here. Required reading to fully understand why Muzzin has blossomed with the Kings system.
View post on imgur.com
At all three lines, Muzzin prevents plays from going back up ice against his team with almost zero hesitation. Again, it is a risk play and one that he has pretty well honed over the years. He picks his spots.
View post on imgur.com
He thrives on pinch scenarios which, coupled with his breakout passes, is an explanation for many things in his advanced stats.
This is another example of where you can meld the two worlds of traditional thinking as well as analytical thinking. Muzzin has risen to prominence with the advanced stats community over the past few years.
And many have believed it to be BECAUSE he has played with Drew Doughty. Ah guess again.
While analytics have taken more of a hold recently, there are simple hockey driven reasons that allow Muzzin to excel in these numbers versus some of his counterparts. These reasons also essentially improve the numbers of those around him.
And guess what, it has to do with everything we just highlighted!
He is really good at two things: Stopping teams from entering his zone with possession, and moving the puck out of his zone with speed and accuracy. Both of those things lead to more shots for, less shots against, greater volume of scoring chances for and less against, and overall more goals for than against. AKA advanced stats, analytics, stupid stuff that doesn't matter, right?
In that stupid stuff he has been the best or close to it over the past three years (2013-16)
View post on imgur.com
View post on imgur.com
Note here how his shots against per 60 is lower than everyone else on this list.
View post on imgur.com
(Stats provided by Stats.hockeyanalysis.com)
He is not an analytics darling because of luck. Muzzin is very good at some key elements of today's modern NHL. It is not to say he is perfect. He is far from it. However, his game is suited in many regards for the way the game has evolved over the past several years. With that in mind, his body of work, results, and style make him almost a no brainer when considering the top 10 or top 5 Canadian defensemen in the world right now. Put him with highly skilled forwards who also know how to transition a puck and it could be a very promising relationship.
From flat production, we are also talking about a defenseman who has back to back seasons of 40+ points, on top of being a prominent fixture on the Kings powerplay and penalty kill.
Getting into more intangible things, Muzzin has a lot of high level experience, including late season playoff runs, a World Championships invite, and of course a Stanley Cup. There will be familiarity on the team as well with D corp partner Drew Doughty in the fold, and fellow King player Jeff Carter.
To wrap it up
As said before, we are not going to argue Subban vs. Muzzin, or Letang vs. Muzzin. There are perfectly valid arguments on both sides of it. Heck, you could toss in Muzzin/Letang/Subban vs. Weber and probably get valid arguments on boths sides as well. That is going to be the nature of any tournament or selection of a group where you are selecting "the best of the best."
Not everyone agrees, and that is okay.
What hopefully you can look at now is why it is entirely valid to consider Muzzin within that group of the best of the best. Many Kings fans and a pocket of NHL analysts and higher ups have seemed to feel that way for years, however the is still a heavy counterbalance of non believers and maybe people who just haven't seen him all that much. With his selection to Team Canada it has thrust the former idea into the forefront.
He has been one of the best transition defensemen in the NHL over the past several years. The recognition of Team Canada selection is a nice thing to see for one of the league's more unheralded players.
Follow me on twitter for news and notes about the Kings, the Reign, and the NHL
Also be sure to like HockeyBuzz on facebook!
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»