If the NHL Rookie Of The Year Award was handed out today, Clayton Keller (7th overall pick 2016 NHL Draft, Boston University Terriers) would be the unanimous, runaway winner. Keller has been named the NHL Rookie Of The Month for October 2017.
Keller is the first Arizona Coyotes / Winnipeg Jets rookie to post 9 goals in a calendar month since Teemmu Selanne scored 20 goals in March 1993.
Keller is the best player on the worst team in the NHL this season. On Monday night in Philadelphia, Coyotes picked up their only win of the season.
Keller chipped in an assist in the win. The slick center is only 19 years of age and has only played in 16 career NHL games (13 this season) yet Keller has managed to score 9 goals and 6 assists. An amazing feat when you consider that the Desert Dogs have only 33 goals for while allowing 56 goals against in their first 13 games played this season. Keller is tied for fifth place in NHL scoring with snipers Alex Ovechkin, John Tavares Nikita Kucherov, Evgeny Kuznetzov and Sean Couturier. Not bad company for a kid to be keeping t the one month marker of his first NHL season.
In his first month of full time NHL duty this season, Keller was impressive posting two, two-goal games and four multi-point games while averaging 19:51 TOI.
What’s impressive is that Keller is doing the majority score of his scoring at even strength where he has scored seven goals and five assists. He also is helping on the power play where he has two power play goals and an assist. His head coach Rick Tocchet Keller’s 18.7% shooting percentage is equally as impressive. He has scored 9 goals on just 49 shots on goal. That’s a pretty damn great closing ratio for a kid who has two whiskers on his chin. Through video analysis, NHL goalies will surely catch on to Keller’s shooting habits but for now, he is lighting the lamp with relative ease.
Keller made a name for himself in January when he played a starring role for Team USA’s IIHF World Junior Championships gold medal winning team. In 7 games played at the WJCs, Keller was the leading scorer for USA with 3 goals and added 8 assists. In the spring of 2017, Keller starred for Team USA at the IIHF World Championships by scoring 5 goals and 2 assists. The St. Louis, Missouri native is the real deal.
On Thursday night, I’ll be watching closely the head-to-head battle between two BU alpha dogs in Keller and Buffalo Sabres super center Jack Eichel. The struggling Sabres (3-7-2) will skate into Phoenix to do battle with the coughing Coyotes (1-11-1). The game within the game will be the fierce battle that will occur between two close friends in Keller and Eichel. The mood will be intensely serious and the compete level will be high because both teams desperately need the two points.
Eichel is no slouch either.
Jack knows thing or two about being a star player. Eichel has assembled an incredible body of successful work at the U.S. National Development Team level. He has represented Team USA very well at the IIHF WJC's and at the IIHF World Championships. Eichel also starred for Team North America at the World Cup Of Hockey last September.
In fact, it was Eichel’s successful one and done campaign at BU that assisted Terriers head coach David Quinn in recruiting Keller to Boston University. Eichel was selected second overall at the NHL Draft in 2014-15 after the 18 year old phenom scored 26 goals and 45 for 71 points in 40 games played. Eichel led his Terriers mates to the NCAA Mens Hockey Championship game where they lost to Providence.
Eichel has not looked back since joining the Sabres. In 154 games played, Eichel has scored 52 goals and 73 assists for 125 points. This season, Eichel is tied for the Sabres team lead with 12 points in 12 games (4G, 8A). Last season, Eichel scored 24 goals and 33 assists in just 61 games played. Had it not been for a high ankle sprain suffered on the eve of the 2016-17 season opener, Eichel would have easily eclipsed the 70-point plateau in his sophomore NHL season.
Like Keller, Eichel succeeds at 5v5 and on special teams. In his 2+ season NHL career, Eichel has scored 34 even strength goals and 18 PPG. He has 9 game winners and counting. He has landed 509 shots on goal and he is still warming up.
Eichel isn’t about to bow and genuflect to an NHL freshman. There’s respect between the two players, but this isn’t AAA travel hockey. It’s the NHL. The best men’s league in the world, where only the strong survive. Jack’s going to do what Jack likes to do which is, try to take the kid’s milk money. All night long.
The way Eichel sees it, Keller is a nice player and an office friend during the off season. Between the glass, on the 200 by 85, there’s no time for all the BU Terrier bromance. There are two points on the line and Eichel wants them both. If there is one spotlight and only one first star of the game, Eichel is going to want to earn it for himself. Keller better get a solid pregame meal and some shut eye because a healthy, motivated, rested and pissed off Eichel will be lining up against him on Thursday night.
When last we saw Eichel on Saturday afternoon on home ice. The San Jose Sharks spoiled Eichel’s 21st birthday by beating the Sabres. In the game, Eichel had a power play goal nullified due to a very debatable goalie interference call on Samson Reinhart. Afterwards, Eichel was in a foul mood.
Jack Eichel furious after Sabres lose to the Sharks on his 21st birthday pic.twitter.com/H5HHHZdv5Y
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) October 28, 2017
My guess is that Eichel isn’t going to want to chit chat with Keller at the face-off dot. That stuff will have to happen after the game as the players are reunited outside the locker rooms.
Keller admittedly patterns his game after diminutive NHL snipers Patrick Kane and Johnny Gaudreau. I'll bet Keller is willing to admit that he channels Eichel's trademark swagger. That's how the BU Terriers roll.
Eichel has totaled eight points (3G,5A) in four career games against Arizona, including at least a point in each game. It ties his best per-game output against any opponent, matching his total of two points in one career meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Eichel has more than eight career points against just two NHL teams: Ottawa (10 points in seven games) and Toronto (nine points in seven games)
This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Coyotes this season.
Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Arizona 6-3 in Buffalo on March 2
Next meeting: Wednesday, March 21 in Buffalo
The Sabres are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Coyotes; 8-2-0 on the road.
This is the 77th game all-time between Buffalo and Arizona/Winnipeg; Buffalo has a 45-22-9 series record.
The Sabres are 20-15-2 on the road against the Coyotes/Jets all-time.
Buffalo is 10-3-1 in its last 14 games against Arizona, including a 5-2-1 record since the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
The Sabres are looking to avoid losing in consecutive visits to Arizona for the first time since the team lost three straight from October 26, 1997 to January 20, 2000.
Buffalo is 9-5-0 in 14 road games against the Coyotes since they relocated from Winnipeg prior to the 1996-97 season.
*** Kyle Okposo has 10 points (3G, 7A) in 10 career games against the Coyotes, who are one of eight teams Okposo has totaled at least a point per game against in his career (Anaheim, Arizona, Calgary, Dallas, Edmonton, Nashville, San Jose, Vancouver).
With two points tonight, Okposo’s per-game output against the Coyotes would outpace his current best against any opponent (14 points in 12 games against San Jose).
Rasmus Ristolainen has six points (2G, 4A) in six career match-ups with Arizona. The Coyotes are one of three NHL teams that Ristolainen has tallied at least a point per game against in his career, joining Edmonton and Vegas.
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Chad Johnson is 5-2-0 in seven career games against Arizona with a .924 save percentage and a 1.95 GAA. The five wins are second only to his seven against Carolina for his highest total against any opponent.
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Looking for some secondary scoring punch Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill has recalled forward Nick Baptiste from the Rochester Amerks. The Sabres have scored only 29 times in their first 12 games this season.
Buffalo are scoring 2.42 goals per games while giving up 3.58 goals per game. Their 25th ranked offense is stick in the mud and is in need of assistance.Amazingly 26 of their 29 goals have been scored by seven players. Evander Kane and Jason Pominville lead the Sabres with 6 goals each followed by Jack Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly with 4 apiece. Justin Bailey, Samson Reinhart and Benny Pouliot have 2 goals apiece.
Botterill and Phil Housley have put out several all points bulletins for their secondary and tertiary scoring. Still, the goals are missing in action.
Baptiste joins the Sabres for his first recall of the season after recording four points (3G, 1A) in 14 games for the Sabres in his first NHL season in 2016-17. Through eight games with the Amerks, Baptiste is tied for the team lead with three goals and tied for third among all Amerks with five points.
A native of Ottawa, Ontario, Baptiste has totaled 74 points (41G, 33A) in 129 AHL games since the beginning of the 2015-16 season.
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