In this edition of the hotstove we look at some off-season acquisitions who are off to disappointing starts in their new homes.
Todd Cordell I'm going to go with Mikkel Boedker of the San Jose Sharks.
Historically their power play has always been elite and Boedker is a speedy, skilled winger who is at his best on the power play. Even though he's not a great player at full-strength I still had little doubt he'd get his fair share of points, especially playing under his junior coach in Pete DeBoer.
Fast forward 19 games and Boedker has just two points (two goals, zero assists) to his name. Of 212 forwards to log at least 200 minutes thus far only two(!) are averaging fewer 5v5 points per 60 minutes played than Boedker. On top of that, the Sharks' underlying numbers are worse with Boedker on the ice than without him.
Boedker is being paid a pretty good chunk of cash to add another layer of offense to a star-studded Sharks team, and right now he's not really bringing anything to the table.
Adam French Can there be any other answer than Andrew Ladd at this point? I suppose a case can be made for Frederik Andersen, but while he's had some lows, he's had some highs. Ladd hasn't had any highs this year. In 17 games, Ladd has 2 goals and 3 points. Good for 17th on the team in scoring, tied with illustrious point producer Thomas Hickey and one point up on the MOST disappointing player in the NHL this season Anders Lee.
This also isn't about lack of opportunity. Ladd is third on the team in PP time for forwards. He just isn't getting it done.
To compound the disappointment, Ladd was supposed to replace Kyle Okposo, who went to Buffalo for a good chunk of money. They also didn't get Ladd on the cheap. They paid an extreme premium and required that he replace Okposo at the very least and improve on him in the best case scenario. Let alone those intangibles?! He has a seven-year deal that will last until he is 38 years old.
Ladd has scored over 20 goals for 5 of the past 6 seasons, and he had 18 in the lockout-shortened year. To have 2 through 17 is utterly disappointing that becomes more stark when looking at the overall train wreck that is the Islanders this year.
Matt Henderson For me, it's the Hall/Larsson trade. I like Adam Larsson as an upgrade over Justin Schultz. I mean they are night and day compared to each other, but the Oilers gave up a significant amount of value in that deal. Adam Larsson is not an impact player. Taylor Hall is. Hall was leading the Devils in scoring before he got hurt and he played more minutes than Larsson was for the Oilers. Edmonton needed to get a lot more back for Hall if that deal was going to even come close to making sense.
Stir in the fact that Severson has flourished this season and you get the impression that the Oilers traded away their best winger and failed to get the best RHD out of New Jersey. To make matters worse, Edmonton still hasn't found a defender to play on the PP. If you trade Taylor Hall for a defender and still haven't addressed the biggest problem on your Blueline then you screwed up. Plain and simple.
Like I said, I like Larsson. He's a solid defender. I'm disappointed the team downgraded in talent to the degree they did.
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