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On Severson's penalty killing, a power play tweak, Bratt & more |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
1. I recently tweeted about this but it's nice to see Damon Severson finally getting some reps on the penalty kill, even if it's due to necessity rather than choice. He hasn't been used a lot in that role over his career. When given the opportunity, the results have been very good. Surprisingly so.
As you can see, Severson ranks 1st in the suppression of both shot attempts and expected goals. Will his numbers be this good over a larger sample? Maybe not. At the very least, he's done enough to warrant a longer look.
I mean, if the Devils are going to give up 30 attempts and nearly two expected goals more per 60 with Vatanen on the ice than Severson, why is the former getting a ton of minutes while the latter (usually) is glued to the bench in this situation? Even if Severson's numbers drop, they'll still almost certainly be better. Hopefully he continues to get PK ice when Vatanen returns.
2. I'd like to see Miles Wood or Blake Coleman replace Stefan Noesen on the power play. Wood leads the team in shot attempts/60 and certainly has the frame to handle himself around the net. While Coleman is a little smaller, he is still a difficult guy to move. He's also a very good shot generator and would work tirelessly for any available rebounds on the doorstep. I'm not at all impressed with Noesen's play this season so I'm not sure why he gets the luxury of power play time.
3. Through six games Jesper Bratt has made a big impact offensively. He has four assists to his credit and ranks 2nd in on-ice Corsi For/60 and Scoring Chances For/60. Though his defensive game needs work, he has provided a spark for a team that desperately needs it.
4. File this under the strange but true category: Pavel Zacha has scored as many 5v5 goals as Patrik Laine and more than Mikko Rantanen, Blake Wheeler, Nico Hischier, Jeff Carter, Rickard Rakell and Evgeny Kuznetsov, to name but a few.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and Corsica.Hockey.
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