The Coyotes signed defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin to a one-year contract extension this weekend, and that gives them eight defenseman locked up for next year.
With the blue-line solidified - barring trade - let's dive in and take a look.
Yesterday I evaluated Lyubushkin and the determination was that he is an OK #7/8. Ultimately, he's a defensive defenseman who can't score and whose lack of offense drags down his OK defense.
Today, we will do the easy one.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
OEL is the best player in franchise history and no one is within a hundred miles of his title.
He played almost 24 minutes last season, and he was a positive force in shot-attempts, shots, and scoring chances. Unfortunately he a -16 and his GF% was terrible.
That is irrelevant, however. Consider that the Coyotes were the worst offensive team in the NHL, the most injured team, and were only even as good as they were due to New York Islander's level goaltending, then Larsson's stats are unreal.
Last year, his main partner was Nik Hjalmarsson, but he actually put up the best numbers when paired with Jason Demers.
If the Coyotes could possibly find him a partner worthy of his skill it would be something to behold.
Now consider that OEL played nearly half the game's 60 minutes, but his most common players were Nick Hjalmarsson (good partner) followed by Hinistroza, Stepan and Panik.
If there is an elite player in the NHL last year who played with worse players, I don't know about it.
It is taken as a fact that your teammates have 5x more impact on your game than your opponents. OEL, despite playing with a collection of (at best) second liners, somehow made the Coyotes into a +50% team in everything that leads to goals and winning.
He had 44 points and that was his sixth straight year with 39 or more.
So, imagine what he might have done on a team that actually scored. The Coyotes were the 6th worst PP in the NHL.
Are we talking 60, 70 points? A point per game? It's not unlikely. 44 points from the blue-line on a team that has no power-play to speak of, and which makes it so Richard Panik is one your most common linemates, is f____ insane production.
Did you know he's only been sub-50% CF in two seasons of his career, despite skating on the perennial non-playoff Coyotes?
OEL is so underrated it's insane. He's got a cap-hit of $8.25 million and frankly, it's a deal.
The fact that OEL can hit the ice, and suddenly Panick, Stepan and Hinistroza are +50% in everything that leads to scoring and winning, is amazing.
For 24 minutes per night, OEL makes the Coyotes into one of the better teams in the NHL.
If you put what he does in context of his team, his role, and linemates he deserved legitimate Norris consideration. No one is as good as even a slightly injured Erik Karlsson. But after that? Giorgano Rielly, Hedman, Doughty, Klingberg, Carlson.......OEL deserves to be mentioned with those guys.
I have used up all of my superlatives. Unreal, amazing, insane........all I can say is that if his career had been spent on any other team he would be considered an automatic, first ballot hall of famer.
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