Just IMO…Aho is still their best player, one slightly down season that is still pretty great doesn’t change that. Slavin is still their most important player - if he’s gone then that defense just lacks its guiding force.
But this is Jarvis for me…he’s such an intelligent player and plays so much bigger than his size. He’s a great goal scorer, a great playmaker and great defensively. He’s a special teams demon to boot. There’s a reason a seasoned veteran coach like RBA was playing him in every situation possible since he was a teenage rookie and there’s a reason he was on Team Canada (even if some want to poo-poo it).
For a non-Canes fan this is impressively spot on. Jarvis isn’t the caliber of star as Aho and Slavin, but he does a lot of little things every night that keep the team on track to win games.
Jarvis finished 8th in selke voting last year, higher than Aho has ever finished.
Is that an accurate representation? (In that Jarvis>Aho defensively)
Yes, that is accurate with the caveat that the roles are a little different between C and W.
I just realized he's still 22.. do you see Selke contender in his future?
He’ll get votes for sure. “Contender” suggests top-3 which is tough because that pits him against the Barkov, Kopitar #1C types. But Jarvis is
really good defensively, very active on the PK and has a way of puck-hounding until the opponent messes up.
Importantly, he’s disruptive on the forecheck and also in his own zone. A lot of wingers get a strong defensive reputation because they’re great on the forecheck, but don’t have that second component when the opponent gets a chance to set up their offense and go to work. Watch Jarvis when he’s forced to play straight-up defense in his zone, he’s often the guy forcing the bad pass that becomes a turnover or flubbed shot.
Also, what happened to Kochetkov? He was statistically one of the better goalies last year, as a rookie noless
Inconsistency. He’s a classic goalie headcase who runs hot and cold depending on how engaged he is with the game. His style is to challenge aggressively and disrupt scoring chances as they develop, lots of sliding around and swinging his stick at the puck. Lots of shots forced wide by a lunge toward the shooter. That works really well for the Canes because for the most part they’re pretty good at locking up opponents and giving Kochetkov time to get back and re-set. The problem is games where there’s very little action around him, and suddenly a clean shot right in his kitchen.
If you check his game log and sort by save%, you’ll see that his stats are absolutely decimated by poor performances when he sees less than 20 shots.
Gamelogs for Pyotr Kochetkov for 2024-25
www.hockey-reference.com
Edit: I just did some quick counting…
- in games where Kochetkov sees 20 shots or fewer, he’s rocking a 7-5-1 record with .848
- in games where he sees 30 shots or more, he’s 10-2-0 with a .929
