Plus/Minus is a flawed stat. As has been mentioned here already, he's been on the ice for two empty net goals against, which is a big part of him being a -5. The majority of the defense in the Canucks game left with a -2 or -3. Only Murphy (+2) and Kaiser (0) didn't end up with a -2 or worse that game. It was just a bad game. And that bad of a game, from an entire team, has a big impact over a small sample size, which three games is.
He's looked decent. Really solid in game 1, outside of maybe the last ten minutes where the high minutes from Martinez's injury started to really show. Game 2 he looked a lot less comfortable IMO, and looked like what I expected him to look like in game 1. Game 3, he held his own relatively well. The entire team got their face caved in, but he had some really solid shifts, including the one in the clip from Pope on the previous page.
I do not think he's shown that he's ready for a full time NHL gig yet. He had one really solid showing and one where he looked good enough relative to the rest of the defense, but not good enough that I didn't think he could use more time in the A when watching the game. Then he had a pretty bad game (game 2).
He may very well have more good games in the next week or two and force management to keep him up. But it's okay if he doesn't. Lev has a long history of starting a season in a new, tougher league, and struggling for the first few months until he adapts and excels in that league before getting bumped up to a tougher league after that season. This season, he's sorta broken that cycle by not only playing in the AHL, but also getting games in the NHL.
He's looked good at points already. Just wait until he finally adapts to the NHL.
Also, think it's hilarious that the guy who called lev a future bottom 6 guy at best is trying to talk shit in here. I cringe for you, OldScool.
