Oh, really? I didn’t think that was allowed here.
I most recently saw the Devils play against Vancouver and Pittsburgh. He didn’t stand out really, good or bad. Excellent core puck skills and skating are evident with the eye test but they’re not leading to much right now. Still remarkably weak and unbalanced. Like, Gaudreau can withstand more contact.
Tracking for a 16 goal, 41 point season. That would be the worst 18 year old season for a first overall forward since Patrik Stefan by a substantial margin. Also, 5 of those points came in a span of one week over three games. There is evidence galore in this thread of how that stretch demonstrated that he’s figured out the NHL game, so there’s that. -7 and 38% on the dot right now. Averaging ~15 minutes a game with a number of different linemates, which probably isn’t a great situation, but he gets ample powerplay time and it’s not like he’s being stuck with scrubs.
In terms of advanced stats, he has pretty decent possession metrics across the board, especially relative stats, which is a good sign. He has absurd zone starts that may be factoring into that, but I think that’s a pretty meaningless statistic in general.
Given the hype and the comparisons thrown out there, you can’t tell me he’s not been disappointing. On the other hand, his draft “rival”, if you really want to call Kakko that, isn’t lighting the world on fire, either. I’m still pretty sure NJ made the right choice long-term. Just less than before.
This should get this thread rolling again
