Player Discussion Jackson LaCombe

[tomd]

So I guess LaCombe and a 2nd could actually return something pretty good now...

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

4 points in his last 5 games and a +2 over that time frame. And this is against PHI, WPG, EDM x2, NJD while playing big minutes. Wonder how vocal he is in the locker room, with how hard of a worker as it sounds like he is he should definitely be in contention for a letter in few years.

He doesn’t actually strike me as an overly vocal person

 

[anezthes]

I don't remember which broadcast or the exact wording, but it was something along the lines of Nieds saying LaCombe looked like the better defenseman compared to Faber in college.

Of course, LaCombe is older, but I still found it interesting.

 

[Ducks DVM]

So I guess LaCombe and a 2nd could actually return something pretty good now...

Easily Halak, Ryder, and a 2nd in 2 years.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

4 points in his last 5 games and a +2 over that time frame. And this is against PHI, WPG, EDM x2, NJD while playing big minutes. Wonder how vocal he is in the locker room, with how hard of a worker as it sounds like he is he should definitely be in contention for a letter in few years.

He doesn’t actually strike me as an overly vocal person

His work ethic and production on the ice makes a candidate for an alternate captain, which is what he was with Minny in the NCAA. Probably not vocal enough to be captain b/c younger Faber was voted to be the Captain for Minny. Faber is bombastic on the ice like Gudas with hits and emotions.

Maybe LaCombe getting bullied by Cronin and LaCombe trying to address those mental issues over the summer might have evolved LaCombe to become more assertive. If LaCombe's play continues to grow and be one of our best players, then there could be a possibility that he could warrant being a captain due to his play on the ice, but not for his vocalness.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

LaCombe has been unleashed, able now without fear to attack and let his offensive skill shine. Hopefully Cronin will see the light and allow Zellweger and Mintyukov to someday do similar.

LaCombe gained confidence to play offense during last season. LaCombe's offensive improved while playing a more defensive role. I dunno how many times I have to show the metrics, but y'all gotta stop using the propaganda that LaCombe's offense came from nowhere and was being suppressed.

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Zell

Zell's offense hasn't been suppressed. In fact, Cronin has been giving more OZ Starts to Zell this year than last year. Cronin has sheltered Zell all season as Zell has the highest OZ Start % with nearly 60%. Last year, Zell's OZ Start % was 56.0%. Zell has the same scoring rate between the two seasons at 0.36 ppg rate. Many teams have combated Zell's offense by laying the body on small d-man early and often. Also, the opponents have been able to poach Zell in the OZone when Zell has been careless of his surroundings.

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Minty

Minty is being groomed into top pairing D. Minty was sheltered last season compared to LaCombe with respect to OZ Start %. Minty = 49.1 OZ S% and LaCombe = 44.2 OZ S%. And his season ended early due to injury last season.

Spoiler: Minty's 2023-24 pairing breakdown

Minty	2023-24
Game Set	Games	G	A	Pts	PPG		+/-	Hits	Blocks	Pairing
1 to 63	63​	4​	24​	28​	0.44​		-20​	85​	65​	.
1 to 20	20​	1​	10​	11​	0.55​		-1​	30​	24​	Lybush 3rd pair
21 to 40	20​	1​	7​	8​	0.40​		-10​	26​	19​	Lyubush, 2nd P, injury
41 to 47	7​	1​	3​	4​	0.57​		-2​	10​	2​	Lyubush, 3rd Pair/2nd pair
48 to 55	8​	0​	2​	2​	0.25​		-5​	6​	13​	Gudas, top pair
56 to 62	7​	1​	2​	3​	0.43​		0​	11​	7​	LaCombe, top-4
63	1​	0​	0​	0​	0.00​		-2​	2​	0​	Lindstrom, top-4

Different story this year as Minty was put into a top defensive role to start the season with an OZ S% of 30.2 start! LaCombe was a 42.9 OZ S%. Playing in a top-4/top pairing defensive role will affect one's offense. I shared Minty's breakdown last year between 3rd pairing and top-4 play that reflected that promotion often during this past summer. I think Cronin put too much defense on Minty's plate this season and it has affected Minty's overall game. Cronin might have broken Minty.

Remember, Cronin admitted to being too harsh on LaCombe last year and Cronin might not know he could be doing the same thing with Minty. Minty's minutes have been reduce and has been put into a 3rd pairing role.

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Defensive Game

The significant difference between LaCombe with Minty and Zell is that LaCombe already knew how to play higher end defense against higher level competition due to four years in the NCAA. LaCombe just needed time to adapt to the speed of play at the NHL level. Zell and Minty have a long way to go to be at the same level of defensive play as both came from the CHL, which is more known for offensive production than defensive play.

Minty and Zell are now in third pairing roles as vets Dumo-Trouba are now the 2nd pair. But it seems like only one of them can be on the ice as fellow youth/rookie Helleson is the shutdown RD mainstay. At least Cronin is sheltering the both OFD's now instead of just Zell.

 

[Deuce22]

LaCombe gained confidence to play offense during last season. LaCombe's offensive improved while playing a more defensive role. I dunno how many times I have to show the metrics, but y'all gotta stop using the propaganda that LaCombe's offense came from nowhere and was being suppressed.

View attachment 956070

---

Zell

Zell's offense hasn't been suppressed. In fact, Cronin has been giving more OZ Starts to Zell this year than last year. Cronin has sheltered Zell all season as Zell has the highest OZ Start % with nearly 60%. Last year, Zell's OZ Start % was 56.0%. Zell has the same scoring rate between the two seasons at 0.36 ppg rate. Many teams have combated Zell's offense by laying the body on small d-man early and often. Also, the opponents have been able to poach Zell in the OZone when Zell has been careless of his surroundings.

---

Minty

Minty is being groomed into top pairing D. Minty was sheltered last season compared to LaCombe with respect to OZ Start %. Minty = 49.1 OZ S% and LaCombe = 44.2 OZ S%. And his season ended early due to injury last season.

Spoiler: Minty's 2023-24 pairing breakdown

Minty	2023-24
Game Set	Games	G	A	Pts	PPG		+/-	Hits	Blocks	Pairing
1 to 63	63​	4​	24​	28​	0.44​		-20​	85​	65​	.
1 to 20	20​	1​	10​	11​	0.55​		-1​	30​	24​	Lybush 3rd pair
21 to 40	20​	1​	7​	8​	0.40​		-10​	26​	19​	Lyubush, 2nd P, injury
41 to 47	7​	1​	3​	4​	0.57​		-2​	10​	2​	Lyubush, 3rd Pair/2nd pair
48 to 55	8​	0​	2​	2​	0.25​		-5​	6​	13​	Gudas, top pair
56 to 62	7​	1​	2​	3​	0.43​		0​	11​	7​	LaCombe, top-4
63	1​	0​	0​	0​	0.00​		-2​	2​	0​	Lindstrom, top-4

Different story this year as Minty was put into a top defensive role to start the season with an OZ S% of 30.2 start! LaCombe was a 42.9 OZ S%. Playing in a top-4/top pairing defensive role will affect one's offense. I shared Minty's breakdown last year between 3rd pairing and top-4 play that reflected that promotion often during this past summer. I think Cronin put too much defense on Minty's plate this season and it has affected Minty's overall game. Cronin might have broken Minty.

Remember, Cronin admitted to being too harsh on LaCombe last year and Cronin might not know he could be doing the same thing with Minty. Minty's minutes have been reduce and has been put into a 3rd pairing role.

---

Defensive Game

The significant difference between LaCombe with Minty and Zell is that LaCombe already knew how to play higher end defense against higher level competition due to four years in the NCAA. LaCombe just needed time to adapt to the speed of play at the NHL level. Zell and Minty have a long way to go to be at the same level of defensive play as both came from the CHL, which is more known for offensive production than defensive play.

Minty and Zell are now in third pairing roles as vets Dumo-Trouba are now the 2nd pair. But it seems like only one of them can be on the ice as fellow youth/rookie Helleson is the shutdown RD mainstay. At least Cronin is sheltering the both OFD's now instead of just Zell.

Since defense is always Cronin’s first priority, sheltering the young D means they play a lot of 5on 5 shifts with the 4th line. This keeps Zellweger/Mintyukov off the ice against other teams’ top scorers, but is bad for their possession stats.

 

[Daz28]

So I guess LaCombe and a 2nd could actually return something pretty good now...

I said this on Oct 16, 2023: "Lacombe is showing he may have borderline superstar potential", so I'd have been LIVID if they traded him. To show I'm not tooting my own horn, I also thought Max Jones and Comtois would be good, too.

 

[70sSanO]

It is funny that someone on the Edmonton board noted that Lavoie was the pick right before the Ducks picked LaCombe.

Always good to hear regrets from the Oiler fans.

John

 

[Masch78]

It is funny that someone on the Edmonton board noted that Lavoie was the pick right before the Ducks picked LaCombe.

Always good to hear regrets from the Oiler fans.

John

I mean we took Perrault and Colangelo over Faber as well. I remember well, it was beyond my understanding why we passed on him with the early second. But it is like it is.

 

[MMC]

Mfs wanted to trade him for 2 years of Laine

 

[Rasp]

He is now equal 4th in the NHL for goals by a defensemen

 

[Emerald Duck]

LaCombe has definitely pulled ahead from our other young dmen and established himself as a bona fide Top4 dman based on his current play. Now Mintyukov/Zellweger/Helleson will battle each other for ice time until Dumoulin gets moved at the TDL.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

I mean we took Perrault and Colangelo over Faber as well. I remember well, it was beyond my understanding why we passed on him with the early second. But it is like it is.

And Badini over Batherson even though Madden spoke highly of Badini they still didn't pick him because Ottawa picked him since the Ducks let him slip to the 5th round. Now Batherson has 36 points in 38 games this year while Badini is now in Norway's hockey league.

 

[mightyquack]

Very happy to be wrong on LaCombe. Really didn't see him more then the spare among the likes of Minty, Zellweger etc and doubted he could be effective at the NHL level with how soft he was defensively. Super impressive what he's done since the shackles have come off.

Still lacking defensively, but there has been a marked improvement in that aspect of his game too, nice to see him actually physically engage a lot more instead of shying away. Big factor why he's looked better in the defensive zone.

 

[Kalv]

Looking back at it, it's extra nice that LaCombe signed here after 4 years of college. He even was upfront about it in the offseason prior to him graduating, so it seemed he will always sign here.

Thrun handled his situation well, imo, letting us get a draft pick. But LaCombe is obviously the better player, was drafted earlier and also looked better in college imo. Thrun was hyped more, I guess because of him scoring a lot, but he always looked slow-ish. LaCombe looked very good as an all around defenceman.