So I guess LaCombe and a 2nd could actually return something pretty good now...
Player Discussion Jackson LaCombe
- Thread starter Mr Rogers
- Start date
- Jul 25, 2012
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anezthes
Registered User
- Mar 20, 2014
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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.
Of course, LaCombe is older, but I still found it interesting.
Ducks DVM
sowcufucakky
Hockey Duckie
Registered User
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
Registered User
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.
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.
| 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.
Deuce22
Registered User
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.
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
Registered User
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
Always good to hear regrets from the Oiler fans.
John
Masch78
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- Oct 5, 2017
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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
Global Moderator
Rasp
Registered User
- Apr 9, 2019
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He is now equal 4th in the NHL for goals by a defensemen
Emerald Duck
Registered User
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
Registered User
- Jun 15, 2017
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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
eggplant and jade or bust
- Apr 28, 2010
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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.
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.
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.
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.
70sSanO
Registered User
The list of missed picks by all teams is pretty long. My point was it was nice to see a once one-the-fence Ducks player get props from another team.
As for missed opportunities, Guenther will be one of the steals of 2021. Wish we had him. Wouldn’t be looking for a RH sniper.
John
Hockey Duckie
Registered User
Thrun was the known quantity going into the draft, which some mocks listing him late in the first round. LaCombe was the unknown quantity due to being a US high school product. LaCombe would be a project, but his traits are high end offense, great skating, and good build. At LaCombe's post Draft interview, he said the player he wanted to emulate was Shea Theodore. Wow! He's really making that dream come true!
Central Scouting Final 2019 ranking, NA skaters
21. LW Tracey (WHL)
36. D LaCombe (US HS)
39. D Thrun (US NTDP)
LaCombe converted to defense in high school, but he had a lot of great traits to gamble on. His soon to be college coach raved about LaCombe's skating and saying it's b/c of his skating that will make him adapt faster than others.
In college, LaCombe's offense came along slowly compared to Thrun. Thrun was always the more confident player in college. At the WJC, Thrun, LaCombe, and Helleson were all part of that gold winning team. iirc, Thrun was in the top-4 pairings. LaCombe was the 7th d in games and his confidence got rocked against the Russians in the group play. The coaches had to coax him up to play in later games, including a long two line pass to a teammate to tie the score. LaCombe continued to develop both his defense and offense at college year after year. Thrun's game was consistently high all the years, so there was little improvement from him. His skating would be the thing that would hold Thrun back, which is why he dropped to the 4th round in the draft.
During the '22-23 dev camp, I denoted how LaCombe's skating was on par with Zellweger's. No idea why there was backlash to that comment, but seeds sown that LaCombe shouldn't be on par with Zellweger. Last year, people would exacerbate the few mistakes LaCombe would make and brainwashed the board that LaCombe always made mistakes, but also never mentioning when other rookies make mistakes. Defending LaCombe last year was arduous along with showing he improved all season. It just feels weird seeing so many on this board jump on the LaCombe wagon so quickly and stating LaCombe was unleashed this season. Crazy.
CrazyDuck4u
Registered User
- Oct 14, 2006
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Dont think Dumo moves.. Unless he requests to get moved.. Him and Trouba are lights out together
WhatTheDuck
9 - 20 - 8
NHL goal leaders among Dmen:
1 - Cale Makar (13)
2- Zach Werenski (12)
3 - Jakob Chychrun (11)
T4 - Jackson LaCombe (8)
T4 - Quinn Hughes
T4 - Mikhail Sergachev
T4 - Vince Dunn
T4 - Brandon Montour
1 - Cale Makar (13)
2- Zach Werenski (12)
3 - Jakob Chychrun (11)
T4 - Jackson LaCombe (8)
T4 - Quinn Hughes
T4 - Mikhail Sergachev
T4 - Vince Dunn
T4 - Brandon Montour
WhatTheDuck
9 - 20 - 8
Most goals by Ducks defenseman (single season)
Visnovsky - 18 goals in 81 games (2010/11)
Olausson - 16 goals in 74 games (1998/99)
Olausson - 15 goals in 70 games (1999/00)
Niedermayer - 15 goals in 74 games (2006/07)
Tverdovsky - 15 goals in 82 games (1999/00)
LaCombe's 8 goals in 32 games put him on an 82 game pace of 20.5 goals. With 43 games remaining in the schedule, he would max out at 75 games this season. In those 43 remaining games, he would project to score another 10.75 goals on this current pace, which means he is on track to challenge the Ducks single season Dman goal record if he keeps this up.
Visnovsky - 18 goals in 81 games (2010/11)
Olausson - 16 goals in 74 games (1998/99)
Olausson - 15 goals in 70 games (1999/00)
Niedermayer - 15 goals in 74 games (2006/07)
Tverdovsky - 15 goals in 82 games (1999/00)
LaCombe's 8 goals in 32 games put him on an 82 game pace of 20.5 goals. With 43 games remaining in the schedule, he would max out at 75 games this season. In those 43 remaining games, he would project to score another 10.75 goals on this current pace, which means he is on track to challenge the Ducks single season Dman goal record if he keeps this up.
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Quack Shot
Registered User
Lubo should have received the Norris
I always liked his upside despite his struggles. I’m gonna have to dig up my comment last year when I said I thought he had top pairing upside and got roasted by some people here.I always thought he was better than he was given credit for, and had a clear top 4 upside. After the past little while even I feel like I need to eat crow now
Again - Cronin said he was the most improved player last year and this offseason Gudas hinted about something like this, sounded like he'd become top pairing guy which was hard to believe at the start of even this season.
Great for him, he has worked his ass off to get here. Needs to maintain it and make a name for himself around the league.
Looking back - he was at least on par with Faber in Minnesota.
Doothpick
9-1
- Sep 15, 2008
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I wasn't surprised for a second that he didn't win, but it still sucks that the voting was so out to lunch on that one. As they usually are.
One the best season ever for Ducks defenceman, right there with Nieds in '06 and Pronger '07. Probaply one of my favorite seasons, actually; that late season run with MVPerry, old man Selanne still going strong, Getzy being Getzy etc was fun as hell. I miss watching that power play, they could score at will.
I loved that OT hattrick game obviously, but I always think to his first goal here. He was an easy player to root for, for sure.
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Quack Shot
Registered User
2010-2011 was easily my favorite regular season.
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