Quiet breakout players this season

[Machinehead]

Aliaksei Protas seems to be tearing it up at 5-on-5, would be someone who I'm not hearing a lot about outside of stuff about the Caps. Cuylle in NY is another, but that's been a mention on some broadcast teams for folks playing the Rangers in parts of games I've caught.

I always notice Protas quite a bit.

That could be because he has a funny name and Sam Rosen is hilarious with funny names, but the analytics back it up.

 

[Chainshot]

I always notice Protas quite a bit.

That could be because he has a funny name and Sam Rosen is hilarious with funny names, but the analytics back it up.

The dude is 17th in ESP in the league and has no PP points because he gets no PP time (averaging 5 seconds a game). Every time I look at ESP's, his name sticks out as needing some laurels.

 

[Machinehead]

The dude is 17th in ESP in the league and has no PP points because he gets no PP time (averaging 5 seconds a game). Every time I look at ESP's, his name sticks out as needing some laurels.

Didn't realize he had that many points!

 

[Chainshot]

Didn't realize he had that many points!

25 has him sandwiched between guys like Marner and Necas above and Kopitar and Tavares below. That's name category.

 

[57special]

A thread to note breakout players around the league who have shown notable improvement that may not have been thread worthy individually.

Ducks dman Jackson LaCombe is becoming an impact player before our eyes. Following last night's game, the coach referred to him as their best defenseman by far. 4G 3A is his last 7 games, and has put himself into the top 10 in the league for goals by defensemen, tied for ninth with the likes of Bouchard, Dahlin, Ghost, Andersson, Severson and Sanheim. LaCombe had multiple great chances to add another last night, which would have drawn him even with Josi and Hughes for seventh. Already tripled his goal total from his rookie season last year.

It's not a fluke run where he's had a few seeing eye shots find their way through. LaCombe is a fantastic skater, seems to be learning the right times to jump up into the play. He was a forward I believe well into his teens and doesn't look out of place at all around the opposing net. But he's also not just an offensive D, really has cleaned up his decision making and looks like he can be an all around impact guy.

I sort of had him pigeon holed as an intriguing/talented puck mover who would likely fall behind Mintyukov and Zellweger in the pecking order and perhaps end up the odd man out just not having quite the same upside. Granted he's older and should be further along in his development but LaCombe is playing at a level where he won't make himself easily expendable at all. Looking more like a two way gem who could partner with anyone.


Is there anyone on your team taking a big step forward, that other team's fans perhaps haven't noticed or heard about?

Lacombe always had the tools. Good size, skating, puck handling, and offensive instincts. The question with him was if he would ever develop the risk/reward judgement that every successful NHL Dman needs. In his final year of college he looked to take steps in that regard, whereas before he made too many mistakes. Some similarities to Brady Skjei.

 

[turkleton85]

Kirill Marchenko

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Lacombe always had the tools. Good size, skating, puck handling, and offensive instincts. The question with him was if he would ever develop the risk/reward judgement that every successful NHL Dman needs. In his final year of college he looked to take steps in that regard, whereas before he made too many mistakes. Some similarities to Brady Skjei.

Definitely a very physically gifted player. Early in the season, he had a couple high profile gaffs that ended up directly in the back of the wrong net, but really has cleaned his game up overall.

 

[57special]

Kirill Marchenko

Johnson, too?

 

[Chainshot]

Lacombe always had the tools. Good size, skating, puck handling, and offensive instincts. The question with him was if he would ever develop the risk/reward judgement that every successful NHL Dman needs. In his final year of college he looked to take steps in that regard, whereas before he made too many mistakes. Some similarities to Brady Skjei.

Liked Lacombe as a Gopher. Wild to think (no pun intended) that Lacombe was the guy who got the PP duty and kept Faber off the first unit.

 

[57special]

Liked Lacombe as a Gopher. Wild to think (no pun intended) that Lacombe was the guy who got the PP duty and kept Faber off the first unit.

Faber didn't even get to play on the 2nd unit. That was Koster, i think. Ryan Johnson also got frozen out of PP TOI, even though he had nice skills... he was considered to be a better skater than Faber for the longest time. How is he doing down in Rochester?

 

[saska sault]

Justin Holl.

 

[waitin425]

Probably doesn't qualify as breakout....but Emil Heinemen has been a quiet revelation for the Habs this year. 6+4 in 30 games isn't out of this world, but it is somewhat unexpected.

He has a fantastic shot.

 

[Chainshot]

Faber didn't even get to play on the 2nd unit. That was Koster, i think. Ryan Johnson also got frozen out of PP TOI, even though he had nice skills... he was considered to be a better skater than Faber for the longest time. How is he doing down in Rochester?

That's right, it was Koster on PP2! Forgot that, it's been a minute. RJohnson has been good as a shutdown guy both in Rochester and in NHL viewing (up over 40 GP now). Still doesn't get PP time down there, looked good as Byram's partner in limited action just last week and then they out-thought themselves again by sending him down to put Jokiharju back in the lineup to get lit on fire by the Leafs after sitting out against the Caps.

Speaking of quiet breakouts, can Travis Sanheim get some love with how he's producing on the blueline? Last year was good, this year even better.

 

[elmaco]

Luke Hughes

 

[Lunatik]

Connor Zary is continuing his breakout. His scoring pace is still the same as last season, but he has looked much more dynamic and is driving play more than last year.

 

[wickedwitch]

Sandin's been great. He's not putting up super high point totals, partially because he's on a mediocre PP2 with no chance of getting any PP1 time, but his 5v5 play and (limited) 4v5 play have very good.

 

[Sticksandsun]

For the Panthers:

Mikkola - LD, Zito signed him as a free agent to a 3 year deal x $2.5 million last year. Turns 29 in April.

Paired mostly with Montour last year while playing in all 82 + 24 playoff games posting 3 goals and 17 points. They were a decent pairing but he's played 67% of the even strength time this year with Kulikov. The whole team defense and goaltending are leaking a lot more goals than last year though.

Although, Mikkola is on pace for over 10 goals and 35 or so points, played all 33 games this year while providing an all around skill set of decent defense, hits, blocks and plays 2nd unit PK averaging 20 minutes a game for past 2 seasons.

Montour finished with 8 goals, 33 points in 66 games ('23-'24) and 11 goals, 37 points in 81 games ('21-'22) for reference.
He's filled some of the void left with Montour (excluding his 70+ point season outlier)

Can't knock that type of versatility for $2.5 million per. Most Panthers fans seem to agree, Zito should re-sign the big Finn this July, even with a year left on current deal.

HM: J. Boqvist, AJ Greer and Mackie Samoskevich

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Cooley and Guenther in Utah are both on pace for 70+ points in < 17 minutes per game each.

The biggest breakout is Kesselring easily.

 

[Plgilbert89]

Sergachev has been tremendous stepping up as the top D for Utah both offensively, defensively and he is a good mentor as well.