Quiet breakout players this season

[P10p]

Rossi or Middleton for the Wild.

 

[Mike C]

Stolarz and Holmstrom

 

[PlayMakers]

Haven't heard much of Lane Hutson but he seemed pretty good when I watched him

I don't think that's quiet. He's been great and Montreal fans are loud.

 

[Jack Spider]

I have to vote for Kovacevic.

He's a fun player to watch live at the arena. 6ft5 and to see him skate the blue line or backwards at that speed. He executes the techniques very well. Beauty in simplicity. Just a player in the show. Miss him in MTL.

 

[majormajor]

Walman is the Sharks player who I think broke out the most year over year. He has really taken the opportunity presented to him and ran with it. 9th in D scoring across the league (eclipsed his point total from all of last season in only 27 games) and is a +6 on a not very good Sharks team while playing almost 23 minutes a night in all situations.

It's the weirdest one because Walman was listed on threads like this as a Red Wing, when he unexpectedly was excellent for them after St. Louis gave up on him. And then to the surprise of everyone around the league the Red Wings paid to get rid of him. Apparently he did have a rough few months last Spring but nonetheless it was a strange turn of events. And here he is again on these lists, having an even better (much better) season.

He's a fun player to watch live at the arena. 6ft5 and to see him skate the blue line or backwards at that speed. He executes the techniques very well. Beauty in simplicity. Just a player in the show. Miss him in MTL.

Kovacevic is another one that's almost like Walman to me.

When he came up in Winnipeg he looked good and people said good things about him. But in the numbers game they chose to waive him. Then in Montreal he looked even better, but in the numbers game they thought he was the one to give up. And now in New Jersey he looks better than any D on the Habs. Are D-men that weird or are teams just bad at this?

 

[Jack Spider]

Not much breakout in the nhl atm, maybe more in other leagues ?

 

[Puckstuff]

Knies and Joseph Woll for the Leafs.

Not like stars or anything but just two very solid players developing.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Everyone's looking at Laferriere and rightly so but the answer for LA for this thread is Turcotte

 

[Plgilbert89]

I was looking at him, and kind of recall at the time of the trade the advanced stat people loving it for Tampa sating Moser is more or less just as good but ar a much smaller cap hit.

Moser is quite mobile too and he's good defensively but he can't log the kind of minutes Sergy does and be the PP QB. I think it was a good trade for both teams to be fair !

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Feel like McMichael and Protas have gotten their flowers. My other Caps pick is Sandin. Quietly having maybe the best season out of every non top pair defenseman in the league. Absolutely crushing his minutes at 5v5 and contributing a fair number of points too. He had a nice stretch right after they acquired him but it was mostly on the PP and he looked pretty rough last year, so I'm definitely surprised to see him look this good.

This….Protas, CMM, Sandin….

 

[BonMorrison]

Kent Johnson and Matt Coronato.

 

[Theodore450]

It's the weirdest one because Walman was listed on threads like this as a Red Wing, when he unexpectedly was excellent for them after St. Louis gave up on him. And then to the surprise of everyone around the league the Red Wings paid to get rid of him. Apparently he did have a rough few months last Spring but nonetheless it was a strange turn of events. And here he is again on these lists, having an even better (much better) season.



Kovacevic is another one that's almost like Walman to me.

When he came up in Winnipeg he looked good and people said good things about him. But in the numbers game they chose to waive him. Then in Montreal he looked even better, but in the numbers game they thought he was the one to give up. And now in New Jersey he looks better than any D on the Habs. Are D-men that weird or are teams just bad at this?

For kova it was poor pro scouting or not understanding the internal league value of scarce guys like him

 

[BKarchitect]

Kevin Bahl played like 17 minutes per game in New Jersey but has been the Flames #3 defenseman and even has added a bit of offensive contribution. Can’t say that I’ve paid a great deal of attention to him but:

33 GP, 21:35 TOI, 12 Points and only 12 PIM

Certainly more than I think most were expecting. Only 24 still - the Flames might have gotten an actual 2nd pair piece here. Combined with their two Vegas cast-offs (Miromanov and Pachal) - and the Flames pieced together some effective if unglamorous defensive depth after their big two.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

Knies and Joseph Woll for the Leafs.

Not like stars or anything but just two very solid players developing.

No and No. Knies was going to be the next big Toronto power forward, he's looking more like a 3rd liner. Woll is always injured, not enough games played yet, we'll see if he develops and hoping for his sake he doesn't get injured again.

Vlasic for me.

Have to agree, he was never a high profile prospect. A few years ago he wasn't even on Chicago's Top 20 prospect list, quite impressive what he has done so far.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

A month ago I would have said Dorofeyev but he is SO hot and cold, and right now he's freezing!

 

[Puckstuff]

No and No. Knies was going to be the next big Toronto power forward, he's looking more like a 3rd liner. Woll is always injured, not enough games played yet, we'll see if he develops and hoping for his sake he doesn't get injured again.


Have to agree, he was never a high profile prospect. A few years ago he wasn't even on Chicago's Top 20 prospect list, quite impressive what he has done so far.

Knies is on pace for 30 goals and 49 points while giving us some big time physical play. He’s easily a top 6 power forward.

Woll is top 5 in both in G.A.A and sv %.

They aren’t stars by any stretch but it’s pretty clear they have both taken the next step.

Keep hating though.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

Knies is on pace for 30 goals and 49 points while giving us some big time physical play. He’s easily a top 6 power forward.

Woll is top 5 in both in G.A.A and sv %.

They aren’t stars by any stretch but it’s pretty clear they have both taken the next step.

Keep hating though.

Good point, but Woll is only a small sample size, i'll believe when he gets a full season in, and even more if he can do it in the playoffs. Heck, Stolarz is looking like an all star as the Leafs have finally started playing defense.

 

[Preposterone]

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.

He’s also rocking a 19% ish% and 15% oish%, all 5on5. He’s a good player on a wild hot streak

 

[wintersej]

Probably pre-breakout, but 23 year old D Mason Lorhei has 13 points in 29 games and 9 in his last 16 since a nine game pointless streak when he was obviously playing tight as the team was death spiraling towards Monty being fired. The breakout probably happens when he wrestles away PP1 duty away from McAvoy.

 

[gary559]

Guenther and Kesselring are both having really good seasons. I wouldn't want Utah in round 1.

 

[britdevil]

Kevin Bahl played like 17 minutes per game in New Jersey but has been the Flames #3 defenseman and even has added a bit of offensive contribution. Can’t say that I’ve paid a great deal of attention to him but:

33 GP, 21:35 TOI, 12 Points and only 12 PIM

Certainly more than I think most were expecting. Only 24 still - the Flames might have gotten an actual 2nd pair piece here. Combined with their two Vegas cast-offs (Miromanov and Pachal) - and the Flames pieced together some effective if unglamorous defensive depth after their big two.

That's great. I'm glad that Big Bahl is playing well.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Probably pre-breakout, but 23 year old D Mason Lorhei has 13 points in 29 games and 9 in his last 16 since a nine game pointless streak when he was obviously playing tight as the team was death spiraling towards Monty being fired. The breakout probably happens when he wrestles away PP1 duty away from McAvoy.

reallly wanted Lohrei for the Kings, figured he would take a while to 'arrive' but would be unstoppable when he did. Glad to see he's basically on track for that 24-25 year real breakout

 

[mphmiles]

Everyone's looking at Laferriere and rightly so but the answer for LA for this thread is Turcotte

Finally healthy. This was sick last night.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Alex Vlasic

Vlasic established himself last year as a top 4 NHL defender becoming a gem

This year he is showing more involvement offensively

Last year

76 GP
2 goals
14 assists

This year
33 GP
2 goals
14 assists

He is also playing over 2 min more a game this year (ATOI = 23:51)

He is establishing himself as a legit #1 defender going forward