Quiet breakout players this season

[ShaneinTpa]

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?

Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul on the Lightning. Playing as 2nd and 3rd line centers respectively with the numbers they are putting up are a big reason why this team is currently outscoring the rest of the league

 

[ShaneinTpa]

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.

As a Tampa Bay fan, I can tell you they’re very different players. Moser is more defensively inclined. Before his injury, he was a +13 in 27 games even playing on his right side much of the time. Sergachev is gifted offensively and an even better kid. Love them both. JJ is out for 8-10 weeks. That sucks

 

[Clint Eastwood]

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

I can't wait to see him take McAvoy's PP1 duties away. McAvoy excels at a lot of things but being a PP QB is not one of those things. Lohrei still has his struggles in the defensive zone but having a guy like him generating offense from the back end is something we've been missing since Krug left.

Speaking of good OFD. It looks like Brandt Clarke is doing quite well based on point production. I'm surprised no one has mentioned him yet.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

The Penguins have a record of 11-4-3 with Blake Lizotte in the lineup, and a record of 5-10-2 with him out of the lineup. Lizotte has 11 points in 18 games and is a +6. The next-best + on the team is Rakell, with a +3.