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Quiet breakout players this season

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WhatTheDuck said:
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?
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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
 
RandV said:
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.
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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
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
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
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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.
 
WhatTheDuck said:
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?
Click to expand...

NHL Defenseman Goal Leaders:

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
T9 - Evan Bouchard (7)
T9 - Roman Josi
T9 - Colton Paryako
T9 - Kris Letang

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.
 
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I think Neal Pionk being in the top 10 for d-men scoring wasn't on many people's bingo cards to start the season. Talk around here is that it is a contract year, but to be in the top 10 among d-men at 22 minutes a night, with his running mate out for the last 6 weeks, puts him into a higher tier of defensemen than he was considered before the season started.
 
qc14 said:
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.
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Leafs probably regret letting him go. If not well....
 
WhatTheDuck said:
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?
Click to expand...

From Dec 1st on, Lacombe has 8 goals and 17 assists in 35 games played (just a hair under a 20 goal/60 point pace). 0 games this season where he's produced 3+ points, just puts up one or two points with great consistency.
 
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Thought Lacombe's rise was so unexpected he deserved his own thread but glad to see him mentioned here as well.

Another guy I think that has been huge lately and has really added a pinch of offense to his game - Alexander Romanov. He's playing nearly 25 minutes a night since the start of the new year while he has 11 points in 17 games, all of them at even strength. He may lack the offense to be a true #1 - but I think at this point he's the best defenseman on the Islanders, not Dobson. Dobson has had a poor year so you can argue that's not a hugely impressive hurdle - but I think Romanov's value is right there.

Really a pretty great year for Russian defensemen in general. Sergachev reminding everybody what a monster talent he is, Romanov busting out, Gavrikov deputized well as a makeshift #1 with Doughty out, Provorov has been much better than people think he is in Columbus...Orlov was great in the first half but the wheels seem to have fallen off.
 
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BKarchitect said:
Thought Lacombe's rise was so unexpected he deserved his own thread but glad to see him mentioned here as well.

Another guy I think that has been huge lately and has really added a pinch of offense to his game - Alexander Romanov. He's playing nearly 25 minutes a night since the start of the new year while he has 11 points in 17 games, all of them at even strength. He may lack the offense to be a true #1 - but I think at this point he's the best defenseman on the Islanders, not Dobson. Dobson has had a poor year so you can argue that's not a hugely impressive hurdle - but I think Romanov's value is right there.

Really a pretty great year for Russian defensemen in general. Sergachev reminding everybody what a monster talent he is, Romanov busting out, Gavrikov deputized well as a makeshift #1 with Doughty out, Provorov has been much better than people think he is in Columbus...Orlov was great in the first half but the wheels seem to have fallen off.
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Oh I started this thread as a thinly veiled Lacombe discussion but he deserves two threads
 
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Adam da bomb said:
Dylan Samberg has come out this season. Last season 3rd pairing. This season often our 2nd best d.
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Great shout. Seems to be getting better and better. Since the new year, almost 22:30 ice per game (and many games with much more), 7 points and +12 in 18 games.

He and Pionk have to be one of the top second pairs league-wide.
 
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