rik Haula has forced himself into being part of the conversation of one of the more important players on the team. Why? Haula has already proven to be able to play a bunch of different styles of games. Haula came up using his wheels in the bottom 6 to pounce against other teams bottom 6...the defensive side of Haula's game needed work before he could be relied on for any real role though. By the time the playoffs rolled around, Haula was Mike Yeo's antidote to Nathan Mackinnon and the speed and skill on that line that was dominating the Wild. Haula proved himself remarkably well, all but shutting down Mackinnon and skating right with one of the faster players in the league....while still keeping things simple offensively and using his speed to generate chances.
Mike Yeo realized the weapon he had in Haula. Haula's speed makes him elite on the PK both in defending and generating chances with his ability to beat flat footed D to pucks that get behind them and also to close time and space in the neutral zone. He bounced around in the bottom 6 because he was a Center who couldn't win faceoffs. Haula was however still the shut down guy that the Wild used to neutralize other teams fastest and most skilled players. Playing in that role, Yeo really didn't want Haula to try and do too much offensively. With heavy offensive zone starts and a job to basically make sure you don't get scored on, get the puck, get it deep, and change...Haula's confidence offensively seemed to really falter.
This year, even before Yeo was fired. Things have begun to change. Haula, especially with the addition of Pominville on his line, has began to make an impact offensively adding to his defensive presence and PK ability. Haula recently for the past 30 games or so has been using his speed to be an offensive threat and to be a lot more aggressively offensively. In Haula's last 28 g he's scored 20 pts (7g13ast) and +15. If Haula were to perform at this level for a full season, he'd be on pace to score 20 g's 40 ast's and 60 points. He's also become an above average guy in the dot, winning over 50% of his draws. While still being arguably the Wild's best forward PKer and using his speed to shut down opposing skill...as seen by the +15.
Now, I'm not saying that Erik Haula is going to ever score 60 points in his career. But it's not like this offensive success is unheard of for Haula. Haula was a PPG player for the Gophers in College. He also scored 27 points in 31 games in the AHL. In Haula's rookie season in his final 43 games including 13 playoff games he scored 20 points, which would be about 19g and 19ast over a full season. That includes a the final 10 games fighting for the playoffs and 13 playoff games (23 games) where Haula scored 15 points (7g 8 ast). That would be a pace of 53 points 25 goals and 28 assists.
Now those are all just cherry picked chunks of games, but it does look like Haula's sophomore slump is well past him or at least he has turned some sort of corner. If Haula continues to play the way that he has during the last 28 games over the final 17...he'll finish with around 13g and 22 ast for 35 points while leading the team in +/-. With some continued improvement, it's not that hard to see Haula being a 15g 25 ast 40 point player while playing a crucial shut down role.
Haula is one of the more valuable players on the Wild. His elite speed and thus defensive and PK skills matched with him improving himself into an above average faceoff guy that's an offensive threat. I think we have found Wes Walz v. 2.0. Pencil Haula in playing a crucial role as 3rd line Center for a long time.
Thoughts on Haula's potential? Overreacting to a hot streak? What do you guys think?
