Guys who elevate their game

[CN8]

We talk enough about all the guys who disappear. What about the guys who become a whole new player. I’m talking Claude Lemieux. I hated that guy but drafted him every year for my playoff pool cause he’d have more points than the season. Whose that guy now ?

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[miscs75]

Pierre Engvall seems to turn into a guy who cares once the playoffs start. Last year he looked solid and this year he’s playing like he cares.

 

[BB79]

Brad Marchand

 

[Team_Spirit]

Jack Eichel Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Jack Eichel, a hockey player from North Chelmsford, MA born Oct 28 1996 who was active from 2011 to 2024.

www.hockeydb.com

 

[miscs75]

Brad Marchand

He goes from Rattata to Raticade when the games matter.

 

[Markster]

Everybody already knows but Nathan MacKinnon has now played 81 career playoff games and has scored 107 points, which is higher than his career regular season points per game average.

Update: Now a full 82 games, equivalent in length to a regular season and he has 109 (46G-63A).

 

[MessierII]

McDavid and Draisaitl

 

[HolyHagelin]

See my avatar

 

[Despote]

Artturi Lehkonen.

 

[Grub]

The bozo always elevates.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Weirdly enough, Barclay Goodrow.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Demko despite a small sample size.

Career regular season: .912 save %, 2.79 GAA.
Career playoffs: .974 save %, .97 GAA.

 

[Derailed75]

Believe it or not, and I guess its good there are no Habs fans reading the playoff threads, but Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been noticeably good in all 4 games so far. Physical, big hits, no brain dead mistakes and good puck control.

 

[Spilot23]

Makar somehow remembered in the playoffs that he could be that guy offensively. I missed seeing these coast-to-coast play. Are we getting back Conn Smythe Makar just in time?

Lehkonen is probably the better answer though. The guy is just so clutch in the playoffs and already was with the Habs.

 

[BKarchitect]

Lehkonen. 15 goals and 27 points in 31 playoff games with the Avs, many of those goals being clutch while also doing his usual PK and forchecking demon stuff. He’s basically been Nuke but in a smaller package.

Fun fact: Lehk and Nuke have 12 even strength goals apiece the past three playoffs. This is more than MacKinnon or Rantanen. It cannot be understated just how good these two have been for the Avs - both regular season and even more in the playoffs. I still see people thinking Lehkonen is some middle six player…he’s been an excellent first line forward in usage by the Avs for a couple years now. Nuke is a flat out star. Both are absolute core pieces of the Avs franchise.

HM “not my team mention”…Verhaeghe. Yes, he’s basically a 40 goal, PPG regular season player but in the playoffs…he has 17 EVEN STRENGTH goals in the last 3 seasons (36 games). This leads the NHL by 3 over second place. He’s just remarkable and seemingly keeps getting better.

 

[ViD]

Nichushkin has become a play off monster recently

 

[Svechhammer]

Kotkaniemi, and I'm not even joking. Regular season, he was a healthy scratch passenger. But this year and last year in the playoffs, he's been one of our more consistent performers. Hits heavy, gets involved in the forecheck and backcheck, get himself into some greasy areas to get surprising shots on net. Pretty much the exact kind of glue guy you want in the playoffs.

 

[JaegerDice]

Makar is the guy that immediately jumps to mind.

Reminds me of Duncan Keith, in that he’s obviously great during the regular season, but once it turns to the playoffs he goes cyborg and nobody can keep up.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Weirdly enough, Barclay Goodrow.

He was key to Tampa winning so I wouldn't say it's that weird.

Dude is a warrior

 

[Kranix]

Jonathan Toews. He was such an elevator. You could tell when he was elevating.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Verhaeghe

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Playoff eichel > playoff matthews

 

[TesseractPrice]

Believe it or not, and I guess its good there are no Habs fans reading the playoff threads, but Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been noticeably good in all 4 games so far. Physical, big hits, no brain dead mistakes and good puck control.

Same on the Habs. He had solid play-in and playoff performances in 2020 against the Pens and Flyers and same for the 2021 run. His game 6 OT goal, although a bit flukey, deflated the Leafs

His problem on the Habs came down to conditioning. He’d be playing solid hockey after a big break (beginning of season, all star, week rest, playoffs), but would get gassed after dozens of games

For the topic of the thread, Lehkonen and Subban on the Habs (and Ava for Lehkonen). Danault played hard too despite not showing on the scoreboard much. Lehkonen was just getting more clutch the higher the stakes, loved him

 

[Bunch of AHOs]

Lehkonen. 15 goals and 27 points in 31 playoff games with the Avs, many of those goals being clutch while also doing his usual PK and forchecking demon stuff. He’s basically been Nuke but in a smaller package.

Fun fact: Lehk and Nuke have 12 even strength goals apiece the past three playoffs. This is more than MacKinnon or Rantanen. It cannot be understated just how good these two have been for the Avs - both regular season and even more in the playoffs. I still see people thinking Lehkonen is some middle six player…he’s been an excellent first line forward in usage by the Avs for a couple years now. Nuke is a flat out star. Both are absolute core pieces of the Avs franchise.

More fun facts. Lehkonen didn`t even get hm in that ESPN best 50 players in palyoffs list. Go see that list and compare those playes’ actual po stats to Lehkonen. Fun…

 

[Chaos2k7]

HM “not my team mention”…Verhaeghe. Yes, he’s basically a 40 goal, PPG regular season player but in the playoffs…he has 17 EVEN STRENGTH goals in the last 3 seasons (36 games). This leads the NHL by 3 over second place. He’s just remarkable and seemingly keeps getting better.

Finally getting PP time this season. Kid is a gamer.