Will Eriksson Ek Score 30+ Goals this Season?

[Digitalbooya]

Pretty straightforward question. Will Eriksson Ek, with an increased role (top 6 linemates), score 30 or more goals this year?

He had 26 goals during the 21-22 season and 23 goals in the 22-23 season.

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[57special]

I love the third option in your poll… I think.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

If he stays on PP1, and there are no major injury issues with Kaprizov/Boldy, then I will say yes. 31.

 

[AKL]

I think he paces for 29.5, so it's a coin flip in the last game. 50/50 chance.

 

[MuckOG]

I think he finishes with 25-30 goals...

 

[Circulartheory]

I think so and I think, there's a chance he moves up to pair up with Kaprizov as the season goes on. Zuccarello is likely going to slow down in pace, I'm also expecting Hartman to struggle offensively at some point.

Then we are going to see some sorta of cycle with centers and JEE is going to get some quality time on the 1st line. So as a result, I can see 30+ goals.

 

[Digitalbooya]

I think so and I think, there's a chance he moves up to pair up with Kaprizov as the season goes on. Zuccarello is likely going to slow down in pace, I'm also expecting Hartman to struggle offensively at some point.

Then we are going to see some sorta of cycle with centers and JEE is going to get some quality time on the 1st line. So as a result, I can see 30+ goals.

I could see him hitting 30 playing with Boldy and Johansson for an entire season. The last few years he has been stuck next to Foligno and Greenway. Not terrible players, but certainly not as offensively capable as Boldy and Johansson.

 

[Wasted Talent]

I could see him hitting 30 playing with Boldy and Johansson for an entire season. The last few years he has been stuck next to Foligno and Greenway. Not terrible players, but certainly not as offensively capable as Boldy and Johansson.

Weirdly enough Ek only scored 2 goals in the final 17 games after the Johansson trade.

Boldy and Johansson combined for 21 goals in that same stretch.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Weirdly enough Ek only scored 2 goals in the final 17 games after the Johansson trade.

Boldy and Johansson combined for 21 goals in that same stretch.

Interesting, I would have never guessed that. Maybe it takes time to build chemistry when you’re used to grinders? How many assists did he have in that time frame compared to the others?

 

[Wasted Talent]

Interesting, I would have never guessed that. Maybe it takes time to build chemistry when you’re used to grinders? How many assists did he have in that time frame compared to the others?

Boldy 20 GP 15G + 8A
Johansson 20 GP 6G + 12A
Ek 17GP 2G + 12A

Used the NHL stats site so PP points are included in there.

 

[BagHead]

Interesting, I would have never guessed that. Maybe it takes time to build chemistry when you’re used to grinders? How many assists did he have in that time frame compared to the others?

JEE Before Johansson:
3.11 shots per game
10.9% shooting%

JEE After Johansson:
3.2 shots per game
3.6% shooting%

Either his shots weren't as high danger as they had been due to the different playstyle of the line, or he was getting unlucky. Maybe both.

 

[DANOZ28]

im happy if he scores 25! did i mention i can't stand iowa? i was on the wrong road twice yesterday iowa road signs sokk! (drove to keokuk to pick up a trailer)

 

[Arturia Pendragon]

Always thought he could be a 30/30 center, why not this year?

 

[GordieGallant]

I’d rather see his faceoff percentage over 50% and score 20.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I’d rather see his faceoff percentage over 50% and score 20.

0.7% for 10 goals seems like a pretty terrible trade off.

 

[BagHead]

0.7% for 10 goals seems like a pretty terrible trade off.

I just looked it up because I thought that 0.7 might be signficant. Turns out it's a difference of...

9 faceoffs. Even if they're all defensive zone draws in which we, somehow, know for a fact the other team will score if they win the draw, I'll also take the 10 goals instead.

 

[Wabit]

FO's are overrated if the player is in the 48%-52% then it's fine. With 1400 FOs taken that is only swing of 56 FO for an entire season; which is less than 1 per game.

When you get below 45% it becomes a more important focal point in my book.

 

[TaLoN]

Our team being generally so bad at faceoffs skews opinions on an individual situation like this.

That said, the team absolutely needs to improve. So many key draws lost ended up being very costly. Hell, it's been a big problem for both the PK and PP too. We send one of our guys to the box, they win the draw, score almost immediately off the draw, the PK gets the blame, when it's the damn faceoff that's the bigger problem. The PK does a decent job usually off of winning the draw.

So, for one player, 0.7 better looks appealing for a team desperate for improvement, but still needs to be taken in context.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Our team being generally so bad at faceoffs skews opinions on an individual situation like this.

That said, the team absolutely needs to improve. So many key draws lost ended up being very costly. Hell, it's been a big problem for both the PK and PP too. We send one of our guys to the box, they win the draw, score almost immediately off the draw, the PK gets the blame, when it's the damn faceoff that's the bigger problem. The PK does a decent job usually off of winning the draw.

So, for one player, 0.7 better looks appealing for a team desperate for improvement, but still needs to be taken in context.

.7% is 7 faceoff wins per 1000 attempts. That’s minimal impact on a per game basis.

The PK situation described was when Ek was out. In the playoffs, all of Hartman, Gaudreau, Dewar and Steel were sub 45% on the draw. Dewar was 36.73% lol. He’s one of our better penalty killers…

I’m more worried about those guys taking draws than Eriksson Ek.

 

[TaLoN]

.7% is 7 faceoff wins per 1000 attempts. That’s minimal impact on a per game basis.

The PK situation described was when Ek was out. In the playoffs, all of Hartman, Gaudreau, Dewar and Steel were sub 45% on the draw. Dewar was 36.73% lol. He’s one of our better penalty killers…

I’m more worried about those guys taking draws than Eriksson Ek.

I'm agreeing with you. Just pointing out why people may have a skewed view on an individual based on the overall team failing in this situation.

 

[Digitalbooya]

I'm agreeing with you. Just pointing out why people may have a skewed view on an individual based on the overall team failing in this situation.

Ideally, Rossi would help improve the faceoffs too. I think our problem with faceoffs has been that we have guys that have played wing for most of their career playing center in Hartman and Gaudreau. That's definitely not ideal.

 

[GordieGallant]

Faceoffs are the reason we lost to Dallas.

 

[Wabit]

Faceoffs are the reason we lost to Dallas.

Scoring a total of 3 goals in the last 3 games is why they lose to Dallas.

 

[GordieGallant]

Scoring a total of 3 goals in the last 3 games is why they lose to Dallas.

I agree.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Faceoffs are the reason we lost to Dallas.

Eriksson Ek didn't play more than like 20 seconds the entire series. Nobody should be looking at him as the problem when it comes to faceoffs. It's the rest that are really bad.