He arguably had the 2nd-3rd hardest minutes of any forward in the NHL last year...
His zone starts were stupid (32% own zone starts, 7th in the NHL) and his QoC was among the top ten for forwards.
He once again this year has the worst zonestarts on the team (after Rinaldo), and the hardest QoC on the team.
His top opponents last year were the Rags top line, Malkins line, Tavares, Kovalcuk, Elias, Staal and Semin.
The year before? Malkin, Neal, Kovalchuk, Tavares and Moulsen.
This year? The Sedin brothers, Crosby, Skinner and Staal.
He plays close to every shift against the best players in the NHL... and still has good Corsi, great last year, and positive this year somehow when the flyers have been abysmal.
He was also playing with extremely varied linemates all last year, with Rinaldo, Knuble, Talbot and Read... three of them do not help with any offence.
The year before he was playing with Talbot, Rinaldo, Shelley, Harry Z and Sestito most.
This year Talbot, Read and Rinaldo...
He put up 29 points playing with 4th liners in 11-12, and factored for 27 playing with 3 fourth liners and Matt Read last year.
No NHL 3rd liner put up 40 points in the last full season played... none, Chris Kelly was closest with 39, and he gets pretty easy minutes for a third liner due to Bostons top two being very good defensively... and has pretty decent linemates.
The only way Couts gets over 40 points this year is if he is moved up the lineup, the zone starts are evened out so he gets over 40%, Talbot is moved down and he is given a LW with some offensive acumen, or he gets extensive PP time.
He has not been put in a position to accumulate points, and you can see now that all he thinks about is defence as that is all he has been told to do for two years straight. He hardly ever gets up near the goaline or behind the net as he is covering back.