Curious case of Keith Aucoin

[Artorius Horus T]

Keith Aucoin, now retired, from Waltham, MA of USA, 39 years old, undrafted.
5 foot 8 / 170 pounds, 3 x DEL league champion, 2 x Calder Cup champion,
multiple personal trophies and accolades. - never represented team USA at any level.

Played in 1140 none NHL pro games, scored 332 goals, 889 assists, 1221 points.
Never was able to carve an NHL career for himself.
Played in 165 NHL games, 17 goals, 36 assists.

Was he a victim of his size?, was he ever given a real chance in the NHL?
or was he just not good enough? for some reason, or was he just unlucky?
- teams and coaches that he played for didn't support his style of play
or something like that

When you look at his ice time logs from his NHL career, it seems that
in 2007-2008 (Hurricanes) he did get a fair chance, played in 38 games,
first avg'd less than 10 minutes a game, about 10 games, then next 26 games
he got in the range of 13,5-15 - 17,5-19 minutes a game, in his last 2 games
he played about 10 minutes each, so a fair shake of minutes.

2007-2008: 38 games, 5 goals 8 assists, 13 points.

Next 2 seasons ( Washington Capitals ) when ever he was called up
he was actually quite effective, scored 0.62 ppg ( 21 games total )

2011-2012 ( Washington Capitals ) he played in 27 games, scored 11 points
and 14 games in the play-offs with 2 points, he played only bottom 6 minutes.

At 35 he had his longest stint in the NHL, 41 games (New York Islanders)
2012-2013 season, played the entire season in the bottom six, with on and off
pp time, 6 goals 6 assists, 12 points and another 3 points in 6 games
in the play-offs.

Anyone have thoughts about Keith Aucoin?

Click to read more...

 

[Michael Farkas]

Small and not very quick...had trouble getting open, not a fast enough shot release. Played the game pretty honest and pretty hard, didn't shy away from contact. But when you're 5'7, you want a little better first step quickness and to sense danger for yourself a little better...

 

[Filthy Dangles]

To use a baseball reference, he's a quintessential 'AAAA' player. 'Too good' for the minors but not good enough for the majors.

 

[brachyrynchos]

Played this past season in the DEL. Had a good year on Long Island I think. Caps had him around the same time as another great minor leaguer Alexandre Giroux when they were each given the chance on a rebuilding team with spots available. A tweener who might've had better success if he was born like 10 years earlier or ten years later, he had skills but he was 5'8, teams in general see players that height as a weakness or red flag.

 

[MS]

Keith Aucoin, now retired, from Waltham, MA of USA, 39 years old, undrafted.
5 foot 8 / 170 pounds, 3 x DEL league champion, 2 x Calder Cup champion,
multiple personal trophies and accolades. - never represented team USA at any level.

Played in 1140 none NHL pro games, scored 332 goals, 889 assists, 1221 points.
Never was able to carve an NHL career for himself.
Played in 165 NHL games, 17 goals, 36 assists.

Was he a victim of his size?, was he ever given a real chance in the NHL?
or was he just not good enough? for some reason, or was he just unlucky?
- teams and coaches that he played for didn't support his style of play
or something like that

When you look at his ice time logs from his NHL career, it seems that
in 2007-2008 (Hurricanes) he did get a fair chance, played in 38 games,
first avg'd less than 10 minutes a game, about 10 games, then next 26 games
he got in the range of 13,5-15 - 17,5-19 minutes a game, in his last 2 games
he played about 10 minutes each, so a fair shake of minutes.

2007-2008: 38 games, 5 goals 8 assists, 13 points.

Next 2 seasons ( Washington Capitals ) when ever he was called up
he was actually quite effective, scored 0.62 ppg ( 21 games total )

2011-2012 ( Washington Capitals ) he played in 27 games, scored 11 points
and 14 games in the play-offs with 2 points, he played only bottom 6 minutes.

At 35 he had his longest stint in the NHL, 41 games (New York Islanders)
2012-2013 season, played the entire season in the bottom six, with on and off
pp time, 6 goals 6 assists, 12 points and another 3 points in 6 games
in the play-offs.

Anyone have thoughts about Keith Aucoin?

He definitely got a real chance in the back half of the 07-08 season with Carolina.

Played regularly after New Year's and averaged over 15 minutes/game over his last 30 games. But only scored 10 points in those games, and only 5 points in the 17 games where he was given 15+ minutes.

When you're an undrafted 5'8" guy, you might only get one real chance (if that) and that was his. And he didn't produce.

If he scores 20 points in those 30 games of top-6 icetime, maybe he gets a spot in camp the next year and his career is different. But when you're 29 and you blow a shot like that, you probably aren't getting another one.