Nathan MacKinnon - Rookie Season

[Avs For Life]

BTW we could probably just make this the Official Mackinnon thread and get rid of the first 10 games part =P since we are at game 21 lol

 

[AMDZen]

I hope I see some burst out of MacK soon. Its not 25 games yet which is where I've placed the line on when he really gets going, but so far I expected to see just a little bit more from him in 22 games. Or hoping any way.

Especially with him filling in for Duchene I was at least hoping for a nice goal in that span. Maybe against the Blues on Wednesday he'll do that

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Maybe the goals aren't there, but I think he's looked great the last 6-7 games or so. Certainly better than when he was putting up more points, which is strange.

 

[Avsboy]

Maybe one explanation for why he is putting up less points than in the beginning of the season is because he really wants goals, but still hasn't quite cracked NHL goaltending yet. His play has definitely improved though; he's had some very good scoring chances over the past few games.

 

[tigervixxxen]

MacKinnon is doing fine and as TMV said his overall play has stepped up so the points will follow.

But just looking at the numbers, MacKinnon leads rookies with 65 SOG, is tied in rookie lead with 10 assists and tied for 4th in rookie points with 13. He's 3rd on the Avs in SOG only 5 behind the leader O'Reilly, tied for the lead in assists and is 6th in scoring. So maybe it seems like he's not putting up any points but he actually is.

I know the point is MacKinnon should be scoring more goals and he will. He can't stay shooting 4% forever. He's getting his chances and SOG, so I'm not worried.

 

[El_Loco_Avs]

MacKinnon is doing fine and as TMV said his overall play has stepped up so the points will follow.

But just looking at the numbers, MacKinnon leads rookies with 65 SOG, is tied in rookie lead with 10 assists and tied for 4th in rookie points with 13. He's 3rd on the Avs in SOG only 5 behind the leader O'Reilly, tied for the lead in assists and is 6th in scoring. So maybe it seems like he's not putting up any points but he actually is.

I know the point is MacKinnon should be scoring more goals and he will. He can't stay shooting 4% forever. He's getting his chances and SOG, so I'm not worried.

Right now he's putting many weak shots on goal off the rush. He'll figure it out eventually. Not this season though... I think.

 

[Pokecheque]

With an 18-year-old kid, no matter how talented, you're just looking to see if he belongs. And he obviously does.

 

[Shaggy88]

A problem of his seems to be that he's so much quicker than his linemates. What I mean is, is that he enters the zone way before them, gets pressured, and puts a bad angle, low percent chance on net and by the time he does his linemates are just entering the zone.

No doubt in my mind that he'll figure it out and the points will come.

 

[tigervixxxen]

If the discussion is MacKinnon and the shots he takes, it would help to look at the heat map of the shots he's taken.

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/i...eventType='SHOT',+'GOAL'&r1type=1&r1strength=

Doesn't look like all low percentage shots to me. And sort by power play to get an idea of how effective at getting good shots he has been there. You can also compare MacKinnon to any other player you want at that site.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

If the discussion is MacKinnon and the shots he takes, it would help to look at the heat map of the shots he's taken.

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/i...eventType='SHOT',+'GOAL'&r1type=1&r1strength=

Doesn't look like all low percentage shots to me. And sort by power play to get an idea of how effective at getting good shots he has been there. You can also compare MacKinnon to any other player you want at that site.

That's a cool chart. For S&Gs I compared Nate with Duchene and one thing I found interesting is the average distance. I'm assuming that is referring to the distance from where the shot was taken to the goal. If so Matt is taking shots on average 7 feet closer to the net. Wonder what if any thing can be made of that.

Compare MacKinnon and Duchene

 

[Shaggy88]

If the discussion is MacKinnon and the shots he takes, it would help to look at the heat map of the shots he's taken.

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/i...eventType='SHOT',+'GOAL'&r1type=1&r1strength=

Doesn't look like all low percentage shots to me. And sort by power play to get an idea of how effective at getting good shots he has been there. You can also compare MacKinnon to any other player you want at that site.

Cool chart. I stand corrected. I do still notice that he often gets to the zone well before his linemates.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Cool chart. I stand corrected. I do still notice that he often gets to the zone well before his linemates.

At least he has the puck when doing so. I remember being so frustrated with a young Tanguay for always entering the offensive zone first...without the puck.

 

[Crisp Breakout]

Cool chart. I stand corrected. I do still notice that he often gets to the zone well before his linemates.

He does, but he's been doing a better job of letting his teammates catch up as of late. Problem is, it's been predictable. He'll pull up just short of the left wing circle and make a nice cross ice pass. He's going to have to beat a few guys to the outside and get off the forward shot rather than just a weak backhand before he starts getting the respect to be fully effective.

I wouldn't worry though, I noticed the same thing out of young Duchene, and to a lesser extent young Crosby, who too often actually made the equivalent of breakout pass by missing a shot and having it come off the boards.

 

[Tralfamadore]

Nate's numbers are actually very compared to Matt's at this point in his rookie year. Duchene had only 3 goals at this point in 09' and actually had more games played than Mack. Duchene really picked it up after Nov. 27th though scoring 5 goals in his next 3 games. I'm hoping MacKinnon can pick it up in a similar fashion for the month of December. I really want to see similar point totals to Duchene rookie year, especially hitting the 20 goal mark.

 

[Avs For Life]

I know we never want to root for a shoot out and we want wins in regulation... but I want to see Mack in the shootout. He has awesome hands.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Not gonna lie, I'm looking forward to seeing our guys in a shootout too. But yeah ROW wins are much nicer.

MacKinnon is getting a lot of shots at the front of the net on the PP. he's taken the second most PP shots (O'Reilly has more). Not going to disagree he could take a half second of time sometimes at even strength though but he's been robbed enough times too.

As far as shot distance, yeah the theory is the closer the better percentage that the shots go in. Right in front of the goal it's close to 30-50% they go in.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I know we never want to root for a shoot out and we want wins in regulation... but I want to see Mack in the shootout. He has awesome hands.

Would prolly just shoot it into Halaks chest

 

[tigervixxxen]

Just saw this in a blurb about Mazanec named rookie of the month that MacKinnon was considered for this month's honor.

http://blogs.tennessean.com/predators/2013/12/03/mazanec-named-nhl-rookie-of-the-month/

 

[tigervixxxen]

The Colorado Avalanche drafted Nathan MacKinnon with the No. 1 pick because they were confident he'd be an impact player right away. They were accurate.

MacKinnon has 19 points in 33 games. He is averaging more than 16 minutes of ice time per game and leads all rookies with 96 shots on goal. He recently moved up to the top line to play right wing alongside Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly.

Joe Sakic, Colorado's executive vice president of hockey operations, told NHL.com the best thing he's seen from MacKinnon so far is his fearlessness.

"He competes. He wants it," Sakic said. "He doesn't back down. He's not scared of anybody. He goes to the hard areas. Obviously you want to bring him along slowly, but he's forcing it. He's done just a tremendous job, and he's willing to learn and do what it takes to be a complete player."

When asked if any of that surprises Sakic, he quickly said no.

"Well you were expecting a yes, but I wouldn't say it is surprising," Sakic said. "That's what we were expecting. We knew he was a competitive guy. It doesn't always happen with everybody when they do make the jump, but we expected it to happen [with MacKinnon].

"You can see he's much more comfortable now, but that comes from actually being out there and playing," he continued. "You just have to get used to the pace. For a guy like him it's realizing these guys are fast, but I'm still faster than them. He takes off. He flies."

Thought these comments from Sakic on MacKinnon were interesting

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=696391&cmpid=nhl-twt

 

[NateTheGreat]

Thought these comments from Sakic on MacKinnon were interesting

i have a warm fuzzy feeling inside everytime I watch him play, impresses me so much I cant believe he's only 18. Judging from these comments looks like im not the only one who thinks we have something special here in Colorado with Mack Couldn't me more thrilled with this kid

 

[klozge]

I still think he'll win the Calder with a dominant 2nd half of the season if he stays healthy. He's simply amazing.

 

[TheStranger]

I still think he'll win the Calder with a dominant 2nd half of the season if he stays healthy. He's simply amazing.

He been consistently moving up and catching Hertl. I have no doubt he'll win the scoring race for rookies, whether that guarantees him the Calder or not who knows.

 

[chet1926]

He been consistently moving up and catching Hertl. I have no doubt he'll win the scoring race for rookies, whether that guarantees him the Calder or not who knows.

I know Hertl has slowed down, but I'm not sure MacKinnon catches him. Hertl is playing with Thornton every night, he'll put his points up.

I'm not sure where MacKinnon plays the rest of the year especially when Tanguay comes back. will they keep him on first line wing or will they move him back down to 3C to get a more equal distribution on the lines?

 

[Mr Serious]

On a seperate not, does anyone know what's happened to Jones?

Since their game on December 5th, he's averaged less than 14 minutes a game (9:29 on the 10th) after averaging monster minutes the majority of the beginning of the season. Is this a reflection of his play or are they starting to just lighten his load as a rookie?

 

[InjuredChoker]

On a seperate not, does anyone know what's happened to Jones?

Since their game on December 5th, he's averaged less than 14 minutes a game (9:29 on the 10th) after averaging monster minutes the majority of the beginning of the season. Is this a reflection of his play or are they starting to just lighten his load as a rookie?

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1563247