Run the Jewels
Make Detroit Great Again
Taking a break from the kvetching, here are some positive trends with the hockey club.
1. Jimmy Howard: He's had a few rough outings but two of his last 4 games included a .926 and .962 SV%. Perhaps he's still not in game shape and that's part of the reason he wasn't at his best last night. He's given up the most goals in the NHL with 23 (over 8 games). He's second in TOI to Ilya Bryzgalov so he's obviously going to get a ton of playing time with the compressed schedule. We need more .920+ SV% games from him to win hockey games.
2. Kent Huskins: Huskins has been a great Drew Miller-esque acquisition. The Miller comparison works best on the PK where Huskins logs the third most IT behind Ericsson and Quincey and he hasn't been on the ice for a goal against while skating 4v5. He's typically not facing the best competition but he's a reliable PK'er.
3. Brian Lashoff: I was very interested in seeing how Lashoff would do in Detroit. He's done so well Mike Babcock sat him so we could get more data to show Jakub Kindl is nothing more than a 7th d-man. Lashoff, like Huskins, has been solid on the PK getting close to 3 mins per 60 mins of hockey. He's not as good as Huskins at keeping the puck out of the net but he's an undrafted free agent getting his first extended time playing in the NHL during what could end up being his rookie season. We know who Jakub Kindl is, I'd really like to get to know what Brian Lashoff is all about.
4. Jonathan Ericsson: I'm not going to go overboard on Ericsson. I'll just let the stats show he plays the most mins 4v5, and has the best corsi rating relative to the quality of competition he's facing. He also doesn't take penalties while short handed, something both Niklas Kronwall and Kyle Quincey do quite often. All in all he's just been a solid d-man who is quickly growing into the top pairing spot he'll play for the foreseeable future.
5. Damian Brunner: The Nose is second to Pavel Datsyuk in goals scored per 60 mins while skating 5v4. When skating at EVS he's fourth behind Bert, Val Filppula and Hank for goals scored per 60 mins. So he's doing pretty much what he was hired to do: score goals. There's reason to expect him to get even better as the season progresses. At EVS he also draws twice as many penalties as he takes. Babcock deserves a lot of credit for finding him and encouraging Ken Holland to sign him.
6. Todd Betuzzi: Bert's been surprisingly effective, logging the highest number goals per 60 mins at EVS. He's also been great about not taking stupid penalties and he's currently drawing more than he's taken. Unfortunately that resulted in him taking a stick precariously close to the eye socket. I do wonder how long it will last but for the time being let's enjoy Bert's production during the opening weeks of the season.
7. Valtteri Filppula: Fil is second to Bert in points per 60 mins while skating at EVS. Only Hank and Pavs get more EVS TOI than Val and he's not far behind either of them. The good news is he's finally getting decent ice time with the man advantage, the bad news is he's stuck with the saddest PP unit ever assembled so he's not generating much offense with the man advantage. The second PP unit is pretty much generating goose eggs across the board when skating 5v4. If only we had some young, skilled wingers in our minor leagues who could help to provide some offensive punch to our lineup. Oh well. Fil only gets about 1 min of 4v5 skating per 60 mins but an interesting thing I found is that 2/3 of his shifts end in our offensive zone. I haven't paid close attention to this stat but if it says what I think it does then Filppula is very good at ending shifts with the puck at the other end of the ice. This is interesting and might give us more data to indicate he's our next great forward to follow in the footsteps of Pavs and Z.
Anyone else you think has gotten off to a good start or is showing signs of rapid improvement?
1. Jimmy Howard: He's had a few rough outings but two of his last 4 games included a .926 and .962 SV%. Perhaps he's still not in game shape and that's part of the reason he wasn't at his best last night. He's given up the most goals in the NHL with 23 (over 8 games). He's second in TOI to Ilya Bryzgalov so he's obviously going to get a ton of playing time with the compressed schedule. We need more .920+ SV% games from him to win hockey games.
2. Kent Huskins: Huskins has been a great Drew Miller-esque acquisition. The Miller comparison works best on the PK where Huskins logs the third most IT behind Ericsson and Quincey and he hasn't been on the ice for a goal against while skating 4v5. He's typically not facing the best competition but he's a reliable PK'er.
3. Brian Lashoff: I was very interested in seeing how Lashoff would do in Detroit. He's done so well Mike Babcock sat him so we could get more data to show Jakub Kindl is nothing more than a 7th d-man. Lashoff, like Huskins, has been solid on the PK getting close to 3 mins per 60 mins of hockey. He's not as good as Huskins at keeping the puck out of the net but he's an undrafted free agent getting his first extended time playing in the NHL during what could end up being his rookie season. We know who Jakub Kindl is, I'd really like to get to know what Brian Lashoff is all about.
4. Jonathan Ericsson: I'm not going to go overboard on Ericsson. I'll just let the stats show he plays the most mins 4v5, and has the best corsi rating relative to the quality of competition he's facing. He also doesn't take penalties while short handed, something both Niklas Kronwall and Kyle Quincey do quite often. All in all he's just been a solid d-man who is quickly growing into the top pairing spot he'll play for the foreseeable future.
5. Damian Brunner: The Nose is second to Pavel Datsyuk in goals scored per 60 mins while skating 5v4. When skating at EVS he's fourth behind Bert, Val Filppula and Hank for goals scored per 60 mins. So he's doing pretty much what he was hired to do: score goals. There's reason to expect him to get even better as the season progresses. At EVS he also draws twice as many penalties as he takes. Babcock deserves a lot of credit for finding him and encouraging Ken Holland to sign him.
6. Todd Betuzzi: Bert's been surprisingly effective, logging the highest number goals per 60 mins at EVS. He's also been great about not taking stupid penalties and he's currently drawing more than he's taken. Unfortunately that resulted in him taking a stick precariously close to the eye socket. I do wonder how long it will last but for the time being let's enjoy Bert's production during the opening weeks of the season.
7. Valtteri Filppula: Fil is second to Bert in points per 60 mins while skating at EVS. Only Hank and Pavs get more EVS TOI than Val and he's not far behind either of them. The good news is he's finally getting decent ice time with the man advantage, the bad news is he's stuck with the saddest PP unit ever assembled so he's not generating much offense with the man advantage. The second PP unit is pretty much generating goose eggs across the board when skating 5v4. If only we had some young, skilled wingers in our minor leagues who could help to provide some offensive punch to our lineup. Oh well. Fil only gets about 1 min of 4v5 skating per 60 mins but an interesting thing I found is that 2/3 of his shifts end in our offensive zone. I haven't paid close attention to this stat but if it says what I think it does then Filppula is very good at ending shifts with the puck at the other end of the ice. This is interesting and might give us more data to indicate he's our next great forward to follow in the footsteps of Pavs and Z.
Anyone else you think has gotten off to a good start or is showing signs of rapid improvement?
