Defenseman Grab Bag

steve laidlaw

2014-10-18

VictorHedman

Rob Vollman takes a deep dive on the defensemen making headlines around the league.

Defensemen are the topic today, including my opinions on a couple of unusual healthy scratches in Jeff Petry and Jake Gardiner, some new contract extensions for Jonas Brodin and Jake Muzzin, unexpected early Norris candidates in Victor Hedman and Mark Giordano, and the Isles’ newest blueliner Johnny Boychuk. Strap in!

Healthy Scratches

I was very surprised when the Edmonton Oilers decided against starting the season with Martin Marincin, one of their stronger defensemen last year, and was downright flabbergasted when his partner Jeff Petry was a healthy scratch Tuesday night against the Kings.

Petry is easily Edmonton’s best defenseman, in my view, and potentially their only legitimate top pairing option. Why? Simply put, Petry has been top-two on the team’s blue line in average quality of competition for three straight seasons, plays in both zones, and yet still manages among the team’s best possession numbers. The 26-year-old defender throws hits, blocks shots, and is one of the team’s top penalty killers. Unfortunately for poolsters, he isn’t used in an offensive capacity, but certainly has 30-point potential in the unlikely event that he were.

Another curious healthy scratch was Toronto’s Jake Gardiner. Unlike Petry, he is used in an offensive capacity, and has topped 30 points in both of his full NHL seasons. There isn’t a lot of confidence in his defensive play, given that he isn’t used in the defensive zone, against top opponents, nor to kill penalties, but his possession numbers are actually up there among the best in the league.

James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail tried to make sense of the decision to scratch Gardiner, which in my view might say something about the success of newcomer Stuart Percy and Toronto’s newfound blue line depth.

Johnny Boychuk

Top-four defensemen can be really, really hard to come by. Teams looking for an upgrade this summer either had to massively overpay for a free agent, like in Washington or Tampa Bay perhaps, or try to stretch mediocre players into more ambitious roles.

That’s why I’m impressed with the New York Islanders, who recently shored up the middle part of their blue line with Boston’s Johnny Boychuk and Chicago’s Nick Leddy.

Will Boychuk’s scoring continue? Probably not. Only one of his points has come at even strength, while the other five on the power play has already set his five-year, single-season career high. He has two goals in seven shots this year, but has never scored more than five in a season, with a career NHL shooting percentage of 3.3%. Boychuk had only a single career power play goal going into this season, and only four power play assists, including the three he recorded way back in 2009-10.

There is an AHL precedent to Boychuk’s power play scoring, however. He actually managed 10 power play goals back in 2008-09 as part of a 20-goal season, and 27 of his 48 AHL goals were with the man advantage. However, his usage on the power play likely won’t continue once Lubomir Visnovsky and Calvin de Haan return from injury.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Boychuk isn’t among the team’s better defensemen overall. His possession numbers are second to partner Nick Leddy, and he’s roughly third on the depth chart in terms of average quality of competition. He’s currently getting a lot more ice time than usual, especially in the offensive zone, and enjoying his easiest assignment since 2009-10.

I’ve had my eye on Boychuk for a couple of years now. His ten closest usage comparables last year, listed in order of possession numbers, were Marc Staal, Duncan Keith, Brad Stuart, Jared Cowen, Trevor Daley, Kyle Quincey, Matt Carle, Andrew Ference, Francois Beauchemin, and Slava Voynov. Boychuk ranks second best on that list of peers, which shows legitimate top pairing potential.

I was also interested to see Jared Cowen listed among his comparables. Built around their new captain Erik Karlsson, Ottawa has a developing young blue line that could be one to watch over the next couple of years. If Cowen can be a Boychuk, then Cody Ceci can be a Nick Leddy, and the team is currently negotiating a long-term deal with Marc Methot rumored to be worth $25 million over five years. That type of deal sounds familiar…

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New Contracts

The two latest blue line contracts include Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin signing on for six years at $25 million, and Jake Muzzin committing to Los Angeles for $20 million over five years.