Drouin’s stock has skyrocketed
A year after demanding to be traded, he’s now Bolts’ offensive star
Jonathan Drouin’s future with the Tampa Bay Lightning looked particularly bleak at this point last year.
The third overall pick of the 2013 draft was unhappy in Tampa amid inconsistent opportunities under head coach Jon Cooper and had requested a trade from the club in November. He was demoted to the American Hockey League by January and later suspended indefinitely without pay as trade speculation swirled.
The Lightning ultimately opted against dealing their frustrated winger ahead of the Feb. 29 trade deadline and by playoff time, Drouin had emerged as a crucial element in the Bolts’ attack, totalling 14 points in 17 games en route to the club’s second straight Eastern Conference final.
After a sluggish start offensively this season (seven points in 17 games), the 21-year-old is flying again.
Drouin has seven goals and 13 points in 10 games this month, including a combined five points in back-to-back wins last week. His offensive emergence has been timely for Tampa, which has been without Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, Ryan Callahan, Vladislav Namestnikov and No. 1 goaltender Ben Bishop due to injury.
The Ste-Agathe, Que. native may soon join that group after exiting Tampa’s final game before the holiday break with an undisclosed injury.
Regardless, Drouin’s future with the Lightning would appear secure, quite the turnaround from one year ago.
Meet the Jackets’ top scorer
Easily the most unknown leading scorer of the NHL’s most surprising team this season, Cam Atkinson was the 157th overall pick of the 2008 draft, a smallish winger plucked out of Avon Old Farms high school in Connecticut. Atkinson, who leads the sizzling Blue Jackets with 35 points in 32 games, has quietly scored at least 20 goals in each of his three full NHL seasons, including a career-best 27 goals and 53 points last year.
The 27-year-old trails only Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby with 15 points in December, tied for sixth in NHL scoring on the season.
The 5-foot-8, 182-pound Atkinson has done the majority of his damage on the league’s top power play, currently tops among all NHL players with 17 power play points this year, already a career high.
Trouble in big D
The Dallas Stars had their best campaign in a decade last year, posting 50 wins and 109 points to lead the Western Conference. It’s been an entirely different story this year though with literally every facet of the Stars’ game falling off and by a considerable margin.
A look at a few key numbers for Dallas, currently absent from the West’s playoff picture:
Goal differential last year: plus37
This year: minus-17
Goals per-game last year: 3.23
This year: 2.54
Goals against per-game last year: 2.78
This year: 3.03
Power play last year: 22. 1 per cent
This year: 16.5 per cent
Penalty kill last year: 82.3 per cent This year: 77.3 per cent
Puck possession last year: 52.5 per cent
This year: 48.8 per cent
Times shut out last year: 1
This year: 3
No. 1’s
Frederik Andersen has found his way for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but a few other new No. 1 goaltenders have yet to get on track.
Jake Allen, who signed a four-year extension worth US$17.4 million last summer (which starts next season), has a .905 overall save percentage and a .907 mark at even strength which ranks as the worst among goalies with at least 20 starts. John Gibson, who inherited Anaheim’s top gig following Andersen’s departure, has a .907 save percentage, including an .897 mark in December.
Petr Mrazek has a .899 save percentage after re-signing in Detroit for two years and $8 million while Connor Hellebuyck has given up three goals or more 13 times in 26 appearances, much of the damage coming when the Jets, the league’s third-worst penalty kill, are short-handed.
Only Mrazek’s job has been threatened with Jimmy Howard re-emerging before a recent injury (. 934 save percentage).
Andersen, meanwhile, has the NHL’s second-best save percentage (. 938) since the start of November, registering his first shutout with the Leafs in their second-last game before the break, a 38-stop blanking of the Colorado Avalanche.
Early returns
One of the more intriguing trades last summer saw 23-year-old Mika Zibanejad shipped from Ottawa to New York for 29-year-old Derick Brassard. For the Senators it was an injection of veteran stability, the Rangers an infusion of youth.
How’s it worked for both sides so far? It’s probably too early to say.
Zibanejad: The Swede was living up to last season’s career-best production (21 goals, 51 points) before breaking his fibula last month, totalling five goals, 15 points, a 52 per cent possession and 53.7 per cent success rate in the faceoff circle in 19 games.
He’s not expected back until after the New Year.
Brassard: The former Blue Jackets first rounder is well off the near60-point pace he managed in each of the previous two seasons, totalling only seven goals and 15 points in 34 games (a 36-point pace) for the Senators. Brassard did score in three straight games last week and boasts a strong 54 per cent puck possession mark, tops among Ottawa regulars.