2023-11-27 14:39:00
SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Welcome to The Week in NUMBERS. Each week, I highlight three key statistics that have defined training successes and failures over the past seven days.
This week: a rookie plays like a veteran, a goalie stands out, and the worst offensive performance of the year.
1er
Jayden Struble’s career match
Second round pick in 2019, Jayden Struble stood out in Laval with 6 points in 12 games and a plus-4 differential. With 3 starting defensemen currently in the infirmary for the Montreal Canadiens, he earned a recall during the trip to the West Coast, just in time for the rookie dinner. Martin St-Louis was careful with his use, protecting him as much as possible from the best opposing teams and limiting his playing time to an average of 12:01 in 3 games. Struble took this opportunity and didn’t look like a rookie at all.
Obviously, averages per 20 minutes should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s not a guarantee that he might continue at this pace once morest opposing top lines for 25 minutes every night. These are still very encouraging results for a player who only had 21 games of experience in the American Hockey League. Struble seemed confident with the puck and was effective in transition. He was able to limit his turnovers and managed to have a positive impact at both ends of the ice. As a result, CH had 52.6% of expected goals in their favor when the 22-year-old American defender was on the ice.
If he continues to play like this, it will be very difficult to place him in the press box, because he looked like a veteran on the ice.
1,39
Goal saved by Cayden Primeau in November
Since he has been in the Canadiens organization, Cayden Primeau has always had difficulty getting regular starts. He only has 25 in 5 seasons and 12 of them came during the miserable 2021-22 campaign, where Montreal finished dead last in the NHL. Now that he has to go through waivers before returning to Laval, the organization is making an effort to give him more opportunities and Primeau is answering the call.
He only got three starts in November, but he was excellent in all of them. Even with a game once morest Vegas where he allowed six goals, Primeau found himself clearly in the positive in goals saved in November. His total might easily be higher if not for a double minor by Brendan Gallagher late in the third once morest the Golden Knights, who scored two late goals with a man advantage.
In November, Primeau led the three CH goalies in save rate once morest shots from the slot (47 saves on 55 shots, for a rate of .875) and from the bottom of the slot (19 saves on 21 shots, for a rate of .905). Some will point to the Sharks game and say he inflated his numbers, but he faced just 4 of his 21 shots from the bottom of the slot once morest San Jose. The majority came once morest Vegas and he was brilliant, turning aside 12 of 13 that were sent his way by the best team in the West.
As a result, Primeau won two of his three starts in November. Believe it or not, this is the first time in five seasons that Primeau has won more than one game in the same year. With the three CH goalkeepers circulating in the rumor mills, particularly in connection with the Edmonton Oilers, Primeau is doing everything possible to increase his value, whether in Montreal or elsewhere.
1,98
Expected goal generated by CH once morest Los Angeles, Saturday evening
Games like the one on Saturday night in Los Angeles remind us that the Canadian is still far from being a playoff team in the NHL. The Kings are one of the best defensive teams in the league and that was evident with this 4-0 shutout. Their defensive coverage is suffocating and Montreal simply had no answer.
As a result, the Canadian only got four shots on target from the slot and only one from the bottom of the slot. The 1.98 expected goals generated Saturday night are easily the lowest total of the season for the St. Louis men. The speed that is usually typical of the Blue-White-Red was nowhere, with only one chance entering the zone. In short, we saw what it takes to play once morest the elite and we also saw very clearly that Montreal is not yet there in its development.
CH is still a club in the process of rebuilding and matches like this are a good reminder that there is still a lot of work to do.
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#Billy #Bertrand #column #Jayden #Struble #didnt #rookie
