Tag: Ice Time

Lehkonen Utilization – Truth or Fiction?

Published on by JD Lagrange3 Comments

By JD Lagrange – Many fans feel like Lehkonen was not utilized properly while with the Canadiens. Some claim that he was boxed into a limited role in Montreal and now that he’s in Colorado, he’s finally under better coaching, or better utilization anyway. Now is it truth or fiction?

From the get go, my colleague Bob Trask brought up a very good point which perhaps, can be taken into consideration.

Utilization sample

Based on data from Dobbersports.com, let’s look at Lehkonen’s utilization in the past five plus years. The following ice time percentage is only at even strengths. I have also set a 2% lower limit for ice time as anything less is rather irrelevant when determining the majority of the time.

SEASONFREQUENCYLINEMATES
2016-1715.20%Byron – Plekanec
11.07%Radulov – Plekanec
11.02%Danault – Shaw
10.29%Galchenyuk – Shaw
10.19%Flynn – Plekanec
4.62%Galchenyuk – Gallagher
4.30%Plekanec – Shaw
3.84%Byron – Galchenyuk
3.62%Andrighetto – Plekanec
3.37%Galchenyuk – Radulov
3.35%Desharnais – Shaw
2.96%Galchenyuk – King
2.08%Gallagher – Plekanec

In 2016-17, Lehkonen averaged 16:52 minutes of ice time per game. That was his rookie season, when he scored 18 goals. Tomas Plekanec was the team’s number one center, playing 16:49 minutes. Lehkonen played mostly with Plekanec, but also spent some time with Phillip Danault and Alex Galchenyuk.

SEASONFREQUENCY %LINEMATES
2017-1819.34%Gallagher – Plekanec
16.84%De la Rose – Galchenyuk
12.98%Drouin – Galchenyuk
10.17%Drouin – Pacioretty
5.73%Drouin – Byron
4.46%Hudon – Plekanec
2.48%Hudon – Pacioretty
2.38%Danault – Pacioretty

In 2017-18, Lehkonen was fourth in ice time amongst forwards on the team with 16:29 minutes per game. That’s the year they tried Jonathan Drouin at center, and he played 17:36 minutes, most of any. Phillip Danault (16:35), Plekanec (16:18) and Galchenyuk (16:14) were used very evenly. Lehkonen spent most of his time with Galchenyuk, but spent considerable time with both Plekanec and Drouin.

SEASONFREQUENCY %LINEMATES
2018-1915.32%Armia – Kotkaniemi
13.10%Domi – Shaw
9.38%Byron – Kotkaniemi
9.30%Domi – Drouin
6.02%Agostino – Kotkaniemi
3.88%Byron – Domi
3.88%Thompson – Weise
3.52%Kotkaniemi – Shaw
3.22%Armia – Domi
2.90%Domi – Tatar
2.06%Hudon – Kotkaniemi

In 2018-19, Lehkonen dropped by almost a minute, averaging 15:33 minutes per game. Danault (17:47), Max Domi (17:23) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi (13:44) were the team’s top-3 centers. In spite of his drop in ice time, Lehkonen split his time with Kotkaniemi and Domi mostly.

SEASONFREQUENCY %LINEMATES
2019-2018.36%Domi – Suzuki
11.61%Armia – Domi
5.65%Armia – Suzuki
5.57%Domi – Weal
4.08%Danault – Gallagher
3.71%Armia – Kotkaniemi
3.63%Kotkaniemi – Weal
2.82%Cousins – Domi
2.73%Kotkaniemi – Poehling
2.68%Suzuki – Tatar
2.68%Byron – Kotkaniemi
2.63%Cousins – Thompson
2.46%Domi – Drouin

In 2019-20, Lehkonen’s ice time was similar to the previous season, averaging 15:29 minutes per game. Max Domi was his center for the most part, but he spent considerable time with rookie Nick Suzuki as well. That year, he certainly bounced around the line-up more than in previous years. I feel like this wasn’t a knock against Lehky, quite the opposite. It spoke of his versatility as the coach trusted in him.

SEASONFREQUENCY %LINEMATES
2020-2130.1%Byron – Evans
11.1%Armia – Kotkaniemi
9.0%Byron – Kotkaniemi
6.3%Perry – Staal
3.8%Byron – Danault
3.8%Evans – Caufield
2.9%Danault – Anderson
2.8%Staal – Evans
2.4%Kotkaniemi – Evans
2.0%Anderson – Kotkaniemi

2020-21 seems to be when the coaching staff started giving Lehkonen more of a defensive role and his ice time suffered, going down to 13:25 minutes per game. twelve forwards averaged more ice time than him that season. He spent a lot of time with Jake Evans at center, although he did play with Kotkaniemi quite a bit and with Eric Staal when the Canadiens acquired him. On a side note, Lehkonen averaged 15:07 of ice time in the playoffs, so the coaches played him more.

2021-22 season

Now to this season. As the Canadiens went through a coaching change, I figured that I would split the ice time based on who was the coach. I was also curious to know what three coaches thought of Lehkonen in different situations so I’ve added the short-handed and power play time.

TEAMCOACHTOI/GPSH TOI/GPPP TOI/GP
MONTREALDucharme14:312:140:16
St-Louis15:161:591:46
COLORADOBednar16:260:542:16

Now for the linemates… It would have been a very difficult task to break down the percentages between the Habs and the Avs, so this is how they present them. So the actual percentage numbers are not relevant as it relates to ice time between the two teams so we have to look at them team by team. This is why I put the Habs in red.

With the Canadiens, he was playing mostly on Evans’ line, and spent a bit of time with Suzuki.

With the Avalanche, he is mostly playing on the third line with J.T. Compher as his regular center. He did have the spot shift with Nathan MacKinnon.

SEASONFREQUENCY %LINEMATES
2021-2211.2%Armia – Evans
10.0%Toffoli – Suzuki
5.6%Gallagher – Evans
4.8%Nichushkin – Compher
4.7%Pitlick – Evans
3.7%Nichushkin – MacKinnon
3.5%Armia – Paquette
3.5%Burakovsky – Compher
3.2%Poehling – Caufield
3.2%Armia – Dvorak
3.1%Armia – Poehling
2.7%Poehling – Pezzetta
2.5%Hoffman – Suzuki
2.2%Suzuki – Caufield
2.1%Compher – Newhook
2.0%Poehling – Evans

Conclusion

For the first few years of his career, I argue that Lehkonen wasn’t given a strictly defensive role. But the for the past two seasons, particularly under Claude Julien and Dominique Ducharme, he wasn’t used enough offensively. And when given a chance to produce, he’s a very capable winger not only defensively, but offensively too.

So yes, you can keep saying that the Canadiens’ coaching staff, at least the past two years, weren’t using Lehky to his full potential. He is right where he should be in his role with the Avalanche. Still, the Canadiens did very well in the return they got for him at trade deadline. It will be very interesting to see what type of contract he will be getting at the end of the season.

More reading…

Sizzling Hot Players And Post Deadline Utilization

Published on by JD Lagrange4 Comments

The influence that Martin St-Louis has had on a few prominent players has been well documented, perhaps even overplayed. What has not been talked about as much is the recent resurgence of a few players who haven’t been quite as popular, at least not this season, for a variety of reasons.

But because media and blogs don’t pay as much attention to them, it doesn’t change the fact that some guys are starting to show signs of life lately and even while they might not be under the popularity spotlight, rest assured that the Canadiens’ organization is taking notice. For this exercise, I did include the usual fan favourites like Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. But you will see that there are others who are making a case as useful players as well.

Christian Dvorak – since March 24th

In his last ten games, the Canadiens’ center is tied for first in points with Suzuki. His play is much better and his production (3G-6A-9Pts) during that time span has returned to what Marc Bergevin expected it to be when he traded for him. He also has a surprising +4 differential while logging 17:29 of time on the ice per game, while being his efficient self in the faceoffs’ dot with a 57.2% success rate. He seems to have found chemistry with Brendan Gallagher and Mike Hoffman as that line has done a good job lately.

Chris Wideman – since March 5th

Whether he’s nursing an injury, or he’s the victim of the number of defensemen, or if he’s not part of the plan for the Canadiens next season is unknown. But he can’t seem to find a regular spot in the line-up lately. It’s certainly not because of his offensive contribution as since March 5th, he has been the most productive defenseman offensively (13GP: 2G-10A-12Pts). This places him third only behind Suzuki and Caufield during that time span, during which he also only averages 14:45 of time on the ice per game.

Nick Suzuki – since February 20th

Not because he doesn’t deserve it, but as mentioned, he and Caufield are well documented so we won’t spent too much time explaining his production. But it’s impressive. First on the team since February 20th in points. 24GP: 10G-17A-27Pts with 21:13 of time on the ice per game.

Cole Caufield – since February 10th

Like Suzuki, let’s just skim over it and yes, this coincides with St-Louis’ first game as the Habs’ coach. Under the new coach, he’s slightly ahead of Suzuki in points. 28GP: 17G-13A-30Pts with 18:22 of time on the ice per game played.

Rem Pitlick

Rem Pitlick – since March 9th

The “other rookie” has been an amazing waiver pick up for sure. But in his last 17 games, his production (3G-9A-12Pts) has been rather impressive, good for third most on the team! St-Louis clearly trusts him in different situation as shown by his 19:03 minutes of time on the ice per game.

Brendan Gallagher – since April 5th

Fans have been all over Gally as his production this season certainly doesn’t match his new contract, which raises serious questions. But since returning to the line-up from injuries on April 5th, he has five points in four games (1G-4A), which ties him with linemate Dvorak for the team lead during that time. He’s only playing an average of 14:29 minutes per game but if his production and his play continue to improve, he certainly will see more.

Post trade deadline

One way to tell what the coaching staff and management are trying to do is to look at the players’ utilization since trade deadline has come and gone. Without players like Chiarot and Lehkonen to take major ice time, who are the players the Canadiens are counting on, or testing to see if they have what the team needs? Here’s how the ice time has been distributed since March 21st:

NAMETOI/GP
DEFENSEAlexander Romanov23:19
David Savard21:13
Joel Edmundson19:39
Justin Barron19:01
FORWARDSNick Suzuki21:02
Rem Pitlick19:09
Cole Caufield18:12
Christian Dvorak17:17
Josh Anderson17:11
Mike Hoffman16:49

As we can see, the coaching staff is really testing Romanov to see if he has it in him to be a regular top-4 defenseman that they can count on in the future. And prior to his injury, they were also testing Justin Barron, the 20 year-old defenseman Kent Hughes got in the Lehkonen trade from Colorado.

At forward, there isn’t much surprise, aside perhaps for Pitlick who is second amongst forwards in ice time. In spite of a spotty production, St-Louis has said a couple of times this week that he likes what he sees from Anderson and the two are working together (and with Gallagher) to change his game a bit. The coach also said that he’s not worried about him as it will make him a better player down the road.

So while this doesn’t paint a complete picture, far from there, or reveal any huge secret on what the organization is planning to do this off-season, it does give us a bit of an idea of what they’re trying to look at. Including tonight’s game in Columbus, there are nine games remaining and the trend will likely continue. With Barron out, they will keep testing newly signed defenseman Jordan Harris instead.

More reading…