10 NHL Insights and Observations: Scoring is way up but don't blame the goalies

Welcome to 10 Insights and Observations. Every Thursday, I’ll use this space to highlight teams, players, storylines, and general musings around the NHL, and perhaps at times, the greater hockey world.

This week we look at Cole Sillinger, P.K. Subban, the NHL schedule, Cy Young candidates and more.

1. Cole Sillinger, the only 18-year-old in the league full-time

Owen Power is the first player to be drafted first overall to not go straight to the NHL since Erik Johnson all the way back in 2006. In fact, none of the top 10 picks stuck in the NHL this year, which is perhaps not all too surprising when you consider that nobody had a normal season last year due to COVID-19.

The one player that has managed to actually stick around this season as a full-time NHLer? Cole Sillinger with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who is quietly having a really solid rookie season as an 18-year-old. He is fearless and helped set the tone on his first shift of the season, where he was involved in a little verbal sparring with the Arizona Coyotes before the puck even dropped.

Sillinger already has a fight in the league (and maybe half of another one where he caught Denis Gurianov off-guard); he doesn’t back down. In his third game of the season, he was benched halfway through the second period for the rest of the game. The next game he scored his first goal of his career.

In total, he has a modest eight goals and 18 points in 54 games. He has bounced around linemates all season. There are issues, to be sure. He’s sheltered and bleeding goals against, but centre is a tough position and he’s learning on the go in the hardest league in the world.

We aren’t even close to seeing how the “COVID draft class” will play out, and many would still likely not say Sillinger is one of the best players in the class, but there’s a real player there with a lot of spirit that makes things happen all over the ice. Look at this shift where he doesn’t even score. He makes a nice cut-in play, actively invites contact, and shows some skill.

This is the only full-time 18-year-old rookie in the league this season. And he’s flashing a bit of everything. He blocks a shot here, then goes down the ice and cleanly beats the goalie.

2. Goals trending up league-wide

We spoke a few weeks ago about how many players in the league are clicking at over a point per game, and the league is currently trending for its highest goals per game, per team, since the 2005-06 season following the lockout. Back then, the league average save percentage was .901, but this season it’s currently at .908. It was at the same number last season but had not been that low since 2008-09 before that.

What’s particularly interesting about it all is that it's not like we are looking at a lack of talent in net. Igor Shesterkin is having an unbelievable season – the odds-on Hart favourite! – while Andrei Vasilevskiy is a stud. Jacob Markstrom, Juuse Saros, Tristan Jarry, Frederik Andersen, Sergei Bobrovsky, Darcy Kuemper are all having solid seasons as starters. There are others, too, that are ascending, be it Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman or Ville Husso.

There are a ton of good-to-great goalies in the league. But there’s also an embarrassment of riches in terms of offensive talent. And that speaks to just how good the league is now. Every team has star talent. That has not always been the case in this league. The only real question is how much star talent do they have?

3. Cale Makar shooting through traffic

It is difficult to describe just how good Cale Makar has been offensively. He is currently pacing for a 31-goal, 99-point season as a defenseman. That would be the 15th most points for a defenseman in a single season, ever. It would tie him for the 11th most goals in a single season, too (and a quick hat tip to Mike Green who also had 31 in 2008-09 and gets little mention/respect for just how good he was offensively!).

Makar's speed, power, the walking the lines and breaking guys' ankles before scoring rightfully gets a ton of attention. What isn’t nearly as flashy but is probably more effective for his game on a nightly basis is just that he simply gets shots through traffic and to the net with some heat. His release is fast and he prioritizes actually getting the puck to the net. So many players are going to want to replicate his combination of speed/skill/power but it takes a really special player to do that.

But a lot of players would do well from understanding the simple value of just getting a shot through. He doesn’t even move his feet here, just a hesitation and snaps the puck through traffic for a goal.

This is on a power play with more space, but he just walks in and rips a wrist shot, a combination of placement and a quick release.

Makar is tied for third among defensemen in totals shots on goal. He’s averaging over three shots per game, a number that has steadily risen for him through each of his three seasons so far.

Get shots off quickly and through traffic to the net. A lot of defensemen can learn from that.

4. Chris Kreider: Cy Young Winner

The NHL awards are debated at length throughout the season: who is the best goalie, defenseman or league MVP? One award has always been of particular interest to me because of its sheer level of fun, and it’s not even an actual award. That would be the NHL Cy Young, awarded to the player with the greatest disparity between goals and assists.

In part, it’s fun because you simply just wonder how you can get that many goals and so few points in total. The answer is of course some combination of being a pure triggerman and a combination of bounces/luck. But the numbers are always entertaining and sports are supposed to be about entertainment and fun at the end of the day!

The winner this year might be found right at the top of the goal scoring leaderboard – Chris Kreider with an astonishing 38 goals to just 15 assists this season. That will be hard to beat but there are some other noteworthy contenders, including Adrian Kempe at 25 – 11, Sam Bennett at 24 – 12 and Jared McCann at 21 – 12. Those three are more in line with what we normally see.

Kreider is having a truly remarkable goal scoring season. Perhaps it will inspire baseball to come to an agreement and get their season underway.

5. Jon Cooper calls out the Penguins

It will always catch my eye when a coach calls out an opponent after the game. In this case, Jon Cooper made a point of noting the Penguins are, “by far the lowest penalized team in the league.”

The Penguins do indeed own the fewest penalty minutes, but it’s not like they have lived there for years on end. The past two seasons they were in the top 10 in fewest penalty minutes, but they haven’t cracked the top five in this category since the 1998-99 campaign (they actually led the entire league in penalty minutes in 2014-15, too, for what it’s worth).

Other teams have complained about the Penguins before – John Tortorella, most notably with his “I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars over there” rant – so this isn’t exactly new. But there’s no trend of the Penguins famously staying out of the box in the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era.

Now obviously that’s not Cooper’s point – at this point in time he really only cares about the games and season in front of him. The Penguins are not ones to shy away from antics. They will happily engage in post-whistle scrums – an underrated part of their game that really fires their team up – but they walk the line ever so carefully. A Brian Burke-helmed team leading the league in fewest penalty minutes, never thought we’d see the day.

6. Phil Kessel, ironman

Phil Kessel made headlines for playing one shift to keep his ironman streak going before leaving the game to fly home to attend the birth of his child. It received a lot of attention, some for being gimmicky and not what the streak is supposed to be about. Personally, I loved it.

First, it shows just how important these streaks are to players. We should celebrate things that they care about and go out of their way to make happen. I for one will never forget the emotion from Andrew Cogliano after his ironman streak was ended due to a suspension.

On a night-to-night basis, we have no idea what these guys are playing through. The ramifications of a shot block, a hit, going awkwardly into the boards, whatever the case is. It’s a physical sport. It’s a long season. The wear and tear is incredible.

So if Kessel is going to go completely out of his way to step foot on the ice then literally fly home to attend the birth, then all the power to him. It’s not like that’s a walk in the park, easy thing to do in terms of organizing your life.

And kudos to the Coyotes for helping to make it happen. They have been in the news this season for reasons you don’t want to be in the news. It’s important to recognize them when the shoe is on the other foot.

7. P.K. Subban since being traded

One of the biggest trades of the past decade was the Montreal Canadiens dealing P.K. Subban for Shea Weber. It’s not very often you see a franchise trade away a 27-year-old defenseman with a Norris Trophy under his belt.

In his first season with Nashville, he played a massive role in helping the Predators get to the Stanley Cup Final. The following season he put up a career-high 16 goals as well as 59 points. He was electric post-trade.

After that, he started to run into injury issues. The next season he played 63 games due to a back injury. That was the lowest amount of games he had ever played in the league (not including the shortened season of course). He had 12 points in 18 games before the injury, and 19 in 45 after he returned. The power-play time was reduced as Roman Josi continued to blossom and Subban was traded to New Jersey shortly after – a surprising trade at the time, but a great case of “better a year early than a year late,” in retrospect.

Unless he tells us we will never really know, but since that injury he has never really shot the puck the same. Subban was always elite on the power play, with one of the best one-timers in the game. That injury-plagued season he took only 31 shots on the man advantage, which was only the second time in his then-10-year career that he had recorded fewer than 55 shots on the power play. That is until the 2019-20 season, when he topped his career-low with only 28.

He hasn’t scored more than two power-play goals in a season in three years. He has zero in 2021-22. His shots per game sits under two for the first time in his career. At his best, Subban was an electric, powerful player that could ignite a whole arena. That shot was one of his best weapons. As it has declined, so has his best asset – his ability to run a power play.

Given the context – Game 7, on the road, down one — here's an ode to one of the absolute best bombs I’ve ever seen in a game:

8. More disappointment in New Jersey

Of course, when New Jersey traded for Subban, it hoped it would go much differently. When you look at the franchise on the whole, it is really eye-opening as to what’s been happening there for a decade. The Devils won’t make the playoffs this season, yet again. When they don’t, that will mark a 10-year period where they made the playoffs exactly once, only to get bounced in five games rather promptly by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

They have two first-overall picks on their team – Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier – both of whom they have paid big money to. They made the aforementioned Subban trade. They traded for Taylor Hall, who gave them a Hart-winning season. They won the Dougie Hamilton sweepstakes. They have drafted in the top five four times in the past seven seasons and selected seventh overall in one of those other years.

It has simply not come together in New Jersey, and a once-proud franchise has floundered for so long that fans have simply become apathetic to them.

9. Condensed NHL schedule the rest of the way

It was interesting to hear Darryl Sutter opine that both his Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers, their opponent Monday night, both looked tired. What makes it particular fascinating is that was the start of a five-game-in-seven-day stretch for Calgary.

No matter how you slice it, the amount of games remaining compared to how much time is left in the season is wild. Nobody in the league has hit the 60 games played mark yet, meaning each team has at least 23 games to go. By my math, there are 51 days left in the regular season, which is slated to end April 29, according to the schedule.

So, for the rest of the season, every team is basically going to be playing every other night – or more – before the playoffs begin. We’ve talked for weeks now in this space how most playoff teams are already decided (that said, shoutout to the West for making life interesting!), so this could be the first time in the league where we see a real push for load management and resting guys. What nobody wants is to see a bunch of teams limping into the playoffs following a jam-packed six-week schedule to close out the regular season.

10. 82-game regular seasons

This season is an anomaly in terms of scheduling conflicts when you consider the impact of the Olympics and COVID-19. The tight scheduling is a necessity to conclude the 82-game schedule. The league will never go for it because there’s too much revenue on the line, but it’s pretty clear that it would be better for fans if they reduced the schedule.

The final stretch drive is exciting when there are races you can follow, especially if a team you enjoy watching is involved. It is a stressful, exciting rollercoaster that represents regular-season hockey at its best.

But it is a complete slog to get here. The middle of the season is truly a grind for teams and fans alike. The gap between the initial excitement, hopes and dreams of the start of a new season, and the next landmark event, which is basically the trade deadline, is seismic.

At one point the league was able to ride the excitement of HBO 24/7 and the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day. It was great entertainment smack dab in the middle of the season, and before you knew it, the trade deadline was here. The league has to find a way to bridge that gap.

Not for nothing, but I would wager that’s why the NBA toyed with the idea of a midseason tournament. These leagues won’t stomach the idea of reducing the season because of what that does to revenue, so they are trying to find solutions.

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