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New York Times
14-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How Ducks' Jackson LaCombe leapfrogged others to become their No. 1 defenseman
ANAHEIM, Calif. — It made sense to think Pavel Mintyukov would become The One on the Ducks' blue line. He burst onto the scene in 2023-24 as a rookie, with lots of quality ice time, moments of physical one-on-one defensive play and scratching the surface of his offensive upside. It also made sense to think Olen Zellweger would become The One. He skates beautifully, with the ability to carry the puck out of his zone and move along the blue line to find shooting lanes. He's got a knack for getting his shot through to the net and has the puck-moving skills to run a power play. Advertisement Each player also won the best defenseman award in his respective junior leagues in 2023, with Zellweger edging out Mintyukov and Tristan Luneau — another highly talented projected Ducks blueliner — for the top defenseman award in Canadian major junior hockey. As training camp commenced last fall, it was easy to see a future in which Mintyukov or Zellweger started to nudge aside longtime veteran Cam Fowler as the one the Ducks rode in important situations. Someone did force the Ducks' hand. But that No. 1 position, and all the responsibility that comes with it, now belongs to Jackson LaCombe. LaCombe's rise has been meteoric in his second season. He has 14 goals — the most by an Anaheim blueliner since Lubomir Visnovsky had a team-record 18 in 2010-11 — and 43 points, which would be higher if the Ducks didn't ice the NHL's worst power play. After ranking fourth among their defensemen in ice time as a rookie (19:23), LaCombe plays more than any other skater on the team (22:09). 'Jacks always had it,' said fellow defenseman Drew Helleson, who has known his fellow Minnesota native since they were grade-school age. 'It was just a matter of time until he kind of grew into his own and was able to showcase what he could do. All our buddies back home, we always knew it was going to happen. 'You watch him in college and before he got here, even a little bit last year, you just could see he had it. Just waiting for him to get the confidence to make some plays. Now he's got it and now you can see what it's doing for him and what it does for us. It's been fun to watch.' Jackson LaCombe, who has emerged on the @AnaheimDucks blue line this season, is a candidate to join Team USA at the upcoming Men's Worlds. His skating would be an asset on the big sheet. Our @NHLNetwork coverage of the tournament starts May 9! 🇺🇸@GopherHockey @SiriusXMNHL — Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) April 10, 2025 The flight upward for LaCombe, 23, hasn't always been smooth. It was particularly bumpy last season. In 71 games, he showed flashes of his potential as a smooth-skating offensive contributor, but many more instances of tentative playmaking while also learning how to defend at the NHL level and overcoming mistakes made after skipping past the minor leagues. Advertisement With the Ducks firmly in a rebuild, LaCombe also had to deal with losing regularly on a 27-50-5 club after four successful years at the University of Minnesota, capped by a berth in the NCAA title game. And confidence — along with the lack of it — can be more important than ability for a young player in development mode. 'Last year, I was kind of a little bit standoffish and a little bit afraid in some moments,' LaCombe said. 'And I think now I'm just kind of just being myself. Just me being the player that I am is just contributing to my confidence. They're allowing me to play like that, which helps me out a ton. And I think my game is obviously evolved a lot from college. It's a lot different now. Just being able to kind of contribute in all areas of the ice has been huge for me, and it's just been helping me build my confidence.' On April 1, LaCombe played a personal-best 31:04 in a shootout win over the San Jose Sharks. It isn't uncommon for him to log between 23 and 28 minutes, and he hasn't played fewer than 20 in a game since early January. His effectiveness with regular partner Radko Gudas has been on the wane, as he's been on the ice for 20 goals against in all situations over the last 10 games. But LaCombe's play driving and offense generation in five-on-five play is markedly better year over year (43.6 to 48.9 CF%; 45.51 to 48.86 xGF%). There are the numbers that measure his improvement. It goes beyond that for LaCombe. He's had veterans to learn from. Gudas. Brian Dumoulin (before he was traded). And Fowler, the big-minute defenseman he replaced. 'He just allows me to play my game and be myself,' LaCombe said of Gudas, the Ducks' captain. 'That's kind of what I needed to hear and needed to do. For him just to be there has been huge for me. Obviously, he's a tremendous guy and such a good player. Just being able to learn from him every day and have a leader like that to play with has been great.' Advertisement The presence of Helleson has also had a positive effect. LaCombe and Helleson played on summer teams as youths in Minnesota and were united at prep power Shattuck St. Mary's for two years before Helleson left to play in the United States National Team Development Program. But after Helleson went to play at Boston College and LaCombe stayed home at Minnesota, they were back together with Trevor Zegras for the United States' gold medal-winning 2021 World Juniors squad. They reunited when the Ducks acquired Helleson from the Colorado Avalanche in a 2022 trade that sent away longtime defenseman Josh Manson. Now they're roommates, and Zegras said that's enhanced the comfort level that LaCombe now feels. 'Because it's hard,' Zegras said. 'Playing 82 games versus the best players in the world, it's tough. I guess when you have that comfortability on the days in between, I think it helps a lot.' 'I don't know if me being here has anything to do with that,' Helleson said. 'Like I said, we always knew he had it. It was just a matter of time for him to show it.' Last summer, coach Greg Cronin sought out Golden Gophers coach Bob Motzko to get a feel for how LaCombe might advance as a player after going through the peaks and valleys of his first season. Through a couple lengthy conversations, Motzko convinced Cronin that it takes LaCombe a bit of time to be secure and assured with his game and the atmosphere he's in. It requires a coach to be patient and, as Cronin put it, wait 'for all that talent to bust through.' If a coach can do that, the wait will be worth it. 'He had the same experience with Jackson his freshmen year at Minnesota,' Cronin said. 'And he said, 'You will see a different player this year.'' Adjustments were also made off the ice. LaCombe attacked the weight room and strengthened his 6-foot-2, 205-pound frame. He also spent a week training with Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor Jeremy Clark to build more combative instincts into his game. Motzko gave Cronin glowing reports. Advertisement 'He did some things that were kind of out-of-the-box stuff, which I had talked to Jackson about in terms of exploring boxing or some mixed martial arts to get a real intimate view of a human's response to competitiveness,' Cronin said. 'And he did it. He wasn't broadcasting it. He was very humble about it.' LaCombe's on-ice transformation began with a terrific training camp. But an illness at the start of the season sapped his momentum. LaCombe didn't play until the season's fifth game but even as he made up ground in the first two months, he was still scratched three times. One of those was a Dec. 11 game at Ottawa, as the Ducks had Fowler returning from injury and needed him in the lineup to showcase for a trade. After that, LaCombe was back in the lineup for good, and he had a goal and assist in consecutive contests to start a 16-game stretch in which he scored four goals and had 14 points. Fowler was traded to St. Louis on Dec. 14, opening the door for LaCombe to rush through. 'His biggest thing was the trust in his own abilities,' Gudas said. 'And I thought this year he showed up in the camp, he showed all his potential where it is right now. The start of the season, he was playing and trying to do his things. He got on the wrong end of it a few times and I think he learned from his mistakes. He got healthy scratched a few times early in the season, but he never looked back. 'He tried to get better. Worked on the confidence and worked on the things that he's great at.' 'I'm thrilled for Jacks,' Fowler said. 'He's a great kid. I've still been checking in on the guys and watching some of their games and I know he's had a great season. I think there's a lot more to come from Jacks. I think he's destined for great things and I'm happy that he's having some success there.' When the Ducks drafted LaCombe in the second round in 2019, they knew he'd be a bit of a long-term project, as a forward who converted to defense while at Shattuck. As they saw him stand out on the talent-laden Golden Gophers, where he played above Brock Faber and had Matthew Knies, Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud as teammates, they remained convinced that he'd find success in the NHL. Advertisement The Ducks now have a clear No. 1 defenseman, and that's a piece they'll need in their build-up toward being a playoff team. They've had players such as Fowler and Hampus Lindholm capably perform in that role — at a very high level during their most recent contention period — but they haven't had a dominant blueliner since Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. That is still uncharted territory for LaCombe and he must fend off competition within his own team to be The One. But he is opening eyes across the league by the day. 'I always knew he was going to be this good,' Helleson said. 'It was just a matter of time. And I think he can get even better. It's a start. Who knows how high his ceiling is?'
New York Times
03-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The NHL's top 10 most underrated defensemen and why they're so valuable
Who are the most underrated defensemen in the NHL? It's a topic bound to create ferocious debate because of its subjective nature. We have to inherently assume how highly the hockey world/public sphere rates every defenseman and then determine which players deserve more recognition. In an exercise like this, we have to be aware of the Aleksander Barkov effect, where if a player has been unanimously dubbed as underrated for many years, they're probably not underrated anymore. With that in mind, we're going to avoid names like Jaccob Slavin, Devon Toews, Miro Heiskanen and Shea Theodore. Advertisement I'd also argue that Chris Tanev has finally gotten his flowers as an elite shutdown defenseman after last year's tremendous playoff run with the Dallas Stars. Thomas Harley would have been perfect for a list like this, but I believe he turned heads and landed on the casual fan's radar with his impressive play subbing in for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. I debated whether MacKenzie Weegar has flown under the radar enough to be on this list, but fans voted him one of the game's most underrated players just a few years ago, and I saw lots of people clamoring for him to be brought in as an injury replacement for Team Canada at 4 Nations, so I leaned toward him being closer to being fairly rated now and left him off. I haven't included Josh Morrissey or Rasmus Dahlin, either. You could argue both deserve more attention, but they're still generally recognized as bona fide stars. Finally, I made a similar list a couple of years ago. I won't be repeating names from that story, which means no Mikey Anderson, Gustav Forsling, Jonas Brodin, Nick Jensen, Vince Dunn or Jake Walman, among others. Here's my personal take on the 10 most underrated defensemen in the NHL, presented in no particular order. LaCombe, a 6-foot-2 left-shot defenseman playing in his second NHL season, has blossomed as the Ducks' undisputed No. 1 defenseman. The smooth-skating 24-year-old is averaging a team-leading 21:58 per game this season. He's a budding offensive star, ranking in the top 20 among all NHL defensemen with 14 goals and 43 points in 67 games (a 52-point pace prorated over 82 games). It's extremely impressive that he's racked up those types of point totals considering how lackluster the Ducks are offensively and how abysmal their power play has been. LaCombe ranks sixth among all NHL blueliners in scoring 1.51 points per 60 at five-on-five (minimum 1000 minutes), behind only Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Zach Werenski, Rasmus Dahlin and Adam Fox. Minimum 1,000 five-on-five minutes LaCombe is a dynamic, elite puck transporter. With his confidence and poise rushing the puck, he singlehandedly drives controlled breakouts and offensive entries. His zone exit numbers are in the same neighborhood as the league's best puck-moving defensemen, according to Corey Sznajder's tracking project. Here are two examples of him effortlessly beating heavy forecheck pressure to engineer breakouts with speed: Jackson LaCombe is fun to watch. — Félix Sicard (@Felix_Sicard) March 15, 2025 LaCombe's terrific play with the puck hasn't come at the expense of defensive warts, either. He breaks up plays defending the rush because of his ability to aggressively close gaps with his skating, he's positionally sound, and he logs major minutes on the penalty kill. Anaheim's two-way results in terms of controlling shots, scoring chances and actual goals significantly improve when LaCombe is on the ice. Advertisement He's breaking out as one of the league's premier top-pair puck-moving/offensive defensemen without much fanfare outside of SoCal. Samberg is enjoying a monster breakout season in which he's emerged as the Jets' clear-cut second-best defenseman. The 26-year-old left shot is averaging 21:25 per game and has been trusted by the coaching staff to eat the toughest matchups against top forwards of all Winnipeg blueliners. The Jets have controlled nearly 55 percent of expected goals and outscored opponents by a whopping 20 goals during his five-on-five shifts. Samberg is driving stellar short-handed results while averaging the most PK minutes per game on the team. He checks many boxes for a modern-day elite shutdown player: he's 6-foot-4 which gives him a massive reach/wingspan, he skates well which enables him to quickly gap up to eliminate time and space, his anticipation is impeccable and his active defensive stick is constantly breaking plays up. Here's an example of him making a defensive stop on Aliaksei Protas, the Caps' monster 6-foot-6 power forward: The amazing thing about Samberg is his passing and decision-making with the puck are very sharp and advanced for a player who's primarily focused on the defensive side of the game. You can always count on him to make poised, efficient decisions with the puck to connect plays in all three zones. In fact, according to Sznajder's tracking, Samberg has created more zone exits with possession per hour this season compared to his usual defense partner Neal Pionk, despite the latter having the reputation for being more dynamic and offensively involved. And as his confidence has grown, Samberg has become more ambitious with his playmaking. How many shutdown defensemen can join the rush and make a play like the one below, leading to a scoring chance? Samberg is the indispensable two-way linchpin of the Jets' second pairing. Gavrikov has long been a defensive dynamo, but he's putting together an especially outstanding campaign this season. The 29-year-old Russian was a massive reason why the Kings' blue line held its own for 47 games without Drew Doughty. Gavrikov averaged 23:56 through late January, which led the Kings and ranked top 20 among all defensemen. Despite being forced to regularly play the right side as a left-shot defenseman, he decisively won his minutes on the top pair playing with Mikey Anderson. Advertisement With Doughty back, Gavrikov is now driving the second pair on his natural left side. He's still responsible, however, for absorbing the toughest defensive matchups against top competition, with Doughty's pair handling slightly easier assignments. This season, Gavrikov is helping the Kings control nearly 56 percent of expected goals and has a plus-13 goal differential during his five-on-five minutes. Nearly all of that success comes from his elite defensive impact. Evolving-Hockey RAPM chart Gavrikov suffocates opponents' time and space offensively. He's a big body (6-foot-3 and 220 pounds) and leverages his massive wingspan and strong positional play to masterfully clog passing and shooting lanes on the inside. He also eats the most short-handed minutes on the Kings' top-10 penalty kill. Gavrikov is a below-average puck-mover, but the Kings have the right environment to insulate that. Fowler had been a great player in his prime but appeared to be rapidly declining when the Blues acquired him in mid-December at a reduced $4 million cap hit. His underlying metrics were ugly, with virtually every public analytical model suggesting his defensive game had fallen off a cliff and that he shouldn't be counted on for high-end top-four results. Fowler's point production had cratered to just four points in 17 games at the time of the trade, too. It's amazing, however, what a change in the on-ice environment can do to revitalize some defensemen. Fowler has scored nine goals and 30 points in 45 games (a 54-point pace prorated over 82 games) since joining the Blues. Twenty-five of those 30 points have come at even strength, which ranks top five among all NHL defensemen since the trade. Colton Parayko also benefited enormously from Fowler's arrival; 40-year-old Ryan Suter was struggling as Parayko's partner early in the season, and the five-on-five results instantly flipped once Fowler took that role. The Blues lost Parayko, their No. 1 defenseman, to injury in early March. Despite that, they've gone 11-1-1, with Fowler stepping up hugely in Parayko's absence. He's driven a commanding 58.1 percent of scoring chances and helped the Blues outscore opponents 14-7 during his five-on-five minutes since Parayko went down. Advertisement Adding Fowler has been one of the best bang-for-buck moves any team has made this season. Everybody focuses on the Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei signings when discussing the Nashville Predators' surprisingly catastrophic 2024-25 season. The huge offseason change people rarely talk about — one that gutted the defensive solidity of Nashville's top four this season — is the loss of Ryan McDonagh. That, in a nutshell, perfectly captures McDonagh's underrated reputation: People have always known he's a good top-four player, but you don't realize exactly how valuable and irreplaceable he is until he's gone. It's a lesson the Lightning experienced firsthand during the last two seasons without McDonagh, when the club's blue line and overall defensive structure suffered significantly in his absence. Even at 35, McDonagh is one of the best shutdown defensemen in the NHL. The Lightning have controlled 58 percent of high-danger chances and surrendered just 1.85 goals against per 60 during his five-on-five shifts this season, which is one of the best marks in the league. Tampa Bay has outscored opponents by a whopping 23 goals when McDonagh is on the ice at five-on-five. He's helped revitalize longtime partner Erik Cernak, whose game had regressed hard during the two years when the hard-nosed veteran was in Nashville. He's also the backbone of Tampa Bay's elite penalty kill. Dom Luszczyszyn's player card McDonagh is responsible for soaking up the hardest defensive matchups on Tampa Bay's blue line. His success in that daunting role has freed up Victor Hedman to spend about 20 percent fewer minutes against elite competition compared to last season, according to PuckIQ's data. And Hedman's two-way numbers have improved a ton now that he isn't carrying as large a defensive burden. Advertisement Kesselring first caught my eye as a rookie last season. The 6-foot-5 right shot skated well, made poised decisions against heavy forechecking pressure on breakouts and had good puck skills for such a big body. He was relatively sheltered as a third-pair contributor and his game was still raw, but his physical attributes and skill hinted at intriguing upside. With John Marino and Sean Durzi injured on the right side, Kesselring took on a much bigger role in the first half of the season and largely excelled in it. Kesselring averaged 19:04 of ice time through the first 48 games of the season. He was winning those matchups, with Utah controlling about 52 percent of high-danger chances and outscoring opponents 31-18 during his five-on-five shifts. In the clip below, you can see an example of Kesselring's mobility, range and underrated offensive chops. He begins the play by making a nice pass, carries the puck through the neutral zone when he gets it back, dishes it out to a forward and then drives to the net where he creates a Grade-A chance. Kesselring has faced challenges down the stretch since Marino and Durzi returned. The 25-year-old's ice time has been cut to the 15-to-16-minute range over the last couple of months, and he's made some defensive mistakes here and there. None of that should be overly alarming, however. It's normal for sophomore defensemen to face bumps in the road as they gain experience. Most encouragingly, his play-driving metrics have been dominant in this reduced workload, with Utah controlling a team-high 57 percent of shot attempts and 66 percent of high-danger chances during his five-on-five minutes since late January. Kesselring proved in the first half that he can succeed in a top-four role, yet he's mostly anonymous outside of Utah. He'll finish with just shy of 30 points this season, with 22 of those points coming at five-on-five, which ranks top 50 among all NHL defensemen. Massive right-shot defenders who can skate well and make plays are pretty rare commodities. As he matures, improves his positioning and learns how to leverage his size to defend better, he could grow into a valuable, full-time top-four defenseman. Advertisement I know what you're probably thinking: How can a player in a market as enormous as Toronto be underrated? McCabe deserves more attention around the league, however, for how indispensable he's been as a top-four workhorse. His rugged, hard-to-play-against, stingy defensive game has replaced some of the critical traits the Leafs lost when Jake Muzzin's career was derailed by injuries. McCabe's ability to munch big minutes (second among Leafs defensemen in average five-on-five ice-time) and win tough matchups (most minutes against 'elite' competition of all Leafs defensemen, according to PuckIQ) has been especially critical this season because Morgan Rielly hasn't played like a top-pair-caliber defenseman. Tanev and McCabe have been one of the best shutdown pairs in the NHL, helping the Leafs control nearly 57 percent of high-danger chances and 62.9 percent of goals in their shifts together. They've surrendered a minuscule 1.76 goals against per 60 despite defending against top lines. Here's an example of McCabe bodying Connor McDavid on a full-speed rush this season. McCabe gets the body on a speeding McDavid — Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 2, 2025 Tanev is obviously a huge part of that pair's success, but while he's universally recognized as a top-flight player, McCabe's name is often overlooked. And for those who think McCabe is being carried by Tanev, keep in mind McCabe was still winning his top-four matchups last season when his primary partner was Simon Benoit, a fringe NHL player. Oh, and Toronto's record has taken a huge hit anytime McCabe has been out of the lineup. The Leafs have struggled without Jake McCabe in the lineup — Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) January 15, 2025 Kulak has long been one of my favorite third-pair defensemen in the NHL. The 31-year-old left shot is an effortless skater, breaks the puck out efficiently and is reliable defensively. Watch how he breaks a play up in the neutral zone and flips the puck ahead to his forwards, leading to a Grade-A chance. Kulak can singlehandedly win his minutes further down the lineup — last year he was posting terrific results despite being saddled with Vincent Desharnais, a slow skater who's really limited with the puck. He's been a strong playoff performer, comfortably handling 16-17 minutes in high-leverage games, which matters because coaches often feel the need to shelter some of their bottom-four defensemen during the postseason. Advertisement This year, Kulak has been elevated to top-four usage and is averaging a career-high 20:08 per game. He hasn't skipped a beat in this higher-leverage role. The Oilers have driven nearly 54 percent of scoring chances in Kulak's five-on-five minutes this season. That's included impressive work playing his off side with Darnell Nurse at times. Kulak is an underrated, versatile player whose puck-moving acumen allows him to thrive anywhere on a team's bottom four. Vegas' blue line has long been considered one of the best in the NHL. It's a deep, well-rounded group that can move the puck, play a heavy defensive style and chip in with offense. Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin get the majority of the spotlight on the back end, but McNabb's steady contributions as a defensive stopper often fly under the radar. McNabb is leaned on as the clear No. 4 on the blue line. He's consistently averaged 20 minutes per game and is tasked with handling tougher-than-league-average matchups. The 6-foot-4 defender is a dying breed/style of player in a couple of ways. Firstly, he's a punishing, explosive open-ice hitter. Alex Laferrier takes a crushing hit from Brayden McNabb.#GoKingsGo #VegasBorn #LAKvsVGK — LA Royalty (@LARoyalty1967) October 29, 2023 Secondly, and most importantly, he's found a way to drive effective defensive results despite being a really slow skater, which is impressive considering how fast and skilled the game is today. He protects the inside defensively with his smart reads, positioning, ability to clog passing and shooting lanes and the way he leverages his size to win battles down low and at the net front. McNabb is driving 54.8 percent of scoring chances and a plus-23 goal differential during his five-on-five shifts this season. He's surrendered just 1.71 goals against per 60, which ranks top 10 among all defensemen who've played in a full-time top-four role this season. Theodore is the perfect stylistic fit for McNabb as a partner because of his dynamic puck-moving and offensive talent. McNabb isn't just a Theodore merchant, however — he's played a ton of time away from him over the last three seasons because of Theodore's injuries, and his underlying numbers have still been pretty decent. Advertisement Making just $2.85 million against the cap for 2024-25 (with a new extension kicking in next season), McNabb has one of the best defenseman contracts in the league. Chatfield has blossomed into a capable second-pair option on a contending team without any fanfare outside of Carolina. Carolina lost Skjei and Brett Pesce in the summer. General manager Eric Tulsky signed Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere in free agency, but both have played together on the bottom pair. The Canes have weathered the top-four departures relatively well thanks to the success Dmitry Orlov and Chatfield have had stepping into a bigger role this season. Chatfield's rise in Carolina is a terrific story. The scrappy, hard-nosed 28-year-old right shot went undrafted and originally signed as a free-agent prospect in Vancouver. The Canucks let him walk in 2021 after a mostly underwhelming NHL campaign. He signed with the Hurricanes and has since developed into a solid defensive-minded No. 4/5 defenseman. Chatfield is ultra-reliable defensively. He's mobile and has a tenacious work rate, which allows him to aggressively kill plays and win battles. He defends the rush well, forcing dump-ins and breaking up entries at above-average rates according to Sznajder's tracking. He can make a clean first pass to drive quality zone exits, too. The Canes have controlled 56 percent of scoring chances and own a plus-10 goal differential during Chatfield's five-on-five minutes this season. The big key this year is he's proving he can maintain that success in a higher-leverage role. He's averaging nearly 19 minutes per game and handling significantly harder matchups compared to last season. — All stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, collected prior to April 2 games (Photo of Michael Kesselring and Jackson LaCombe: Rob Gray / Imagn Images)
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Five NHL Players Having Under-The-Radar Breakout Seasons
By Rory Arthur, The Hockey News Intern Every year there are a handful of breakout players who take a step up in their production and take on a bigger role for their respective NHL teams. Some of these players blossom into superstars and get their plaudits for it. But some fly beneath the radar, growing into key roles without receiving a ton of mainstream attention. Here's a look at five such players in 2024-25. The hulking 6-foot-6 Belarusian winger has blasted past his career highs this season. Protas had 13 goals in 169 NHL games across his first three seasons for Washington. This year, he already has 29 goals through 67 games, as well as 30 assists. And when you take into account that 54 of his 59 points thus far have come at even strength – ranking him eighth in the NHL, which is just two points behind Connor McDavid – you get a player who's gone from being a bottom-six forward to a top producer for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals. Aliaksei Protas keeps on rolling 🔥⁰Already building on career-best marks in points and goals this season, the @Capitals forward picked up his first NHL career hat trick and three short-handed points to lead the league in goals and overall scoring as NHLPA Player of the Week! — NHLPA (@NHLPA) March 14, 2025 The 2019 second-round pick has really taken off for the Ducks this season, especially since the calendar flipped to January. Since the start of the new year, LaCombe has 21 points in 30 games and is regularly playing 24-plus minutes a night. The 24-year-old has become a top-pair defenseman as the Ducks have turned in a winning record in the 2025 portion of the schedule. LaCombe's best game came in Edmonton on March 4, when he put up three assists and was a plus-5 in the Ducks' 6-2 win. Johnson's biggest moment of fame occurred at the 2022 World Junior Championship when he scored the golden goal for Canada. Now in the NHL, the 22-year-old fifth-overall draft pick from 2021 is having a breakout season in Columbus. Despite missing a handful of games with a shoulder injury in the fall, he's already surpassed his career highs in goals and points in just 50 games. Kent Johnson with one of the cleanest goals of the 360, no look, perfect placement on the backhand. What a goal. — Nasher (@TheNasher61) February 5, 2025 One big part of Johnson's success has been a full-time move to the wing, as evidenced by him not taking a single faceoff this season after spending time at center in past seasons. This has allowed the highly skilled forward to showcase his scoring ability without having to stress over the two-way responsibilities of a center. Edvinsson may not have the flashy point totals of others on this list, but the Swedish defenseman has quietly emerged as a solid top-four D-man in Detroit. The Red Wings love to slowly integrate their prospects into the NHL club by giving them plenty of time with AHL Grand Rapids, and that was the case for the 6-foot-6 blueliner's first two seasons. But in 2024-25, the mobile Edvinsson has solidified his spot, playing almost 21 minutes a game for a team fighting for a wild-card playoff berth, and he'll be a key player if Detroit can get over the line and make it into the post-season. Dorofeyev has broken out as a goal-scoring machine in Vegas this season, especially on the power play. The Russian winger is second on the team in goals with 27, including 11 on the man advantage, using his big one-timer from the right wall as a weapon to beat opposing goalies. He's also shooting more accurately this season, as he's registering three shots-on-goal per game in 2024-25, up from around two shots per game last year. Dorofeyev has embraced his role at the top of Vegas' lineup. Pavel Dorofeyev's got goals in three straight games! ⚔️#NHLStats: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ — NHL (@NHL) March 15, 2025 Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on
Express Tribune
29-01-2025
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Ducks vs Kraken 6-4: Ducks ride 3-goal second period to sink Kraken
The Anaheim Ducks used a dominant second period to secure a 6-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night at Climate Pledge Arena, earning their third straight win and moving within seven points of a Western Conference Wild Card spot. Ducks take control in second period Six different Anaheim players found the net, with Mason McTavish leading the way by scoring the equalizer early in the second and assisting on Robby Fabbri's go-ahead goal minutes later. Jackson LaCombe capped off the three-goal surge, giving the Ducks a 5-3 lead they would not relinquish. Seattle responded in the third period when Shane Wright scored on a power play to cut the deficit to one, but Frank Vatrano sealed the game with an empty-net goal in the final minutes. Offensive contributions Troy Terry, Cutter Gauthier, McTavish, Fabbri, LaCombe, and Vatrano all scored for Anaheim. Ryan Strome recorded two assists, helping the Ducks reach five goals for a third consecutive game for the first time since the 2015-16 season. Goaltender Lukas Dostal made 27 saves to earn his 13th win of the season. Seattle's Eeli Tolvanen, Mitchell Stephens, Jaden Schwartz, and Wright scored in the loss. Philipp Grubauer stopped 17 shots as the Kraken dropped to 22-27-3, falling behind Anaheim in the Pacific Division standings. Key moments McTavish's Impact: Named the NHL's Second Star of the Week, McTavish continued his strong play with a goal and an assist, marking his third straight multi-point game. Early Offense: The teams combined for five goals in the opening period, with Anaheim responding twice after falling behind 2-1. LaCombe's Emergence: The young defenseman now leads all Ducks blueliners in goals, assists, and points this season. Anaheim concludes its road trip Thursday against the Calgary Flames.
