Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is brazenly pissed off by his star winger. It is clear he desires Andrei Kuzmenko to work tougher and smarter.
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Andrei Kuzmenko is probably not scoring almost as a lot as he would love — and also you’d have been daft to assume he may maintain scoring like he did final 12 months — however a lot of the remainder of his sport stays the identical.
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When he’s on the ice, the Vancouver Canucks take extra photographs and rating extra objectives than they provide up.
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At its base, that’s a very powerful factor.
However clearly, it’s not the one factor. There are particulars that NHL groups search for past the overall numbers.
And whenever you hear Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet discuss his star winger, there are some constant criticisms, criticisms which have been there from simply concerning the day Tocchet arrived.
He has taken exception to Kuzmenko’s work away from the puck, about his decision-making on the forecheck and within the defensive finish.
His reply Thursday morning to a query about whether or not Kuzmenko can look to successes in his previous, to the success that Nils Höglander has had this season, as examples of the way to get to the place Tocchet desires him to be, was particular.
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“There’s too many occasions the place he must be the primary man on the forecheck, and for no matter purpose he at all times finally ends up behind all people,” the coach mentioned. That was particular and clear.
“You’ll be able to’t play that means … as a result of it makes the opposite guys in your line play slower,” he went on. That tells you Tocchet is how the Canucks’ forecheck was been working, or not working, quite, when Kuzmenko is on the ice.
The blokes behind you on the forecheck count on the primary man up the ice to function in a selected means, to drive the opposite workforce towards a selected spot.
However in the event you’re not delivering, that throws all the things off.
“Work, work, work,” Kuzmenko advised reporters Thursday was the message he acquired from his coach.
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It could shock you to be taught that underneath Tocchet, Kuzmenko has really performed greater than he did underneath Bruce Boudreau. A few of that’s about how lengthy the primary energy play unit stays on the ice, however it’s additionally about taking part in with Elias Pettersson as a lot as he does.
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Final season, after Tocchet took over for Boudreau, Kuzmenko’s ice time went up. Underneath Boudreau, he performed precisely 16 minutes per sport. Tocchet performed Kuzmenko 32 seconds extra per sport within the second half of final season.
This season, ice time is down for all of the Canucks’ prime forwards as Tocchet has leaned extra on his third line. However within the midst of all this, Kuzmenko has the fourth-most ice time amongst Canucks forwards.
The alternatives are there, however it’s about what he’s doing with these probabilities which can be irritating his coach.
32.4
Based on NHL Edge stats, Kuzmenko is likely one of the slower skaters within the league. His prime skating burst pace this season has been simply 32.4 kph, nicely beneath the league common of 35.2 kph.
In fact, there are various sluggish skaters who’ve success within the league, however that’s by taking part in smarter. For Kuzmenko, clearly the answer for him received’t simply be onerous work — it is going to be recognizing the way to take advantage of his skills.
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He has, as an illustration, improved his shot velocity. Based on NHL Edge, his common shot pace is up six kph this season over final.
The query from right here is can he make himself a simpler skater?
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Since he arrived within the NHL final season, Kuzmenko has principally performed with Elias Pettersson at five-on-five. The duo has skated for a bit of greater than 934 minutes collectively. They’ve been aside for a bit of greater than 314 minutes.
And there’s a small however vital distinction for Kuzmenko when he’s with and away from the Canucks’ star centre: when he’s on the ice with Pettersson, the Canucks are taking about 53 per cent of the shot makes an attempt. With out Pettersson, his share sinks to 48 per cent.
14.7
Kuzmenko’s profession capturing share within the KHL is a really respectable 14.7 per cent.
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However he has been on a surge for a number of years now. Within the three seasons earlier than he joined the Canucks, he shot 19.7, 15.9 and 19.8 per cent within the common season with SKA St. Petersburg.
He was by no means going to repeat his excellent 27.3 per cent capturing share from final season, however there was purpose to assume he may maintain scoring at a good clip — not collapse to the 11.1 per cent capturing share he has posted to date this season.
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Talking of untamed capturing percentages, there are at present 4 Canucks with a capturing share above 20 per cent: Brock Boeser (25.7), Nils Höglander (25.0), J.T. Miller (23.3) and Sam Lafferty (21.2).
That’s nicely above the profession marks for all. Boeser’s profession capturing share is 13.5, Höglander’s is 10.9 per cent, Miller is a 14.7 per cent profession shooter, and Lafferty has scored on 9.9 per cent of his profession photographs.
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Even in a high-scoring surroundings like at present’s NHL, all 4 will hit a chilly patch at one level or one other, bringing their capturing share again right down to a extra human quantity.
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The Canucks have 13 wins this season towards groups within the backside half of the league. That’s far and away tops within the NHL.
The Canucks have feasted on the league’s weaker groups. Based on Hockey-Reference.com, they’ve performed the simplest schedule within the NHL up to now.
Profitable towards weak groups has put them within the robust place they’re in. They’ll’t sit again, however they’re in a very good place whereas they climate the storm that’s their robust schedule in the mean time.
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