Jordan Staal’s injury killer for the Hurricanes
The 2016-17 NHL season has not been kind to its star players.
We’ve yet to reach December and Steven Stamkos, Johnny Gaudreau, Taylor Hall, Jack Eichel and Jonathan Quick, among others, have already missed, or will miss, extended periods of time due to injury.
The latest high-end player to fall victim to the injury bug is Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal, who suffered a concussion on Sunday and has no timetable for a return.
While Staal isn’t a sexy name and doesn’t post the eye-popping numbers like many listed above, he is an extremely valuable player and one the Carolina Hurricanes certainly couldn’t afford to lose.
His offensive totals (nine points in 21 games) hardly seem irreplaceable but he brings much more to the table than that.
Staal is one of the most utilized forwards on Carolina’s roster. He plays big minutes on a nightly basis and regularly skates against opposing team’s top players. He is a key cog on the penalty kill, he takes all the important faceoffs and is on the ice in pretty much every meaningful situation one could think of.
Not only does he play the toughest minutes head coach Bill Peters can put on his plate, which helps shelter more offensive players like Victor Rask and Jeff Skinner, but he has been really good while doing so. Check that, he’s been dominant.
At 5 v 5, the Hurricanes are controlling more than 60% of the shot attempts with Staal on the ice. He ranks 1st on the team in that category and 4th in the league (behind all three members of the insanely good Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak line).
The Hurricanes have controlled an even more ludicrous 64.64% of the scoring chances with Staal on the ice at 5 v 5. Once again that is good for 1st on the team (among regulars) and 4th in the NHL.
When Staal is on the ice the Hurricanes have dominated territorial play, which is pretty impressive given the minutes he plays.
His absence is really going to hurt the Hurricanes.
Pekka Rinne turning back the clock
Since his breakout season in 2007-08, Pekka Rinne’s name has always been thrown into the hat when talking about the league’s best goaltenders.
For years his play hasn’t warranted all the praise he has gotten, though. Heading into this year’s campaign, Rinne has posted a .910 save percentage or worse, which is below league average, in three of the last four seasons. The Predators were a very good team in spite of Rinne, not because of him.
The same can’t be said this season as Rinne has surprisingly been excellent and among the best goaltenders in the league thus far.
Through 17 games Rinne owns an impressive 1.98 goals against average and .935 save percentage, which is good for 5th among goaltenders with 15+ starts. He is also 5th in 5v5 save percentage behind only Devan Dubnyk, Carey Price, Corey Crawford and Tuukka Rask.
In terms of points per game, the Predators are a playoff team in the Western Conference and Rinne’s play is a big reason why. That hasn’t been the case in recent years.
Written by Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell)