Kevin Connauton
 

I'd appreciate any insight into the bad season he is having with the Chicago Wolves. After putting up 33 pts in 73 games with them last season he only has 9 points in 31 games so far and is a -12.

Brad Hunt and Chris Tanev are ahead of him for defencemen scoring on the Wolves so it's not like he's been bumped down the depth chart by NHLers palying in the AHL.

Ya, I'd love to hear some too.

I read that Gillis had pencilled him in for a roster spot last year, saying that they wanted to throw him in and see how it went (I'll try and dig up the article).

Now, not so sure...

He is clearly not ready for the NHL right now. Better for him to take his bumps in the AHL than to get torched in the NHL.

Don't put too much into the lack luster #s...

He is haveing a slower season... But concider last year Chicago was a top team in the lg and was scoring 2.8 goals per game... and they were getting .66 goals per game on the powerplay that was 15.4%, they also were getting 4.3 powerplay oppertunites per game

This year they are a mid to lower team, with less fire power, the offence is down 2.68 Goals per game .62 on the powerplay and is at 15.3% this year they are only getting 4.2 oppertinties per game...

There isnt a huge hit in numbers, but adding it up its a differance of about 3-5 points do far this season...

When playing with these numers:
Connauton is getting .29 PTS/game this year... and was getting .45 PTS/game last year...

If we figure that the decrease in production and PP is worth 4 points for Connauton over the 32 games so far... his PTS/GP would be at .42...

His low #s are down 1 point over about every 8 games...

Now outside the mathmatics, Connauton stuggles defencively at even strength and doesn't play on penalty kills, this is where his major issue are keeping him out of the NHL... He is a powerplay spe******t with a huge shot.. and he hasnt lost that... he has 80 shots for only 2 goals agaisnt better quality goaltending... so he is getting quality oppertunities a few more bonces and his #s are much better...

I still feel Connauton is a good bet, but you will have to understand he is much like a MA Bergeron, Gragnani, Kurt Foster, most of his output is based on PP #s... and having the Sedins & Edler working with him on the PP is much better than a Brett Sterling, Andrew Ebbett, Schroeder & Brad Hunt...

He is still just a fringe player/call up at this moment... But he isn't playing as bad as it looks... much of it is situations surronding him...

I've watched Connauton from the get-go, and if there's one thing I would say about him is that he's not an NHL'er. I've watched him play live on multiple occasions and have become completely used to boneheaded plays and flashes of brilliance answered by horrendous defensive play.

He has developed into a better defensive d-man than he once was, but I don't think his game will ever be good enough to be a consistent NHL player. Call-ups? Yup. That's about it though.

He has great offensive instincts but, as a loose comparison, I see him a lot like Bobby Sanguinetti. Good AHL game but it stops there. For him to make it, his offensive game needs to be fantastic and, while he has an incredible knack to get the puck on the net, that portion of his game doesn't appear to be getting better either.

I would take a shot at him in deep leagues (I did in my 24 man dynasty) but, IMO, he's a longshot and won't ever stick. There are smarter minds out there that disagree with me, though.

I think he is too young to say that he can't get to or excell in the NHL... Dman have funny development curves. The wolves haven't been so good and Arniel is terrible this season. Almost all the Canucks prospects are doing worse this year than last and it isn't all their fault.