When it comes to the biggest revelations of the Senators’ 2020-21 season, the player who unquestionably stands out is Artyom Zub.
Signed out of the KHL to a modest one-year contract worth $925,000, Zub was essentially given a year to prove to the organization that he could be an NHL player. At 25-years of age, Zub was a relatively unknown and unheralded commodity. The driving factor there was that he simply never put up great offensive numbers while playing in Russia. Across seven KHL seasons, Zub’s regular season high in points was nine.
Zub did however impress one important figure early on.
Perhaps Thomas Chabot has a future in scouting and player valuations. Without that high-end offensive aptitude, it is not easy for unknown commodities to attract a lot of attention.
Through the Senators’ first eight games, the Russian defenceman never dressed. His absence from the Senators’ lineup early on was deflected by general manager Pierre Dorion as product of the pandemic.
“This is where the lack of exhibition games didn’t give us the luxury to see what we had,” explained Dorion to TSN 1200. “(Zub) was average, to me, in training camp and at a certain point in time, the coach is going to go with more NHL-proven players.”
The opportunity to evaluate their players against external competition was never available. That is true, but it is also feels a convenient excuse to brush over the fact that the team’s record and results were terrible. Before Zub entered the lineup on January 31 against Edmonton, the Senators had a 1-6-1 record through their first eight games. Although the Thomas Chabot and Nikita Zaitsev pairing got off to a great start, the second (Mike Reilly, Erik Gudbranson) and third (Braydon Coburn, Josh Brown) pairings were getting absolutely decimated.
When Zub entered the lineup, the positive change was immediately noticeable.
According to NaturalStatTrick’s data, the Senators not only tilted the ice in their favour when Zub was on the ice at five-on-five, they dominated the opposition.
Zub’s first seven games:
Through Zub’s last 10 games, the numbers have slipped a little, but they still remain strong.
Zub is not a physical player and he certainly doesn’t play with an edge that earns lesser players more accolades and praise as being tough to play against.
Since the 2007 Stanley Cup Final team, the blue line’s talent has eroded considerably and it has helped contribute to the team’s inconsistent play. Although the organization has found some gifted puck-moving defencemen, their ability to identify good defensive defencemen has been a struggle. Since 2007, the Senators’ blue line has featured names like Mark Borowiecki, Jared Cowen, Christoph Schubert, Eric Gryba, Matt Carkner, Ron Hainsey, Luke Richardson, Ben Harpur, Johnny Oduya, Erik Gudbranson, Braydon Coburn, Mike Commodore, Jason Smith, Nikita Zaitsev and Andy Sutton. When it comes to defensive defencemen, it seems clear that the Senators have a type.
If you look Ottawa’s recent history and effective defensive defencemen, two names stand out: Artyom Zub and Ottawa’s favourite new podcaster, Marc Methot. Methot was obviously a much more physical player, but what he and Zub have in common is mobility, gap control, good active sticks to disrupt passing lanes and the ability to make a good first pass.
Despite his continued strong play, it has taken some time for Zub’s role to expand. He has only eclipsed 20 minute of ice time once this season on the year and he’s barely played on the penalty kill. Zub has averaged 1:12 of shorthanded ice time per game this season and that ranks behind Coburn (3:07), Gudbranson (2:43), Zaitsev (2:37), J. Brown (2:18) and Mike Reilly (1:27).
Hockeyviz.com’s visuals are exceptional at demonstrating just how good Zub is at five-on-five.
Where there really is an incredible impact is when Zub plays on the penalty kill.
For a team with the league’s 25th ranked penalty kill unit, there should be no excuse for not utilizing Zub more.
At even strength, Zub was recently moved to the team’s top pairing with Thomas Chabot Thursday night versus Calgary. Just 17 games into his NHL career, it feels somewhat weird to write that may be at the point where Zub has morphed into a lynchpin on this blue line. Nonetheless, here we are. Keeping an eye on the future, as an impending restricted free agent, this may be the opportune time to ink Zub to a team-friendly extension. Theoretically, his career is still in its infancy and the organization should have a ton of leverage. The defensive results are already pretty impressive the longer they wait, Zub’s role will only continue to grow.
Other News and Notes:
Earlier this week, a Czech news outlet discussed Filip Chlapik’s departure from the Senators’ organization and his decision to head to Finland. The article focused on how many teams Chlapik has played for in the 2020-21 season, but it contained an interesting quote from his agent, Robert Spálenka. Through a rough Google translation, Spálenka conveyed the message that the Senators were not happy with where Chlapik was playing before being recalled to North America.
"According to them, due to the quality of the competition, he would just get bad habits and not help himself. If Filip decided not to listen to Ottawa, it could affect the negotiation of a new contract.”
Chlapik played with Prague's Sparta before rejoining the Senators. I don’t know whether the Senators held that against him when it came to contract negotiations or deciding whether he warranted a spot in their lineup, but maybe they did?
Marc Methot and former Brent Wallace launched the inaugural episode of the ‘Wally & Methot Show’. The first episode was a great introduction to the show and highlighted how vital the work of former Senators employees Craig Medaglia and Adam Wood will be to the show’s success. The production value is fantastic, but it is great to see Wallace back in the fold and looking enthused with this new project. As if things could not get any better, the duo announced that Daniel Alfredsson will join the show for its second episode airing Monday!
In last night’s Belleville loss to Manitoba, Logan Brown was on the bench for a critical stretch of the game when the Belleville goaltender was pulled for an extra attacker. After the game Troy Mann indicated to David Foot that Brown was healthy, but his utilization was a coach’s decision. Each passing American League Hockey game offers a referendum on the Senators prospect’s future outlook.
Zub really has been a nice surprise. Do you know if there is any source out there that helps put situational context around small sample sizes?
The shot rates look promising when he’s playing on the PK but obviously a small sample size. I wonder if those minutes have been a culmination of “clean up” time towards the end of a PK?