Anaheim Ducks Hampus Lindholm Has Best Week Of Career Against Karlsson, Doughty
Anaheim Ducks 21 year old defensemen Hampus Lindholm just had one of the best weeks of his career against two of the games premiere defensemen, why he deserves recognition.
Heading into the 2015-2016 season there was excitement surrounding the Anaheim Ducks young defensive group. With veteran Francois Beauchemin gone, it opened the door for guys like Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen to take on a bigger role.
While they have all played well this season, one appears to be gaining confidence and his arrival to the big stage may not be far away.
Hampus Lindholm just had arguably the best three game stretch of his entire career. Before we look at what occurred, let’s take a few steps back.
Lindholm, the third year defensemen taken 6th overall by the Ducks at the 2012 draft has never had his potential as young player questioned, but a slow start to this season halted the rapid growth in his game that we had seen throughout his first two NHL seasons.
Losing the veteran presence of Beauchemin, who had been Lindholm’s defensive partner during his first two NHL seasons, created a tough transition for the 21 year old, but Lindholm has begun to quickly turn things around over recent weeks which leads us to his recent stretch of dominant play.
In the past week, Hampus Lindholm and the Ducks squared off against two of the games best defensemen when Erik Karlsson and Drew Doughty were in Anaheim. Both are headlining the Norris trophy discussion this season, an award given to the leagues best defensemen.
The Ducks also took on the Dallas Stars and the leagues best offense which consists Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, two guys headlining the league MVP discussion.
Lindholm turns 22 years old today and this might be a monumental birthday as it appears he may be ready to turn the corner and take the next big step in an already impressive NHL career. Let’s take a look at how good he was last week in his final days as a 21 year old.
Let’s start with Wednesday against Ottawa and Erik Karlsson.
The Ducks came out on top winning by a score of 4-1. Hampus Lindholm was named the second star of the game and I’ll be the first to vouch for the fact that he outplayed Erik Karlsson in this game.
Here’s the head-to-head stats for Lindholm and Karlsson from that game.
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While the Ducks controlled possession during the late stages of the game, it’s clear that Lindholm made a giant impact on this game.
He controlled 70% of possession and the Senators generated just 4 shots on goal at even strength when Lindholm was on the ice. He was joining the rush and his assist to Jakob Silfverberg late in the game was a laser of a pass. He finished as a +1 and was credited with 4 blocked shots, two of which likely saved goals.
Here is a link to an inverted “hockeyviz” chart showing who generated and suppressed shots most effectively in the Ottawa game. The goal is to be in the top right corner of the chart. Take a look at where Lindholm ended up.
Overall, Lindholm stepped up and was a huge reason why the Ducks won this game. He played big minutes against Ottawa’s top forwards and generated offensive opportunities all night, his assist on the Silfverberg goal is worth another look as he squeezes a pass through a tight area and perfectly leads Silfverberg into the offensive zone.
You could see Lindholm’s game really coming together of late and against Ottawa, he looked like a guy who had a new found sense of confidence. He probably should have been the first star of the game but Shea Theodore scored his first NHL goal which happened to be the game-winner, second star will have to do.
The Dallas game
After excelling in a head-to-head matchup with the leagues top defensemen, Lindholm was then tasked with shutting down the Dallas Stars and the leagues best offense who average 3.30 goals per game.
The Ducks again won this game by a score of 4-2. This game was incredibly tight as Dallas made a late push after the Ducks jumped out to an early lead. 5 v 5 possession was deadlocked at 44-43 in the Ducks favor.
Here’s Lindholm’s stats from that game.
[table id=86 /]
68.9% possession, he again drove possession and suppressed shots. How did Anaheim’s other defensemen fair in terms of possession? Bieksa- 54.5%, Manson- 54.1%, Stoner- 46%, Vatanen- 39%, Theodore- 38.1%.
Here is another link to an inverted “hockeyviz” chart showing who generated and suppressed shots most effectively in the Dallas game. Again, the goal is to be in the top right corner of the chart. Take a look at where Lindholm ended up.
Dallas, the leagues most dangerous offense, is powered by forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin who have been the leagues most lethal duo this season. Jamie Benn alone has 56 points, thats double what Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf each have, 28 points. Tyler Seguin is right behind Benn with 53 points and if the season ended today these two would likely both be finalist for league MVP.
At 5 v 5 even strength, Lindholm played nearly 10 of his 16 minutes against Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Sharp.
Here’s his stats against the Dallas top line.
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Lindholm and his defensive partner Josh Manson did not allow Seguin and Benn to get any clean looks at 5 v 5.
Jamie Benn did score on the power play late in the third but Lindholm played a big part in shutting down the leagues top offense. Lindholm was named second star of the game just as he was the game before against Ottawa.
Kings come to town
Then came the L.A. Kings, who the Ducks were facing for the first time this season. If Erik Karlsson is the leagues best defensemen, then Kings defensemen Drew Doughty is likely second or third. Lindholm was again in for a big matchup against a reigning Norris trophy finalist.
The Kings won the game by a score of 3-2 but it was another close game in terms of possession. At 5 v 5 the Ducks had a slight edge in possession at 50-49.
Lindholm played nearly 26 minutes in this game but was held off the scoresheet and finished with an even rating.
Drew Doughty played nearly 30 minutes, didn’t register a point and finished with a +1 rating.
Here are the 5 v 5 stat comparisons for Lindholm and Doughty from this game.
[table id=85 /]
The first thing that should be recognized is 5 v 5 ice-time. While Doughty did play nearly 29 minutes in total, he only played about 2 minutes more than Lindholm at 5 v 5.
Once again, a link to an inverted “hockeyviz” chart showing who generated and surpressed shots most effectively in the L.A game. The goal is once again to be in the top right corner of the chart. Look at where Lindholm and Doughty finished.
Lindholm played around 7 minutes against the Kings top line of Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli and Milan Lucic.
When Lindholm was out against Kopitar and company, the Kings top line had a tough time generating anything. However, in the second period both Tyler Toffoli and Anze Kopitar found the back of the net at even strangth. Lindholm was not on the ice for either goal.
It was Kevin Bieksa and Sami Vatanen who were trying to fend off the Kings top line and obviously failed to do so. Bieksa and Vatanen both finished as a -1.
The Takeaway
All of these stats can be accepted or rejected, do as you please. But all of these stats most certainly match the “eye test” that most people prefer to use when evaluating defensemen. If you watched these three games last week there is absolutely no way you deny the fact that Hampus Lindholm was one of the best players on the ice.
If you will deny that, I’m going to have to suggest you get your eyes checked.
These are the kind of games you will soon expect from Lindholm when he fully develops into one of the leagues most dominant two-way defensemen.
So, 2 points in three games to go along with a dominant defensive effort against two of the leagues top defensemen and the leagues top offense, not a bad start to 2016 for Hampus.
What’s next for Lindholm and the Ducks? Minnesota at home tonight. The Wild just so happen to have a great defensemen of their own, Ryan Suter, who just like Karlsson and Doughty, absolutely deserves to be in the Norris trophy conversation this season. Another big test for Lindholm.
All stats via War-on-ice.com – Hockeystats.ca – Naturalstattrick.com – Hockkeyviz.com – NHL.com