Carolina Hurricanes May Have Something Special in Rookie Defenseman Jaccob Slavin
By Brett Finger
In a large pool of talented young defensemen, rookie Jaccob Slavin has stood out as a premier young blue liner for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Going into the season, the Carolina Hurricanes weren’t even planning on giving defenseman Jaccob Slavin, a 2012 4th round draft pick, a shot at the NHL.
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The plan was to give Slavin a full year in the AHL and to wait for him to get comfortable with professional hockey coming off of his collegiate career at Colorado College. Plans change.
An injury to established top-4 defenseman James Wisniewski and a set back in the play of Ryan Murphy forced Carolina’s hand, and they were put in a tough situation. Do they look to make a trade, settle with playing a guy like Michal Jordan every game, or give other young players a shot. They went with the 3rd options and gave Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin an extended look in the NHL.
This was a risky move. If these guys ended up not being ready, you could jeopardize their development and ultimately put their confidence in a bad place, at least for the time being. Somehow, Slavin and Pesce found a way to not only excel, but completely dominate their opponents.
Carolina Hurricanes
Both of these young guys kind of did the impossible – outshine Noah Hanifin. What Hanifin has done so far has been remarkable, especially given he is just 18. What I’m about to write isn’t an attempt to overshadow the work of Hanifin and even Pesce, but what Jaccob Slavin has done this year is something the Carolina Hurricanes have never really seen from a rookie defenseman.
For many, Slavin wasn’t even on the radar of young defensemen for the Hurricanes, and if he was, he was near the bottom of the list. Before the season started, I ranked Slavin as the 4th best prospect for the Canes, but even then, I had Trevor Carrick higher on the list. It is worth noting the Carrick will be in the AHL All-Star Game in late January, so he’s not doing too shabby down in Charlotte.
Since breaking into the league, Slavin has slowly just gotten better and better. It has been a quiet progression for him. His minutes have slowly creeped up, he has slowly been exposed to better opposition, and he was slowly proved to everyone that he is the real deal.
Jaccob Slavin isn’t good in the neutral zone. Jaccob Slavin is dominant in the neutral zone. What he does when the opposition comes up the ice with the puck is unheard of from a rookie defenseman. He intercepts passes, knows when to get up in their faces, and knows when to sit back and let the play come to him. He is an incredibly smart hockey player, and he continues to play smart against some of the top players in the league in games against the Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues in recent days.
Advanced stats support the high praise he has received as of late. In all situations, his on-ice save percentage is 94.1% (1st amongst CAR defenders), he has a 60.7% goals for percentage (1st amongst all CAR defenders), he has 1.45 goals against/60 (1st amongst all CAR defenders), he has a 40.55 fenwick for/60 (3rd amongst all CAR defenders), and he has a 102.07 PDO (1st amongst all CAR defenders).
Slavin has also started to get a good look on the man advantage. And so far, so good. He has 9.43 assists/60 and a 100% corsi percentage on the powerplay. He also has 0 giveaways in that situation. Keep in mind this is a limited sample size given he’s only had 11:23 of powerplay time this season, but he has made an impact when he has been given his chances.
That’s just a small sample size of the impact that Jaccob Slavin has on the ice. Slavin has passed the “eye test”, and his numbers back the fact that he is not only a good defenseman, he is a great defenseman for his age. What he does in his own end and how he shuts down opponents on the rush has been incredible, and we are starting to see how he can jump up in the rush and be a force offensively.
Next: Interview with Canes Defenseman James Wisniewski
For this 21 year old, it has been a quick and easy transition to the NHL. Jaccob Slavin has an absurdly bright future ahead of him, and if we are still talking about this player and how good he is in April, or even in May, we will have a much better sense on just how high his ceiling might be for the Carolina Hurricanes.
*Advanced statistics from puckalytics.com and war-on-ice.com*