Zach Werenski
This has not been Zach Werenski’s greatest season of his young career but lets put it in perspective. Z entered the season still rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery. There were still questions of whether or not he would be ready for the season opener in his hometown of Detroit when training camp started.
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Then Seth Jones suffered a knee injury at the Kraft Hockeyville game in Clinton, NY and was ruled out for the first few weeks of the season. This thrust the young, still recovering d-man into the number one defensive role for a Jackets team that had very high preseason expectations. No pressure kid.
He started off the year slowly and didn’t get his first point until the fourth game of the year against Florida where he had a goal and an assist. He would then rip off six points in his next six games.
But things have never fully meshed for Z this season and he is now playing on the “third” pair with Scott Harrington. Defensively he seems to have taken a step back from where he was last year and a lot of that is likely to no longer playing beside future Norris Trophy winner Seth Jones.
This year through 21 games he has four goals and nine assist. The 13 points have him on a 51 point pace. It’s hard to be disappointed in that but yet, here we are.
Z still is young and figuring out the league. He has only played 176 games, an infant in defensive terms. I have no doubts he will turn it around but there will be more speed bumps. Not a great start to the year but I’m bullish on the 21-year-olds tenure with the Jackets.