Through the first two games of the season, the defense corps for the Blue Jackets have left a little bit to be desired. The team has given up 7 goals, which isn't going to help them tread water over the full season. One guy has looked better than expected, however: Denton Mateychuk is playing at a really high level.
Injuries have played a big part in this team's struggles in their own end. In their first game on Thursday night, they definitely struggled with cross-ice passing, giving up too much time and space to the Buffalo Sabres.
The offense showed up that night, and bailed them out. That wasn't the case on Saturday, as the speed and east/west game of the Utah Mammoth also picked them apart, resulting in a 4-1 loss that honestly felt like it could have been a lot worse.
It's never going to be easy to keep pace with some of the league's best offensive teams, when you're short 3 of your top 5 on defense. Out of the lineup is one player from each pairing. Damon Severson from the top pair, Ivan Provorov from the second pair, and Dante Fabbro from the third pair.
One injury on the top pairing moves everyone up one spot. So, when you lose a guy like Severson, you need a guy like Provorov. Without both of them, it becomes tough-especially when you also lose arguably the only guy capable of stepping into that top-4 (Fabbro). But it hasn't been all bad without them. In fact, one guy is proving that he needs more of a role.
Denton Mateychuk is getting the ice he deserves.
Due to the shortage of bodies, 22 year old Denton Mateychuk has been forced onto the top pairing-and on his off side. Alongside Zach Werenski, he has been nothing short of magnificent through this team's first two games.
In those two games, his average time on ice is 27:48, which has him 4th in the NHL and 2nd on the team (to Werenski). He picked up an assist in the season opener, which is his only point thus far. But, it's not necessarily his counting stats we're looking at. His underlying numbers tell a greater story.
Per MoneyPuck, Denton leads all Blue Jackets defensemen with a 52% CORSI rating. This tells us that his team controls the puck more than half the time when he's on the ice. While it's a small sample size, I was a little bit surprised by this number.
The reason it surprised me is because, the next closest defenseman on the team (Jake Christiansen) is at only 48%; and he's only averaging 8:26 of playing time per game. Mateychuk's partner (Werenski) sits at 40%.
Maybe the most impressive part of Denton's early season play is the turnover number. He sits at 2. For a guy who has played nearly half of this team's minutes through two games, with the puck on his stick as often as it is, that's very impressive. Especially playing on the right side, with the game often on his backhand.
Of course, it hasn't all been perfect. He's slightly undersized, which makes it harder for him to defend against larger opponents. As a result, he has taken two minor penalties, which is probably the main area of focus for him to clean up.
As guys get back into the lineup, he can settle into a better role, where he doesn't have to eat up those heavy defensive minutes, which should help clean up those mistakes. Even so,, when you put it all together, Denton Mateychuk is driving play at a really high level.
Hopefully, this earns him some good grace with this coaching staff, and that results in more opportunities. With the league trending towards this type of defenseman, I would love to see what he can do as a power-play quarterback. Those counting stats don't seem to be too far off, especially if he can get that kind of opportunity.
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