Last night Curtis Lazar made his ninth appearance in a game this season, meaning that if he plays in one more additional game thereafter, the first year of his three-year entry-level contract would be burned and bring him one season closer to unrestricted free agency.
The Senators were faced with a choice to decide what was best for Lazar’s development as a professional hockey player: another year of junior hockey in Edmonton of the Western Hockey League or allow him to play past this games played threshold in the National Hockey League.
Like any junior-eligible player who approached this threshold, Lazar’s uncertain status has lingered over his head for almost a month and a half now, but today the Senators decided to remove that uncertainty announcing that Lazar would remain with the organization.
The #Sens have informed forward Curtis Lazar that he will remain with the team through his 10-game mark. #CongratsCurtis
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 5, 2014
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Proponents of either choice were well armed with their own validations for why Lazar should stay or go.
Those in favour of returning him to junior look at his nine game sample size and note that Lazar has averaged 13:03 of ice time per game – only Mike Hoffman, Erik Condra, Chris Neil and Colin Greening have averaged less.
They’re fourth line minutes and after averaging more than 14 minutes per game in his first four regular season games (15:04, 14:38, 15:09, and 14:15), Lazar’s minutes have dropped to the 10 to 13 minutes per game range in his last five (10:47, 10:55, 12:24, 12:43 and 11:35).
Lazar sticking around is bad news for wingers like Erik Condra or Colin Greening who have had difficulty getting into the lineup with any kind of regularity. Lazar’s presence also means that barring a trade, the Senators will resort to having to use one of their natural centers on the wing. Whether that’s Lazar, David Legwand, Mika Zibanejad or Zack Smith (and usually it’s been the latter), the Senators will put one of these players in a position where they’re less comfortable playing. (As an aside, maybe this allows the organization to flip a guy like Smith in a package with a defenceman for a higher-quality defensive option, especially with a guy like Jean-Gabriel Pageau in Binghamton awaiting his opportunity.)
Between Lazar’s allotted ice time and the organization’s depth, it would have been easy for the organization to cop out and simply return Lazar to junior and alleviate their numbers situation – a problem that will only become more pressing when Marc Methot returns from his back injury and the Senators will be required to get back down to a 23-man roster.
The Senators did not do that, instead preferring to dress what they felt was its most competitive roster.
Lazar certainly hasn’t looked out of place. It helps that the Paul MacLean has kept him relatively sheltered by having him face low levels of competition. Lazar also has highest relative offensive zone start rates at 5v5 amongst forwards on Ottawa’s roster – which have assuredly helped his decent possession rates at 5v5 (49.48 CF%, but with a 4.38 relative Corsi).
Lazar’s hockey IQ, skating ability and willingness to engage the opposition has served him well to this point. Like any rookie, his game has suffered from some inconsistency and poor linemates, but when he plays with assertion, he can be an effective player for this team.
Although Lazar’s ice time has been reduced of late, many would say that this has also coincided with some of his best play. This “kid line” featuring Lazar between Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone has played exceptionally well, providing him with better puck possession wingers than he’s received to this point.
It’s a big assumption to think that Lazar will remain together with these linemates, especially since injuries will occur and poor performances elsewhere could force the coaching staff to shuffle things around. Keeping that in mind, it’s not that big of a leap to think that this “kid line” could continue to play well and earn more minutes at the expense of others like the Smith-Legwand-Neil line.
Maybe that kind of role and responsibility doesn’t sound sexy enough for those who believe that Lazar would be better served by another year in junior, but as a player who has accomplished everything that he has over the past few seasons in Edmonton of the WHL, it’s impossible to say with any certainty as to what’s best for Lazar’s development.
That obviously won’t stop people from offering their opinion up to the time when the Senators will have to make another decision on Lazar.
Using Mikhail Grigorenko as an example, teams have had a change of heart before, so I suppose the Senators could always revisit sending Lazar back to down to junior at some point. Come December however, the Senators can consider loaning Lazar to the Canadian World Junior team for the 2015 WJHC.
As unlikely as it is that the Senators would loan Lazar away while they’re competing for a playoff spot, the only thing that we can hopefully count on is more stories involving Phillips and Lazar.
Curtis Lazar says he woke up this morning to congratulations cards handmade by Chris Phillips’ three kids. — Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) November 5, 2014
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What can I say. #proud pic.twitter.com/xO4uxSWAGA — Chris Phillips (@CPhillipsFour) November 3, 2014
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