In Craig MacTavish’s second summer as the Edmonton Oiler GM, he made some peculiar signings that centred around, for lack of a better word, fancy stats. MacT went full analytical in acquiring players who drove the possession for their previous teams. One player that MacT locked up to a whopping five-year deal is the enigma that is Mr. Underrated: Benoit Pouliot.
Benoit Pouliot is not a very big name, but he was coming off a very successful stint with the New York Rangers, his fourth team in the last four years. The Rangers went to the Stanley Cup final, and Pouliot was a vital part of that group. So when Pouliot went to free agency the Oilers jumped at the opportunity to sign him to a long-term deal.
A majority of commentators thought it was an overpayment. $4 million a season for a guy who has never scored more than 36 points in an NHL season and has bounced around the league???? Skepticism was very high.
Pouliot can be a very effective player, but he has his faults. All we heard before he suited up in one game was the fact that he can disappear for a series of games at a time, and he’s known to take the all-too-often dumb penalty in the offensive zone. Blah blah blah
All I wanted to see was a player who could fill out a secondary scoring role. Pouliot has done that and more.
IS HE SAFE UNDER CHIARELLI?
Peter Chiarelli had Pouliot as a Boston Bruin the year after they won the Stanley Cup. Pouliot produced well in a third-line role, and he produced a sparkling +18 rating.
Chiarelli obviously didn’t like something in Pouliot’s game, and he shipped him out to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Michel Ouellet and a 5th round pick in 2012. Pouliot was a restricted free agent at the time of the deal, so I’m assuming he wanted more money and Chiarelli didn’t feel comfortable investing that much in him.
Another reason to be concerned is that Pouliot’s name came up in some trade rumours. Apparently there was a deal to be had that involved Pouliot and Yakupov together going to the Ducks that apparently fell through when Pouliot got injured. Thank the Hockey Gods.
I’m hoping that Pouliot can show Peter Chiarelli how he is an effective player and stay on with the Oilers for the length of his contract. Jonathan Willis at the Cult of Hockey has some very good underlying numbers about Pouliot in this article.
POULIOT AS AN OILER
Somehow Pouliot has managed to stay out of the spotlight in Edmonton, and put up two of the best seasons of his career wearing the orange and blue. Since his last full year in Montreal to the present day, look at Pouliot’s numbers.
2010-11 MTL 79GP 13-17-30, 87 PIM, +2
2011-12 BOS 74GP 16-16-32, 38 PIM, +18
2012-13 TBL 34GP 8-12-20, 15 PIM, +8
2013-14 NYR 80GP 15-21-36, 56 PIM, +10
2014-15 EDM 58GP 19-15-34, 28 PIM, -1
2015-16 EDM 55GP 14-22-36, 30 PIM, -6
Pouliot has produced like a middle six forward for the majority of his career. If you take his seasons as an Edmonton Oiler and pro-rate them to 82 games played, his boxcars look like this.
2014-15 EDM 82GP 27-21-48
2015-16 EDM 82GP 21-33-55
Pouliot is a great fit for the Edmonton Oilers. He has produced at career-best rates and has found chemistry with the top two centres on the club in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid.
He’s not an overly physical player and not an overzealous forechecker, but Pouliot can retrieve pucks, and he’s skilled enough and smart enough to know where to put the puck after he gets it.
Pouliot’s biggest issue is that he has not been able to stay healthy. Here at the Rig, we’ve discussed the fact that the Edmonton Oilers biggest hurdle to success is the lack of players staying healthy. If Pouliot can maintain a 45-point pace and stay healthy, then he will be a big contributor to the team’s success.
WHERE SHOULD POULIOT PLAY?
Earlier I mentioned that Pouliot has developed great chemistry with both Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. It’s expected that McDavid will centre Milan Lucic and Jordan Eberle, so Benoit will likely be player with the Nuge.
Nugent-Hopkins and Pouliot have formed an effective pairing, albeit with Jordan Eberle on the other side, but it’s likely one of Jesse Puljujarvi, Nail Yakupov or even Leon Draisaitl could flank the right side.
Last time I made a bold prediction about a player having a breakout season, I watched Anton Lander produce three points when I pegged him to put up 48 points in a third-line role.
Even though I’m a little gun shy to make predictions, I will go on record saying that Benoit Pouliot produced 25-30-55 this year, granted he stays healthy.
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