With the BSens in the midst of the playoffs, let’s take a look at the season that was. The team finished 38-28-6, with 209 GF and 211 GA. This is a 7-win, 10-point improvement over the season before, with the team scoring 24 less goals and allowing 47 less. The year closely mimics 21-22 (both in terms of winning percentage and the low goals for/against), where the BSens qualified for the playoffs and then were swept 2-0 by Rochester.
Belleville’s top scorer (Pilon) was 66th in the AHL, but if you go by points-per-game and cut players who played less than 20, things improve a little as Crookshank was 33rd. Sogaard finished tied for 10th in the AHL for save percentage and GAA. Let’s look at the basic stats before a further breakdown (rookies are in italics; ECHL fill-ins who played significant time are in blue; any significant change in performance is noted in green (positive) or red (negative)).
Stats
Forwards
Angus Crookshank 50-24-22-46 0.92 (+0.26) NHL 13-2-1-3
Roby Jarventie 22-9-11-20 0.91 (+0.16) NHL 7-0-1-1
Garrett Pilon 62-18-29-47 0.76 (+0.16 AHL career average)
Matthew Highmore 43-9-22-31 0.72 NHL 7-0-2-2
Wyatt Bongiovanni (t-Win)14-8-2-10 0.71
Rourke Chartier 19-7-6-13 0.68 NHL 37-2-1-3
Egor Sokolov 71-21-25-46 0.65 (-0.19)
Stephen Halliday (NCAA) 10-0-5-5 0.50
Josh Currie 62-12-17-29 0.47 (-0.19 AHL career average)
Jiri Smejkal 47-9-13-22 0.47 20-1-1-2
Matthew Boucher 17-2-6-8 0.47 (+0.15)
Zack Ostapchuk 69-17-11-28 0.41 NHL 7-0-0-0
Cole Reinhardt 56-8-15-23 0.41 (-0.11)
Jamieson Rees (t-Car) 14-0-4-4 0.29
Oskar Pettersson (SEL) 29-3-4-7 0.24
Tyler Boucher 21-2-3-5 0.24
Bokondji Imama 53-3-7-10 0.19 NHL 6-0-0-0
Brennan Saulnier 36-3-4-7 0.19 (-0.31)
Graham McPhee 33-4-2-6 0.18 (+0.11)
Tarun Fizer 30-2-3-5 0.17
Kyle Betts 56-5-4-9 0.16 (+0.08)
Jarid Lukosevicius 19-2-1-3 0.16 (-0.09)
(Philippe Daoust only played 4 games before injury ended his season—again!)
Defense
Maxence Guenette 58-7-27-34 0.59 NHL 7-0-0-0
Jacob Larsson 61-7-26-33 0.54 (+0.23)
Tyler Kleven 53-5-16-21 0.40 NHL 9-0-1-1
Lassi Thomson 67-6-15-21 0.31 (-0.28)
Nikolas Matinpalo 67-4-10-14 0.21 NHL 4-0-0-0
Donovan Sebrango 35-0-7-7 0.20
Dillon Heatherington 60-3-7-10 0.17 (-0.08)
Ryan MacKinnon 29-0-3-3 0.10
Goalies
Mads Sogaard 18-9-3 2.45 .916 (+0.23) NHL 6-1-3-0 .859 4.05
Leevi Merilainen 10-9-1 2.87 .906 (Liiga)
Kevin Mandolese 10-9-2 3.07 .901 (+0.11)
Powerplay Production
Sokolov 10-10-20
Crookshank 6-9-15
Guenette 3-12-15
Larsson 1-14-15
Pilon 6-7-13
Highmore 2-10-12
Currie 3-6-9
Ostapchuk 7-1-8
Jarventie 2-4-6
Thomson 0-6-6
Smejkal 3-1-4
The injury woes for the org are hitting the point where you wonder if there’s a problem with how they’ve been managed. Jarventie and Daoust suffered significant injuries again, not to mention Tyler Boucher (although his problems pre-existed).
The collective veteran shrapnel Pierre Dorion signed in the off-season had mixed results, but overall it’s a pass–no homeruns, but no utter failures either. Jason York’s favourite player (possibly one of the greatest to ever play in any league), Chartier, had average numbers when with the BSens (and abysmal ones in the NHL).
Crookshank‘s strong year echoes his debut (20-21) so I see it largely as a sign of his full recovery over the injury that cost him the 21-22 season. The strangest year is from Larsson, who with first PP time hit career numbers after nearly 400-games as a pro. It’s an anomaly and not something to get too excited over. As for the European free agent experiments, Smejkal‘s offensive numbers are slightly disappointing and I suspect not good to be retained (he’s a UFA). As for Matinpalo, he wasn’t brought in to score, and I think he did what was expected of him. I don’t know if he’ll be retained (he’s an RFA), but I see no harm in doing so. Coach Bell was not a fan of Thomson, who was on the second PP unit most of the season (he’s been scratched twice in the playoffs as well), which is a significant reason for why his numbers are down. I have to assume the disconnect with his coach is his defensively play (something I haven’t noticed, but I haven’t watched all 72-games).
Of the prospects signed the one to make an impact is Stephen Halliday, who is the only significant offensive depth pick the Sens have made in years and he’s continued to perform well in the playoffs. It’s early to judge, but at least at the AHL-level he’s a steal (and a slap in the face to Troy Mann’s stated philosophy of no longer drafting for skill in later rounds).
As for the goaltending, with better defense in front all the goaltenders’ numbers improved. Mandolese, however, remained incredibly erratic. Merilainen was also erratic, but as a rookie that’s less of an issue. Sogaard had issues early in the season, but slowly settled down (I have yet to see the kind of consistent play needed for the NHL, however).
Overall I’d call the season average. My expectations for Bell were low and it’s not clear he made any significant impact on younger players, all of whom performed about as expected. Older prospects generally did worse (Sokolov, Thomson, Reinhardt), so where Bell shined was with veterans (as much as he did shine). Defensively the team was better, but I think that’s unrelated to Bell and more about not suffering through the parade of goaltenders due to injury from last year. I think for the season to truly be a success they need to win another playoff round, otherwise it is, as I said, average. If the org keeps Bell going forward I can live with it, but I think there are better voices out there to help prospects.
This article was written by Peter Levi
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