Stats Sheet

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Biggest Standouts

Marcus Hogberg

The Hogburglar (too soon?) put up a sparkling 0.947 sv% in two games with the Beast this week. This raised his season save percentage to 0.908 through seven games played, and would be tied for 13th in the league if he met the min. 10 games cutoff. Brampton gets outshot on a regular basis, with the team needing him to stop 53 shots in one of his wins (3-2 in OT). Currently, Michael McNiven is with Laval in the AHL, so Hogberg’s been getting a majority of the starts over Andrew D’Agostini. When Charlie Lindgren (MTL) returns, expect an effect on Hogberg’s playing time.

He also sometimes wears an Iron Man jersey:

Brampton Beast Goalie Marcus Hogberg #31 during the 2017 Marvel Day game against the Reading Royals at the Powerade Centre in Brampton, Ontario. @BramptonBeast , #RoarAsOne, @cgballardsports @nikkijeffs pic.twitter.com/tBfVE328MX

— Real.Vision Photographer FirstFrame Photography (@JohnHWarren) November 26, 2017

Thomas Chabot

Chabot played 15:36 and 13:48 in Ottawa’s two 5-2 losses this week. The team needing a goal and trusting Chabot as the only non-Karlsson blueliner (esp. with Wideman out) to generate offence consistently from the blueline certainly helped him get more ice-time. Chabot responded with an assist on one of the team’s two goals against Washington:

Thomas Chabot with a nice pinch and drop pass to give Alex Burrows the time to find Ryan Dzingel 🍎 That's 3A in Chabot's first 4GP with Ottawa. pic.twitter.com/3bzL0lzj3s

— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) November 23, 2017

Chabot was given offensive zone starts with Erik Karlsson on both nights, but it doesn’t appear that Boucher sheltered him at all in terms of matchups. In addition to the assist, he was a positive in terms of shot metrics — owing to his ability to drive play forward.

The fanbase collectively sighed on Sunday when Thomas Chabot was sent back to the AHL, but it appears that he’ll be going with the team on their 14-day road trip. Mark Borowiecki is still on the IR, and there are six healthy defencemen ahead of him, but I’d expect Chabot to get into a couple games as the sixth or seventh defenceman. It’s clear that Boucher would still like him to get some seasoning in the AHL, especially compared to third-year pro Ben Harpur, but there’s an opportunity here for Chabot to make the most of his (limited) opportunity and gain the trust of the coaching staff.

Silver Linings

• However, with Zack Smith returning from injury, expect Nick Paul to stay down in Belleville for the time being. Paul looked okay in Ottawa, but I still expect any regular NHLer to be a contributing (>0.5 PPG) player in the AHL. Paul has five points, all assists, in 13 games this season
• Maxime Lajoie — out since Belleville’s home opener at the start of November with a shoulder injury — had a one-game conditioning stint in Brampton before returning to Belleville.
• Macoy Erkamps was sent down to the ECHL while Thomas Chabot was in Belleville, but he too has been recalled, and has looked okay in third-pair minutes. The only two ECHLers currently are Cody Donaghey and Marcus Hogberg
• On the goalie front, Chris Driedger (remember him?) has been the biggest beneficiary of Andrew Hammond’s call-up to Colorado. He played in three games last week, putting  up a .909 sv%. Note: that’d be good enough for 14th in the AHL among goalies with at least 10 starts, and is a far better sv% than what free-agent signee Danny Taylor is currently spotting.
• Over in Europe, Filip Ahl may be regretting his decision to leave Regina and head back to the SHL. He’d been playing under 10 minutes a night with Öreboro, and was recently loaned to the Allsvenskan (home of Jonathan Dahlen). He recorded an assist in his first game, and if the Dahlen-detractors are right in saying that the Allsvenskan is a weak league, Ahl should dominate while he’s there.
• Two quick injury updates: QMJHL leading scorer and World Junior hopeful Drake Batherson got Mark Stone’d (i.e. a fractured hand while attacking the opposition net) last week. He’s expected to miss a three weeks, but be back before the holidays. It’s terrible timing for the Sens prospect, and may affect his tournament status
• Meanwhile, Shane Eiserman returned from his injury this week and picked up an assist to give him five points in six games. Eiserman is playing for an entry-level deal, and has a 0.48 PPG as a previous single-season high. Continuing to put up points for UNH will maximize his chances of earning a deal /