YOUNG PANTHER MAKING MOST OF EXTRA ICE TIME
Marchessault leading team in points since joining Jagr, Barkov on top line
Jonathan Marchessault shouldn’t be here and he knows it.
For one, he doesn’t make nearly enough money. Top-line forwards generally have an annual salary greater than $750,000. On top of that, he’s a 25-year-old who went undrafted, he’s only 5-foot-9, and he spent the first five seasons of his professional career in the minors.
As Marchessault said: “It’s a long shot to give a chance to a guy like me.”
At the same time, it’s not like the Florida Panthers had much of a choice.
When Jonathan Huberdeau severed his Achilles tendon in the pre-season — an injury that could force him to miss half the season — Marchessault was bumped up to the No. 1 line with Aleksander Barkov and Jaromir Jagr.
Five weeks in, Marchessault has been one of the surprises of the young season. Heading into the Panthers’ Thursday night meeting with the Maple Leafs, the winger had eight goals and a team-leading 14 points in 16 games. He’s already scored more in one month than he did all of last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Of course, that was when he was playing on the fourth line. In Florida, he skates an average of six more minutes a night.
“Playing all those minutes was a big change for me. It was almost like, the whole year last season, I didn’t play as much as that,” Marchessault said. “Getting more minutes and getting the trust of your coach — and obviously playing with amazing players — I think makes it easy.”
So is Marchessault, who scored 95 points and was named the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s MVP in his final year of junior, a late bloomer? Or is he simply the beneficiary of playing alongside a future Hall of Famer and one of the league’s top young centres?
“I don’t know how to answer that question,” Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant said. “He’s definitely a good, skilled hockey player, but he’s getting a chance to play on the top line. If Huberdeau were there, would (Marchessault) be there? No. Huberdeau is one of our best players and he’d be on that line.
“So he’s jumped from the third line to the top line and been successful, but if Huberdeau is back tomorrow, (Marchessault’s) not there anymore.”
Considering Barkov and Jagr have exactly as many points combined as Marchessault does, perhaps he’s the next Jonathan Cheechoo. It was Cheechoo who famously went from scoring 28 goals in 2003-04 to winning the Rocket Richard Trophy with 56 goals in 2005-06, the first postlockout season. Joe Thornton was his centre.
“I remember one of our first shifts together in Buffalo, Joe sent me a perfect saucer pass from the corner over a couple of bodies and landed perfectly flat at my feet in front of the net and I scored,” Cheechoo told the Sharks website in 2006. “I thought to myself, ‘Wow! This must be how it feels to be in heaven.’ ”
Four years later, after Cheechoo was traded to Ottawa and no longer playing alongside one of the best passers in the history of the game, the dream was over. Cheechoo was demoted to the minors and is now playing in the KHL.
With two years remaining on his contract, Marchessault is trying to make the most of what he knows could be a limited opportunity. And he’s not alone.
Edmonton’s Patrick Maroon, who scored a career-best 12 goals last season, already has half that number while playing on a line with Connor McDavid and Jordan Eberle.
Montreal’s Paul Byron, who never scored more than 11 goals in each of his six years in the NHL, has six goals and 11 points while playing on a line with Alex Galchenyuk and Alexander Radulov.
In Dallas, Patrick Eaves (seven goals and 13 points) and Antoine Roussel (four goals and 12 points) are reaping the advantages of playing on a line with former scoring champion Jamie Benn.
Even Toronto’s Zach Hyman, who has just two goals, is benefiting from playing alongside top rookies Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
But Hyman, who was also a Hobey Baker Award finalist as Dylan Larkin’s linemate in college, said there’s more to it than just riding on another star player’s coattails. It’s about finding chemistry, complementary skill sets, and understanding your role.
“Dylan obviously has elite skill and is an elite talent and the two guys I’m playing with now (Matthews and Nylander) are elite skaters with elite skill,” Hyman said. “It’s no different. When you’re fortunate to play with guys who can do things with the puck that most guys can’t do, it makes it easy. But you have to be able to keep up with them and get them the puck back quick.
“I’m not going to do things that William and Auston do. My game is about skating hard, being first on the forecheck and playing a heavy style. You just play to your strengths.”
Marchessault’s strength is his skating and ability to finish off plays.
He might not be what a legitimate top-line player traditionally looks like. But as long as he keeps making the most of his ice time and opportunity, it might not matter.