Christoffer adds a little more offence to his game
Braden Christoffer’s theory of evolution is becoming a reality.
With age and experience on his side, the 20-year-old forward believes it’s only natural that he would develop into a more complete player this season, supplementing the usual grit and toughness with a little extra offence.
“It’s part of my goals this year to produce offence for this team and evolve my game a little bit more,” offered Christoffer, who leads the Regina Pats into tonight’s road contest against the Kootenay Ice. “You can never be so rigid in the way you play. It was important to me to have that offensive side. It’s nice that it has come around a little bit.” Indeed it has. Christoffer is enjoying by far the best start of his WHL career, sitting in a tie for the team lead with four goals and eight points after eight games. That puts him on pace to blow away last season’s totals of 13 goals and 35 points in 61 games.
A notoriously streaky scorer, the veteran left winger struggled out of the gate in each of his first two WHL seasons before breaking out in the second half. As a rookie in 2012-13, Christoffer had just five points (all assists) in his first 38 games before notching 11 goals and 15 points in the final 31 contests. Last season, he was held to three assists in Regina’s first 13 games but had 13 goals and 32 points in the last 48 outings.
Although there are going to be highs and lows within a 72-game schedule, Christoffer is striving to be more consistent. “You never want to have a stretch of losses (as a team) and when you’re winning you don’t want to get too high. You want to keep an even keel,” he noted. “That’s important when it comes to point production. When you’re smoking hot and you can’t miss you don’t want to get your head too big and then it bursts and you’re cold for a long stretch. You never want to get too high or too low.”
Christoffer is also resisting the temptation to hinge all his success on point production. Even when he’s not scoring, Christoffer can be a major asset to the Pats with his tenacity and physical game, especially when creating havoc on the forecheck.
Those traits are what originally earned him a job with the Pats and continue to make him an effective player to this day.
“The scoring is a bonus with Braden,” said Pats assistant coach Dave Struch. “He has done a great job to this point. He has to be a little smarter in the penalty department. He has been conscious of that, which is good.
“Whether he’s scoring or not, his role doesn’t change. He has to be a grinder. He has to play good physically, he has to play smart physically and he has to be smart with the puck. That’s his role and that’s the way he’s going to succeed. That helps our team succeed.”
Christoffer admits there are times when a player needs to remind himself of his own strengths. However, he doesn’t plan to stray from the path that got him here.
“I don’t think that will ever be an issue,” added Christoffer. “I’ve done it for so long. The physical part and being a little bit of an agitator and a thorn in the side, it doesn’t really go away with me. It creates space out there for me and for my linemates. It’s such a big part of my game. If I do that, the points will come.”