Since joining the San Jose Sharks in 2016-17, Kevin Labanc’s production was steadily increasing, until this year.
In 2016-17, he managed a pace of 30 points per 82 games and then followed that up with a pace of 43 PP/82 in his sophomore year. Last season was a bit of a breakout year for Labanc, where he scored 17 goals and 56 points. It seemed as though he was well on his way to establishing himself as a true top-six forward for a long time to come.
This year, however, his production dropped to a pace of 39 points per 82 games and that was also after seeing more than a two-minute per game increase in ice time from last season. Now the question is, will he bounce back or was his 56-point year a one-off?
One reason to explain the down year was Labanc’s shooting percentage, which was down to just eight per cent. If that jumps to even 11 per cent, which he hit in both 2016-17 and 2018-19, he’s on pace for 23 goals and 46 points rather than 16 goals and 39 points. Another positive is that he actually dramatically increased his shots per game average this year and if he’s able to average 2.5 shots per game consistently going forward, he’s bound to have more success. He also had the highest corsi for percentage of any regular member of the Sharks roster, showing that he was creating chances while he was on the ice.
On top of this, a key stat was his PDO, which adds a team’s shooting percentage plus their save percentage to measure a luck factor. Labanc’s PDO was unbelievably low, with the team shooting at just 8.2 per cent while he was on the ice. Essentially, the stat points to the fact that Labanc was very unlucky this season.
Though he had a down year production-wise, his numbers certainly don’t give the full picture of Labanc’s season. I think he'll need to increase his production next season to prove he’ll be capable of taking on a top-six role going forward but signs point to Labanc bouncing back.
Here's today's poll question (results and discussion will be posted this weekend):
How many points do you expect from Kevin Labanc next season?
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