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In this edition of the hotstove, we share our choices for most underrated player on the Vegas Golden Knights.
Todd Cordell
Chandler Stephenson.
The 26-year-old was quietly very good this season, especially with the Golden Knights.
Vegas conceded 5v5 goals, and chances, at a lesser rate with Stephenson on the ice than any other forward on the roster. He enjoyed the same kind of success on the penalty kill, finishing 1st among VGK forwards in terms of suppressing shot attempts, scoring chances, and expected goals.
A case could be made for Stephenson as the Golden Knights’ top defensive forward this season, which is no small feat given some of the names on the roster.
Stephenson also produced his share offensively. He mustered up 22 points in 41 games with Vegas, a 44 point pace over a full schedule. Most of the damage was done at 5v5, where Stephenson mustered up as many points as Blake Wheeler, Anze Kopitar, Brady Tkachuk and Filip Forsberg following the trade.
He did spend a fair amount of time with Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty while Vegas was dealing with injuries. That obviously helped, however, Stephenson deserves credit for pulling his own weight and not looking out of place during that time.
James Tanner
The NHL Network (which you would think would be better at this stuff) recently called Shea Theordore the 20th best defenseman in the NHL, which is extremely stupid.
Therefore, I have no choice but to name Shea Theodore (who is 100% the best player in the NHL named Shea) the Knights most underrated player.
Theodore, who should have been at least nominated for the Norris Trophy, has back to back 12 goal seasons and was on his way to a 60ish point season before the league shut down. He is the best defenseman on the league's best team, and was worth 2.9 WINS this year, down from 3.6 last year. So he is constantly great, scoreda ton of goals for a defenseman, and is decent at both ends of the ice. He's LVGK's best defenseman, one of the best in the NHL, and another example of how dumb both Bob Murray and the NHL Network are.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com and @JFreshHockey (Twitter)
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