A Winning Habit
Fansided

2019-20 Habs In-Depth Playoff Report Cards

By Sebastian High

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 21: The Philadelphia Flyers shake hands with the Montreal Canadiens after defeating them to win Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 21, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 21: The Philadelphia Flyers shake hands with the Montreal Canadiens after defeating them to win Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 21, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
MONTREAL, QC – OCTOBER 17: Montreal Canadiens  (Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC – OCTOBER 17: Montreal Canadiens  (Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

B -. <a rel=. . . XAVIER OUELLET

BEN CHIAROT. B -. <a rel=. .

I know, an A+ is an overkill, I’m aware. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Kulak’s, but I do have some rational reasoning for this grade. The Montreal Canadiens had a clear top 3 defensemen all season in Weber, Petry and Chiarot, and the team needed someone to step up to form a solid top-4. Brett Kulak answered the call and delivered, which is all the more impressive, considering Kulak was late to training camp because he was quarantined battling off Covid-19 and it’s symptoms, apparently even struggling to do pushups. Throughout the 10 games, Kulak averaged 18:32 minutes every game, which was significantly lower than the other three since he did not play a role on special teams. He did, however, play 17:38 minutes at even strength on average, 18 seconds more per game than Shea Weber. At even strength, it is Kulak and Petry, who formed the top pairing, entrusted with containing Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux. Not only did they succeed in this role, the Habs dominated play when Kulak was on the ice at even strength, controlling 57.79% of the shot attempts, 58.48% of the expected goals and scored 55.56% of the goals. Per Natural Stat Trick, among the Habs’ top 4 defensemen in the postseason, Kulak was second in Corsi For percentage, was first in expected goals percentage, leading Petry by 2.48%, and was third in Goals For percentage. This shows that despite his excellent output, he got some unlucky bounces. Of course, this was just an outstanding performance through a mere 10 games. It would be unwise for the Montreal management to assume that Kulak will be able to continue such a high level of play, but I do believe that his performance will result in the lack of a big acquisition of a left defenseman this offseason and with Kulak being slotted in as Petry’s partner on the first pairing in training camp. My final reason for giving Kulak an A+ is the disparity between the expectations placed upon him going into the postseason and the performances he ended up having; he was the player who most surprised me in these playoffs.. . . BRETT KULAK. A+

Home/Editorials