The Daily Chum: Another look at Mikkel Boedker

I’ve written about Mikkel Boedker before, but now a couple months removed from his signing I want to take a fresh look at the forward. You’ve seen his HERO chart before (and maybe you just did if you clicked on one of those links) but how about his player card from HockeyViz.com?

I didn’t think so!

This chart includes all his games from the past three seasons, none of which came with teams known for their stellar possession. Even so, Boedker was a consistent drag on possession, something that should be relatively concerning for Sharks fans.

Boedker makes up for it, for the most part, with excellent scoring numbers. He scored 130 points in 207 games, 47 of which came on the power play and 50 of which were goals. Boedker boasts a career shooting percentage of 11.3 and will fit in great on the Sharks’ second power-play unit.

If there’s a reason to be optimistic about his possession play it’s the quality of competition he’s likely to face while with the Sharks. He wasn’t going against top lines while with Arizona and Colorado, but with San Jose he’s very likely to see third or fourth line ice time. He still won’t be great possession wise, but he’ll be less of a drag and his scoring should offset it.

Why do I bring this up? Mostly because I found the card interesting and it’s September so that constitutes a compelling reason to write a post. I’m also hoping to set reasonable expectations for Boedker, a player that will almost certainly help the Sharks, if not their corsi for percentage.