Kevin Labanc 2023 player review: Tough season off ice impacts Labanc’s game

Hockey players are human too, but sometimes it’s hard to separate the person from the product on the ice. This year, it may be best if you take Kevin Labanc’s season with a grain of salt.

The 2022-23 season was filled with ups and downs for Labanc, something that he talked about a bit in his April exit interview. The highs were very high. Labanc welcomed his first child in late February. The lows were very low. In November, Labanc’s father Milan was placed in a medically induced coma after falling off a ladder while hanging up Christmas lights. He woke up two months later.

“Life hits you in funny ways, in the weirdest times. So, I mean, being a father and then also my father going through his accident and him being in the hospital for three months. That wasn’t easy,” said Labanc in his April exit interview. “So, it’s not an easy thing to go through. But some things just transcend above hockey and that was one of them. Family’s everything so, it’s hard to go through but you’re always standing there with them and staying strong.”

Labanc’s 2022-23 production

In spite of the highs and lows off the ice this season, Labanc tried to separate that from his performance on the ice.

He played 72 games for the Sharks, which is impressive given everything that happened in his personal life. He was fifth on the team in scoring with 33 points (15 G, 18 A), which tells you more about the team’s season than Labanc’s.

“I think for myself and the team you know, we…it just wasn’t enough…it wasn’t enough. And, that’s the hard part. I think that we just couldn’t really get momentum for ourselves and couldn’t really string a couple games but I think at the same time, playing these last 10 games, it wasn’t fun,” Labanc said in April.

A tale of two seasons

When examining Labanc’s season with the Sharks, it may be easiest to divide it into two portions – what happened before Thanksgiving when his entire family was healthy and after Thanksgiving when his father was fighting for his life.

When you compare Labanc’s goals and assists totals before Nov. 23, 2022 and after Nov. 23, 2022, it looks like Labanc stayed on a similar trajectory throughout the season. He managed to keep up the pace of the 30+ point season throughout the year.

However, his Corsi for percentage (CF%) tells a different story. CF% measures all the shots taken – whether blocked, saved or missed – and then factors in the shots taken by the opponent. A CF% above 50 indicates that a player is taking more shots than the opponent, while a CF% below indicates a player is taking fewer shots. It’s a good indicator of whether a player is driving the play offensively or allowing the opponent to drive the play.

For Labanc, both of his CF%s are above 50; however, you’ll notice that it was much higher before Nov. 23, 2022.  

His goals for per 60 minutes (GF/60) and his goals against per 60 (GA/60) also show a huge change in Labanc’s game.

The differential between the two – before Nov. 23, 2022 and after – is nearly a full goal per 60 minutes.

Labanc’s RAPM

While the Sharks would admittedly like to see more than a 33-point season from a player who eats $4.725 million in cap space, some of the underlying numbers of Labanc’s game show that the forward excelled compared to his teammates.

When you look at Labanc’s regularized adjusted plus-minus (RAPM) – the stat adjusted for things like zone starts, opponents, home/away, etc. – what you see is that Labanc’s goals for per 60 minutes (GF/60) was much better than the Sharks as a whole.

What’s more, he drove play offensively.

Some of this is due to his linemates. Labanc spent considerable time skating alongside Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl this season. However, Labanc’s Corsi for per 60 minutes (CF/60) – the stat that looks at the shot attempt differential at even-strength play – shows that Labanc was near the top third of the league. Labanc’s CF/60 is better than both Meier’s and Hertl’s.

Labanc’s future with the Sharks

Labanc is in the final year of a contract that pays him $4.725 million. His name is one of the names floating around as a potential trade target this offseason. Labanc isn’t counting out the possibility of a trade, but he’s not planning for it, either.

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen. Trades happen around the draft. So, we’ll see where things go. If I do get traded, then it’s been great in San Jose, but we’ll see. But right now, I don’t have any plans for that,” said Labanc in April.

“I think it could happen for anybody,” Labanc continued. “So yeah, you just work hard and for me, it’s just all about getting better in the summertime and making sure that I’m getting ready and doing everything I can to get myself ready for the season.”

As of now, the forward is planning to be in teal come September.

“I think everybody’s gonna go home with a fire in their belly and make sure that we’re working hard so that first month of the season, we’re gonna be going out and competing every single game to try and win and put ourselves in a good position,” said Labanc.

Personally, I think a Labanc trade at this time would likely result in an underwhelming return for the Sharks. $4.725 million is a lot to pay for a player that has scored 33 points, 6 points, 28 points and 33 points in his last four seasons. That’s second/third line money for third/fourth line scoring on a contender.

San Jose’s best bet is to keep Labanc until the trade deadline and hope that he turns things around this season. After all, we’ve seen players in contract years find a new gear before. There’s no reason to think that Labanc would be any different.

If Labanc is on a 40 to 50 point pace near the trade deadline, he could become a hot commodity for a contending team. After all, his four point game in Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019 is a really good resume highlight.

I’m not sure the market is there for Labanc currently, but I could see it become scorching hot in February.

Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players that are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.