In the midst of the now-forgotten NHL lockout, much was made about what player were and were not taking advantage of the time off by playing in other leagues. Those who played in the American Hockey League or Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League were expected to come in and set the score sheet ablaze, while those who hibernated over the 119-day lockout would need some time to re-adjust to game speed.
NHL.com ran a story stating that fantasy hockey players should target players who remained active higher in their drafts than those who weren’t
Other sporting news organizations (such as Pro Hockey Talk and Yahoo! Sports) ran articles on the winners and losers of the lockout, with both naming players who had remained active among the winners.
In short, playing in other leagues during the lockout has had no tangible effect on a league-wide basis.
When breaking down the top-20 leaders in points through the first week of the new season, exactly half of the players skated in some other league for at least five games, while the other half had no registered experience whatsoever during the break.
Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks has been white-hot to start the year, recording nine goals and four assists for a league-high 13 points in just five games, including four-straight multi-goal games. He didn’t play a single game during the lockout.
Tampa Bay Lightning superstars and line mates Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis have picked up right where they left off last season and are two of only four players in the league with 10+ points thus far. No ice time for them during the lockout either.
Of the top-five goaltenders in the wins category (really the only relevant goalie stat at this point in the season), none of them played more than one game in another league.
Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks appears to have turned the metaphorical corner and finally turned into a legitimate No. 1-type goalie. If you think that happened with the help of some offseason playing time, you would be wrong. No starts for Crawford during the break.
Marleau, Crawford and St. Louis were named as the NHL’s three stars of the week Monday, and not one of them had played since last spring.
Even for the players who did skate during the lockout, it is questionable what kind of impact it really had. Buffalo Sabre line mates Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville both played overseas during the lockout, but just 11 and seven games respectively. Can that experience really be the reason why they are both top-12 scorers in the NHL so far?
The one category of players that seem to have unilaterally benefitted from play during the lockout is rookies. All 10 of the top rookie scorers in the NHL played extensively over the league’s extended offseason.
21-year-old St. Louis Blues sniper Vladimir Tarasenko recorded a point per game in 31 contests in the KHL, and his experience against grown men has transferred immediately over to the NHL, where he has recorded four goals and four assists in his first six games.
23-year-old Corey Conacher of the Lightning put up seven points in the first week of the season, and he did so after playing 36 games in the AHL.
22-year-old Edmonton Oilers defenseman (and former Wisconsin Badger star) Justin Schultz leads rookie defensemen in points with five in four games, and this comes after leading everybody in points for much of the season in the AHL.
It is of no real surprise that young players who are still developing have benefitted from some extra time on the ice, but for the wily old veterans who have gone through year after year of NHL play—what they did during the lockout hardly seems to have mattered.
