What's Wrong with JJ?

In honour of the Drew Doughty thread, seriously, what is up with JJ?

The LA GM labelled him a 'stallion' when they acquired him a few years ago, which one can only presume means he has a load of talent, but needed to learn how to harness it. Hence the 2nd overall drafting of him.

The +/- has been something he has always, always struggled with, nevermind the offensive contributions.

I thought last year he turned the page, and was going to really come into his own this year, much like the rest of the LA team.

Fast forward to the present. He is about to turn 24, is on a stacked LA Kings team, and is -13 (in his last 9 games alone) and has scored, one, count it, one goal, and this is WITH Doughty playing relatively terrible with concussion symptoms.

Is it time to jump ship on this guy? Will he ever amount to his billing?

First off, I don't think anything is particularly wrong with JJ. I recall reading an article a year or so ago explaining that JJ was not taught much in the way of defensive nuances at the college level. He simply got by [excelled in fact] on his raw athleticism [which is off the charts]. All this to simply insist that as an NHL player he was perhaps destined to be a slow developer.

MEANING...we won't really know what he can or can't amount to offensively until we're closer to 7 years into his career...not the 4 we're at right now.

While his ice time was down last night [and I think he might have been bumped off the #1 PP], his TOI average for the season continues to be over 24 minutes...that's STUD territory. As the team improves and grows, his numbers will too.

He's already almost half-way to last year's point total and we're only 24 games into the season. He's not scoring goals, but he's shooting way more [on pace for a career best 160+ SOG] which tells us he's growing more confident in his ability. His shooting percentage is a paltry 2%...that can only go up.

As far as his offensive struggles lately, yes, he's slowed down, but let's put that in perspective shall we? He has 15 points which is tied for 4th best on the team with Smyth and Brown. A 23 year old D is tied in points with the 26 year old team captain who's been playing with Kopitar. Exactly what were you hoping he'd be putting up for points this year?

His point tragectory continues to inch upwards. He's still on pace to clip 50 points...which would be roughly 15 more than last year. That's a huge POP. I don't think he'll get there this year...close to 45 seems more reasonable, but I think he has more to give yet.

BOTTOM LINE...I still think patience with this kid is in order...especially in keeper leagues. If you need to win now, by all means shop him, but he continues to grow at a very reasonable pace...as fantasy owners we're just a bit impatient b/c we see the skating, stick-handling, and passing ability and drool at what could eventually be.

I'm an owner who is still very high on him and he's made B. Campbell expendable on my roster already...that's saying something.

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9 Team [keep 10 + 3 prospects]
Scoring F=1[g/a]; D=2[g], 1[a]; G=2[w], -1[L], 1[OT], 2[SO] Top 12 F, 6 D, 2 G count

Forwards
Crosby, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Iginla, Pavelski, Ribeiro, Marleau, Huberdeau, Moulson, Lupul, Wheeler, Pacioretty, Fleischmann, Weiss, Ennis, JVR, Burrows
Defense
Byfuglien, Letang, JJ, Carlson, Kulikov, EJ, Pitkanen, Faulk, Giordano, Orlov
Goalie
Fleury/Price/Rask

Averageing over 24 minutes of icetime a game and on pace for 51 points, I'm not too worried yet.

calm downnn lol.

In short, no... it would be premature to bail on him.

I think hes made good strides so far this season in terms of his development. I've actually noticed his minus rating of recent just because he was like a +5 maybe like 10ish games ago. I actually read somewhere (can't remember) that the coach noticed JJ sudden streak of minus ratings (I think it was around when he was like -6 in 2 games)... he said sometimes its just bad luck and you really didnt have anything to do with the play... you are in the correct spot but a goal just goes in thats on the other side of the rink... not like it was really your fault.

I have JJ in a keeper league and I am been somewhat pleased with the pts. He is has been a career minus guy so I am not sure how youd be surprised with his minus rating.

I still think hes gonna be a solid 45+ guy with PIM... unless I get a real solid offer, I would not move him.

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14 GM H2H Salary Cap League (Salaries not Caps)
Stats:G A +/- PIM PPG PPA SHP GWG SOG FW HITS|W GAA SV SV% SHO
Start: 2C,2LW,2RW,4D,2UTIL,2G
Prospect Farm (<92GP skaters, <60 goalies)

Dobber Pro League Wales Division - Roto
Stats: G,A,+/-,PiM,PPP,SOG|W,GAA,Saves
Start: 4C,4L,4R,6D,2G (Weekly changes)
2010 - 3rd place
2009 - 3rd place

Most of his pts came when Doughty was out of the lineup. Things might change next season if Stoll is gone off the PP.

Defensemen just take sooooo damned long to develope that it's easy to lose patience with them, and start to view them as guys that aren't all they were cracked up to be.

Especially when they seem to have taken a step backwards in their developement along the way (for whatever reasons).

Just look at the NHL clubs, and the number of "elite" defensemen that were moved by the teams that drafted them before they ever reached their potential.

Even THOSE GMs sometimes lose patience with these guys!

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CBS 8 team keeper(5-8) - Points only

C: Tavares, Duchesne, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins
LW: Parise, Benn, Neal
RW: Kessel, Giroux, Stewart
D: Green,Karlson, Carlson, Whitney, Edler, White
G: Rinne, Lundqvist
2LW,2C,2RW,4D,1G pts.= G=2, PPG=3, SH=5, A=1, W=3, S=.2, GA=-1, SO=4,


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