The New York Rangers lost their best offensive defenseman in Keith Yandle during the 2016 off-season. The graduation of Brady Skjei to a full-time roster spot was viewed as one of the reasons Yandle’s departure was more palatable. Almost three-quarters of the way through the 2016-2017 NHL season, has rookie Brady Skjei been able to fill the offensive void left by Keith Yandle?
One of the reasons the New York Rangers felt they were able to let a player of Yandle’s caliber and particular skill set walk in free agency was the play of 21-year-old defenseman Brady Skjei.
Skjei’s play in that brief playoff series with the Penguins was a silver lining. Skjei registered two assists (the first points of his NHL career) and exhibited solid defensive play against the eventual Stanley Cup Champions.
In an article on NHL.com from when Yandle’s future was still in the balance, Rangers GM Jeff Gorton had the following to say about Skjei:
"“You need good players that are coming that don’t make a lot of money,” Gorton said. “Brady [Skjei] looks on the cusp of being an NHL player. I think that will help our decision.”"
Although not a declaration that the rookie would replicate Yandle’s offensive production, one could certainly draw the conclusion that the Rangers viewed Skjei as Yandle’s direct roster replacement. A passage from earlier in that same article reinforced this:
"The Rangers also have prospect Brady Skjei, who is close to being NHL ready. Skjei, like Yandle, is a left-handed puck-moving defenseman, but he’s 21 and on an entry-level contract."
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Skjei is the Rangers’ most recent first round draft pick, selected 28th overall, back in 2012. Coming out of the US National Team Development Program, the soon to be Minnesota Golden Gopher was touted as a defensively responsible, smooth skating defenseman.
Early comparisons had Skjei projected as a “McDonagh lite”, but not a puck-moving defenseman in the mold of a Keith Yandle.
New York Rangers
Skjei’s numbers in his three years at the University of Minnesota (8G-19A-27P in 109 games: 0.25 Pts/Gm), and in the AHL (5G-26A-29P in 91 games, regular season and playoff: 0.32 Pts/Gm) favored the analysis provided on him surrounding the draft.
However, Skjei was not given an offensive role while at Minnesota.
Understandably so, there was skepticism that a rookie defenseman could fill the skates of one of the better offensive defensemen in the league.
However, thus far this season, Skjei is a pleasant and consistent source of offense from the Rangers’ blueline.
Skjei has not been held pointless for longer than 5 games and earlier had a six game point streak, the longest by a Rangers rookie defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1988-89.
How do Skjei’s numbers match up to Yandle’s this season? How do they compare to what Yandle was able to do last season, his only full season with the Rangers?
Boxcar Stats
| Player/Season | GP | G | A | P | P/Gm | SH% | TOI/Gm | Shft/Gm | PPG | PPA | PPP | PP TOI/Gm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith Yandle 2015-16 | 82 | 5 | 42 | 47 | 0.57 | 3.1 | 19:57 | 26.3 | 2 | 20 | 22 | 2:36 |
| Keith Yandle 2016-17 | 56 | 3 | 26 | 29 | 0.52 | 2.3 | 22:10 | 25.8 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 3:19 |
| Brady Skjei 2016-17 | 56 | 2 | 25 | 27 | 0.48 | 2.4 | 16:24 | 22.7 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1:06 |
(All stats courtesy of NHL.com and Corsica.Hockey, as of 02/17/2017)
We can see that Skjei has been able to nearly (and admirably) replicate Yandle’s offense, but we can also see how their deployment and usage differs.
Although Skjei has the 2nd most powerplay ice time of Rangers’ defensemen, his powerplay time pales in comparison to Yandle’s in each of his last two seasons.
Advanced Stats
5 on 5
| Player/Season | CF% | Sh% | Sv% | SCF% | GF% | xGF% | PDO | xPDO | OZS% | DZS% | NZS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith Yandle 2015-2016 | 50.35 | 8.19 | 93.80 | 45.41 | 56.04 | 47.22 | 101.98 | 99.47 | 45.33 | 23.64 | 31.03 |
| Keith Yandle 2016-2017 | 50.42 | 5.79 | 93.99 | 43.13 | 47.37 | 46.36 | 99.78 | 99.31 | 32.13 | 29.63 | 38.24 |
| Brady Skjei 2016-2017 | 48.62 | 11.57 | 91.37 | 50.40 | 55.56 | 49.67 | 102.94 | 100.05 | 32.80 | 31.18 | 36.02 |
All Situations
| Player/Season | CF% | Sh% | Sv% | SCF% | GF% | xGF% | PDO | xPDO | OZS% | DZS% | NZS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith Yandle 2015-2016 | 55.42 | 9.06 | 92.21 | 52.95 | 58.21 | 54.32 | 101.27 | 99.89 | 50.22 | 21.02 | 28.76 |
| Keith Yandle 2016-2017 | 54.98 | 7.77 | 92.52 | 48.40 | 53.40 | 52.11 | 100.29 | 99.59 | 38.54 | 28.53 | 32.93 |
| Brady Skjei 2016-2017 | 51.14 | 12.28 | 91.87 | 55.10 | 61.29 | 53.92 | 104.16 | 100.49 | 35.46 | 30.05 | 34.50 |
Stats for both 5 on 5 and All Situations are displayed because of how Skjei and Yandle have been deployed -Yandle: 2nd/3rd pair in New York, 1st pair in Florida. Skjei: 3rd pair- and the discrepancy in their respective contributions to the powerplay.
Although their time on ice differs significantly, Skjei and Yandle have been deployed similarly this season, as evidenced by their Zone Start percentages.
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Individual Contributions
5 on 5
| Player/Season | G | A1 | A2 | P | P1 | P60 | P160 | iCF | iCF60 | ixG | ixG60 | Avg.DIST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith Yandle 2015-2016 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 22 | 12 | 0.99 | 0.54 | 237 | 10.68 | 4.78 | 0.22 | 49.44 |
| Keith Yandle 2016-2017 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 7 | 0.75 | 0.48 | 166 | 11.36 | 3.12 | 0.21 | 49.96 |
| Brady Skjei 2016-2017 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 11 | 1.47 | 0.81 | 123 | 9.04 | 3.21 | 0.24 | 38.96 |
All Situations
| Player/Season | G | A1 | A2 | P | P1 | P60 | P160 | iCF | iCF60 | ixG | ixG60 | Avg.DIST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith Yandle 2015-2016 | 5 | 24 | 18 | 47 | 29 | 1.73 | 1.07 | 364 | 13.39 | 8.28 | 0.30 | 49.43 |
| Keith Yandle 2016-2017 | 3 | 14 | 12 | 29 | 17 | 1.40 | 0.82 | 269 | 13.03 | 5.58 | 0.27 | 49.85 |
| Brady Skjei 2016-2017 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 27 | 11 | 1.73 | 0.71 | 152 | 9.76 | 4.01 | 0.26 | 39.68 |
Skjei does not directly contribute as much to the offense as Yandle did for the Rangers, by roughly half as many individual Corsi events. However, at 5 on 5, Skjei has been a more productive defenseman both as a Ranger and compared to Yandle’s season in Florida.
There are a few caveats to these numbers. First, is that as a rookie, it remains to be seen if Skjei can replicate this amount of offense for the rest of his career. Yandle has shown that he can do so, being on pace for his seventh 40+ point season.
Lastly, the difference between their deployment cannot be ignored. Yandle is a first pairing and first powerplay unit QB while Skjei has primarily played third pairing minutes.
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However, with a season like this, the Rangers must feel validated in putting their trust in Skjei. This has resulted in a recent increase to his ice time both 5 on 5 and on the powerplay.