I dunno how LaCombe got into this conversation when I want Zell to improve his defense because I see Zell sticking with this club more than I do LaCombe (and I'm a huge LaCombe fan). If Zell is to stick with the NHL club, then I'd want better defense from him so that our total defense also improves instead of trading goals.
Anyhow, You are comparing youths in completely different situations and time periods. LaCombe was pushed into the top pairing role six games into the NHL season after Drysdale fell to injury, Luneau proved to be not ready, and Vaak proved he cannot play RD in a game and a half.
Zell, OTOH, was developing in the AHL for over half the season and was a top-3 scorer for the team. Afterwards, he was called up a couple of times. At the Migration event, Verbeek said Zell would stay up with the club after the TDL.
LaCombe | Splits | | | | | | | | |
---|
Game Set | Games | G | A | Pts | | +/- | Hits | Blocks | Playing |
1 to 66 | 66 | 1 | 13 | 14 | | -25 | 49 | 120 | . |
| | | | | | | | | |
1 to 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 3 | 10 | Pair 2 |
7 to 20 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | -17 | 15 | 18 | Pair 1 |
21 to 40 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 4 | | -7 | 14 | 41 | Pair 1 to 3 |
41 to 60 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 6 | | -2 | 13 | 43 | Pair 1 to 3 |
61 to 66 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | 0 | 4 | 8 | Pair 1 to 2 |
Apparently, LaCombe's defense did improve after being thrown to the wolves in the NHL level. HC Cronin identified LaCombe was one of the players who improved the most throughout the season.
Zell at the NHL
Pre-TDL: 7 games, 2 pts, +3 rating, and ATOI = 17:06
Post-TDL: 14 games, 5 pts, -8 rating, and ATOI = 19:31
DZone deployment
Zell = 43.3%
LaCombe = 55.5%
Maybe Fowler-Zell isn't found in the Dzone often is because they're not starting off in the Dzone often. Hmmmm...
Neither Zell nor LaCombe are great partners for Fowler, but Fowler is going to be babysitting youths from now on until his contract ends in a couple of seasons. Next year, Luneau will probably be Fowler's partner.