We’re finally getting around to reviewing the 2022-23 season. Instead of assigning grades or any of that nonsense, we’ll start by looking at the player’s best goal from the season and go from there. For some it’ll be easy, others have way more to choose from.
Player:
Michael Eyssimont
Stat Line:
(with Tampa) 15 games played, 1 goal, 1 assist, 22 PIM, 31 shots on goal, 2.93 iXG (5v5), 34 hits
Playoffs – 3 games played, 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 shots on goal, 0.33 iXG (5v5), 7 hits
Goal of the Year Video:
Goal of the year description:
We’re dipping into the playoffs for this one. His first (and only) regular season goal came against the Red Wings and it was banked in off of the goaltender from a bad angle. So, that wasn’t much of a highlight.
This goal, however, was pretty nice. The Lightning had a clean breakout from their own zone as the Leafs were changing a player. Zach Bogosian’s diagonal pass through the neutral zone is right on the stick and Eyssimont has the chance to enter the zone with a little momentum. He’s helped out by Justin Holl making the decision to pivot to the middle of the ice. Chances are Holl saw Nick Paul driving the center lane and judged him to be a more dangerous option. What he didn’t see was that Ryan O’Reilly had Paul pretty much covered. By the time Holl swings his head back around, Eyssimont has a clean lane to the net and is able to get the shot off.
With Ilya Samsonov covering the near post, but leaving a little gap along the ice, Eyssimont snapped off a low wrister. Even if it hadn’t gone in, chances are it would have generated a 50/50 rebound in the crease for Nick Paul, who was crashing the net.
How did the 2022-23 season go for them?
General manager Julien BriseBois’ goal at the trade deadline was to make his team harder to play against. By swapping Vlad Namestnikov for Eyssimont he accomplished that. While the goal numbers may not have been there, he did post some strong numbers in his brief time with the Bolts. His hits per 60 minutes was 11.91, good for fifth on the team. Takeaways can be a nebulous stat in the NHL, but he posted 2.45/60, also fifth best on the team for players who played more than 100 minutes at 5v5.
While the sample size fo Eyssimont’s 2023 debut with the Lightning was quite small, it was, by most signs, a positive one. He does things that will put him in a good light with Coach Cooper. He forechecks well, creates rebound chances and scurries after players to hit when he doesn’t have the puck.
What he didn’t show was an ability to finish plays off by putting the puck in the back of the net. That’s not a deal breaker for a bottom-six forward, but for a Lightning team that relied too heavily on their top line and power play to score, it did hurt a bit.
According to MoneyPuck’s numbers, Eyssimont’s shooting talent was 9.0% below average. Of the players that played a decent amount of time with the Bolts last year only Darren Raddysh, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Nick Paul (-17.6% !) were worse last season. By signing him to a two-year deal, the Lightning are taking a chance that his finishing skills will improve and we’ll see his gap between expected goals and actual goals diminish.
The Lightning system does take a little while to adapt to and with Eyssimont in and out of the line-up after being acquired it did seem to take a little while for him to find his groove, although when he was in, it did seem that he was providing maximum effort.
2023-24 Contract Status
Eyssimont recently signed a two-year, one-way contract with an $800,000 AAV that kicks in next year.
Do we expect them to score more or less next season?
Because the hockey gods are mischievous creatures I wouldn’t bet my entire non-existent mortgage on the 26-year-old forward scoring more than one goal, but I would risk at least one payment on it. Over the 55 regular season games he’s played in his NHL career Eyssimont has scored 5 goals total, but posted an individual expected goals (iXG) of 14.43. Chances are we’ll see that gap narrow as his career moves on. He probably won’t be a prolific goal machine, but should be good to go for 5-10 goals as a full-time player.
In the AHL, where he has 51 goals in 229 career games, Eyssimont’s career shooting percentage is 8%. In the NHL, where he has scored 5 times in 55 games, it’s 4%. If he can bridge that gap a bit, he should be able to produce enough offense to stay in the line-up on a consistent basis.
Eyssimont is likely penciled in for the fourth line to begin the season, but a strong showing in training camp and early in the season could help him earn more ice time. A third line of Ross Colton, Nick Paul, and Eyssimont could be one of those grind-type lines that chips in goals and forechecks the heck out of the opponent.
It’s a fine line to walk, but taking fewer penalties would behoove him a bit. You don’t want to tamper down his aggressive play, especially in the offensive zone, because it can lead to turnovers, but at the same time, taking a penalty 200 feet from your own net is never a great move in the eyes of the coaching staff.
Previous Goals of the Year:
