Patrick Wiercioch’s Team Canada Invite A Big Step Moving Forward
By Jack Leiper
In case you missed it, there was some interesting news regarding the Senators and Patrick Wiercioch today.
Wiercioch will be joining Canada’s world championship team in Prague to join a Canadian defence that includes Tyson Barrie, Brent Burns, Dan Hamhuis, Aaron Ekblad, Jake Muzzin, and David Savard.
#NEWS: Patrick Wiercioch has been added to #TeamCanada for @2015IIHFWorlds. #MensWorlds
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) April 28, 2015
Just a few weeks ago Patrick Wiercioch was a consistent healthy scratch and a player who was in-and-out on Ottawa’s bottom pair. However, with some late season success Wiercioch found a spot back in Ottawa’s top 4 after Jared Cowen was scratched in his favour.
This also comes after months of speculation where Wiercioch and his 2 million dollar salary were being dumped by the Senators. At that time, he just couldn’t find time in Ottawa’s system but it now appears the Senators have dodged a bullet after not trading Wiercioch.
Wiercioch is still an awkward skater and could definitely benefit from a good summer of hard work, but he has gained another chance to show he can make it on Ottawa’s blue-line.
The Track Record
Wiercioch had previously been heralded as a top prospect due to his mixture of size and skill. After seeing him play at a pace of nearly 40 points in 12-13, many saw him as a future two-way defender on this team. Then came the 13-14 and 14-15 seasons, where Wiercioch struggled to find a spot in the lineup.
The late season successes included him scoring 4 points in 6 playoff games as well as playing his way into a consistent spot on the team.
The sheer points production wasn’t there until late, but fans still held on to the analytics side of the game which agreed with Wiercioch’s play in the past. As a prime example, check out his HERO chart from ownthepuck.blogspot.com
You’ll notice that those are some impressive stats.
The blog linked has broken down the 7 criteria to match what typical bottom pairing, top four, and top pairing defenders play. You’ll also notice Wiercioch holds pretty elite status when it comes to generating and suppressing chances and when it comes to his own personal scoring rates.
The “eye test” didn’t always serve Patrick well, and Sens GM Bryan Murray even mentioned how Wiercioch had generated well on the numbers side of the game in the past—but, he still had trouble finding his spot. Now here we are and Wiercioch has found himself in a very favourable position heading into next season, especially with today’s news of the team Canada invite.
The Future
Two months ago, it was assumed Wiercioch would not be back in 15-16 and it was even documented that the Senators had actively tried to move Wiercioch. That may have changed as Ottawa has now seen the positives to Wiercioch’s game again.
The Senators still have a lot of work to do this off-season and acquiring a top 4 defender could take this team a long way, especially since we’ve seen Jared Cowen fall. The addition of a top 4 guy would be huge as currently past Marc Methot and Erik Karlsson, the Senators lack solid defensive depth.
If it’s through trade, I wouldn’t mind seeing Ottawa use their first round pick as bait or maybe a forward such as Mike Hoffman to get that quality guy the team currently lacks. I’m thinking the Alex Edler or Andrej Sekera style of player this team could use.
but in terms of Patrick Wiercioch, it now seems he won’t be a question mark this off-season and will likely be brought back in October in hopes of playing full-time once again.
Next: Saying Goodbye to the 2014-15 Ottawa Senators