Nashville Predators sign Kevin Klein to 3-year contract extension
by Dirk Hoag on Jan 19, 2010 3:52 PM EST
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PrintFrom the Nashville Predators:
Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has signed defenseman Kevin Klein to a three-year, $4.05 million contract that runs from the 2010-11 season through the 2012-13 campaign.
Klein, 25 (12/13/84), is averaging 20:12 per game in 2009-10, an increase of more than 7:30 over last year's average ice time (12:39). It the highest season-to-season increase in the League this campaign. Additionally the Kitchener, Ont., native has logged more than 20 minutes 30 times this season after doing so just twice in 81 career contests prior. The 6-1, 201-pound blueliner has appeared in 48 of Nashville's 49 games this season, and has already tied a career high in assists (8). He is also ranked 21st in the League in blocked shots (93).
Nashville's third selection, 37th overall (second round) in the 2003 Entry Draft, Klein is one of four defensemen from the Predators 2003 draft class currently on the club's roster (along with Ryan Suter, Shea Weber and Alexander Sulzer). In 129 career games since 2005-06, Klein has 24 points (6g-18a) and 40 penalty minutes.
Three years at a $1.35 million cap hit sounds quite good for a guy who can expect Top Four duty. While there have been some ups and downs, Klein has taken a step forward this season and plays a variety of roles against solid opposition (highest QualComp among Nashville defense per Behind the Net), all while taking very few penalties. The question on many fans' minds, however, is whether splitting up his pairing with Dan Hamhuis might help both guys out, and whether, as a pending unrestricted free agent, Hamhuis might be a potential trade asset.
How much can we separate the performance of Klein and Hamhuis from their pairing as a duo, however? Let's take a look...
Using one of the wonderful tools at Time On Ice, I've broken down some of the relevant numbers for each of the main defensemen, along with specific data for the Hamhuis/Klein pairing. This covers team-level statistics during Even Strength play only, while the particular player is on the ice:
| Goals For | Goals Against | EV +/- | SOG For | SOG Against | SOG +/- | On-Ice EV Save % | |
| Dan Hamhuis | 37 | 40 | -3 | 390 | 353 | +37 | .887 |
| Kevin Klein | 28 | 41 | -13 | 356 | 371 | -15 | .889 |
| Hamhuis/Klein pairing | 19 | 27 | -8 | 196 | 180 | +16 | .850 |
| Shea Weber | 38 | 34 | +4 | 419 | 424 | -5 | .920 |
| Ryan Suter | 41 | 31 | +10 | 440 | 446 | -6 | .930 |
| Francis Bouillon | 18 | 23 | -5 | 330 | 411 | -81 | .944 |
What jumps out at me here is that the Save % when these two are paired is truly awful, and confirms observations that this duo often blows coverages and gives up nasty scoring chances to the opposition. If their combined On-Ice Save % were a more typical .900, for example, they'd only have 18 Goals Against, and a near break-even Plus/Minus.
What this also tells me is that as much as we all love the effort that Francis Bouillon has brought to the table, giving up 4 shots for every one your team takes when you're out there is a dangerous business, and that his .944 On-Ice Save % is too good to be true. I'm all in favor of juggling the defensive pairings at this point, frankly.
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so
Does this, as many tweet-peeps seem to think, signify the kickoff of the Dan Hamhuis sweepstakes?
I want to send Dan packing for an above average forward, but not to slide Sulzer in his spot. Hammer >> Sulzer.
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Bad timing
Hamhuis and Klein gift wrap a goal for Toronto and the next day the Predators reward Klein with a three year deal. Klein is way too tentative. Say what you want about Frankie Boo, he isn’t indecisive.
by Hockey Hillbilly on Jan 19, 2010 6:00 PM EST reply actions
Sully and Arnott deserve a lot of blame on Kessel’s GWG.
Klein reached 8 for the season after game 10 … remains there now. Quick math tells me that he’s maintained an even +/ for 38 games. So many stats are still skewed by the early poor start … I’d like to see what the sv% is since game 9 or 10 when the team’s play as a whole improved.
Klein reached 8 for the season after game 10 … remains there now. Quick math tells me that he’s maintained an even +/ – for 38 games. So many stats are still skewed by the early poor start … I’d like to see what the sv% is since game 9 or 10 when the team’s play as a whole improved.
I ran the numbers again starting with the 10th game of the season, and the Save % for the Hamhuis/Klein pairing (player #99 in the table) came out to .861, only a smidge better. The Shots For and Against totals are moderately positive, but when they give up a chance, it’s still a doozy.
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Terrible Signing
I really have yet to see what Trotz sees in this guy. As a matter of fact, it seems it took him three years to see anything considering Klein sat on the bench for the last 2 years. He seems to have little strength and is a turnover machine. Also, where is his offensive upside?
That's true
And does he ever talk either?
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by Aditya T (smashville) on Jan 19, 2010 6:45 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
He played 63 games last season (most of his games missed were early) and is on pace for 80+ this season. It’s been two years since he was the perpetual scratch.
And, as noted, his ice time is way up this year, he’s a second-pair guy rather than bottom pair, which makes a huge difference.
More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.
Boullion
Interesting comment about Boullion here too. I think the argument could be made that he’s out there against the other team’s top shooters more often (maybe? proof?) and is thus giving up more shots, but his save % is evidence that unlike Klein and Hamuis who are frequently giving up quality scoring chance, Boullion is a sound defensive player who is able to limit the quality of the opposition’s shots. While I agree i’d love everyone to have a positive shots for/against number, it is good to know we have a reliable defensive defenseman that can force the opposition into bad shots in those cases where we need it.
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I agree, your 3rd-pair D and 4th-line forwards are generally going to get outshot, that’s just part of how the matchups shake out, my point was more that the Save % looked “fluky” high, and will likely regress over time, resulting in a few more goals against (just an impression, we’ll see). Overall, I think Bouillon has aptly fulfilled my projection that he’d make folks forget Zanon.
As to the quality of opposition each D faces, Behind the Net calculates that, and it actually turns out that Klein faces the nastiest, followed closely by Weber, Hamhuis and Suter. Cube and Franson have much “easier” matchups.
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On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.
Yes, but...
As I didn’t see differently, those numbers include time against the opposing team’s power play units (typically the opponent’s best).
Klein and Hamhuis are this team’s number one unit on the PK (which I can’t fathom). This season is by far the worst PK unit fielded by the Predators in the past five seasons. This season’s unit is about 6 percentage points lower than the second worst unit (last season- which was 2 percentage points lower than the Predators other three seasons).
Since last year’s PK units were the second worst, once can’t say that the poor numbers being put up this year is completely due to the loss of Fiddler, Nichol, etc. Those guys were here last year and were significantly worse than prior seasons.
My next blog entry (probably Friday night) addresses the question of whether this team is overachieving (often put forth by the media and some Predators fans). What I’m seeing is some individual overachievement, but a fair amount of underachievement too. I’ll share those numbers then.
Thanks Dirk.
by David Singleton on Jan 20, 2010 8:33 AM EST up reply actions
All the numbers presented above are Even-Strength only.
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