With the season now over, it’s time to take a look back and examine each player’s individual performance. We’ll briefly break it down, and then offer a letter grade for the year. It’s report cards, Nashville Predators-style, from Blum to Wilson. Next up: Blake Geoffrion.
The Skinny: The league’s first 4th generation player, Blake Geoffrion made his much anticipated NHL debut on February 27th at Dallas as the team battled injuries to the center position all season long. Coming off of back-to-back AHL Player of the Week honors at the time of his recall, Geoffrion went scoreless in his first two games for the Predators before collecting his first NHL goal on March 1st at Edmonton in a 2-1 shootout loss and tallying the game-winning goal the next night at Vancouver to lay claim to the 4th line center role for the remainder of the season.
The Performance: The highlight of Geoffrion’s season came on March 20th at Buffalo when Blake seemingly stole a win from the Sabres by tallying his 2nd and 3rd goals of game in just a 1:02 span late in the 3rd period to force overtime where Martin Erat completed the come from behind 4-3 OT win just :27 into the extra frame. In total, Geoffrion appeared in 20 regular season and 12 playoff games for the Predators this season playing in a limited, but key role for the team down the stretch.
The Grade: Not much was expected from Geoffrion in terms of NHL production this season as he transitioned to the pro game in the AHL, but when called upon Blake stepped up his game and brought a prototypical Predators brand of two-way hockey to the table. As was the nature of the team this year and likely due to his limited role, Geoffrion struggled to find consistency on the scoresheet this season, but did demonstrate good offensive instincts and brought a consistent effort to his overall game each night. There is no telling what the plan is for Geoffrion to start next season – does he return to Milwaukee to continue developing in an offensive role or does he stick in Nashville and work his way up the lineup from the 4th line? However, this season was a successful rookie campaign for the Brentwood native as he adjusted to the speed of the NHL game and for that I’m giving him a B.
How would you grade Blake Geoffrion’s 2010-11 season with the Predators?
| A | 87 |
| B | 87 |
| C | 27 |
| D | 3 |
| F | 1 |