It was just another run-of-the-mill 90-point season for Brayden Point. The Lightning’s top center also cracked 20 minutes of ice time per night for the first time in his career.
The Basics
Name: Brayden Point
Position: Center
Counting Stats: 81 Games, 46 Goals, 44 Assists, 20:02 TOI
Extra Stats (5v5): 52.17 CF%, 50.54 SF%, 48.28 GF%, 50.72 xGF%, 52.73 HDCF%, .882 On-ice Save Percentage, 19.4 iXG
2023-24 Contract: Second year of an 8-year contract that had an AAV of $9.5 million
Contract Status: Third year of an 8-year contract that is worth $76 million total.
The Charts
The Review
If there has been any player that has been a bit overshadowed during the Golden Age of Lightning Hockey, it’s Brayden Point. On a team with sure-fire hall-of-famers Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Victor Hedman, Point gets shuffled to the “hey, he’s pretty good, too” category a bit too often. Yet, he keeps piling up the points, and last season was no different.
He started off a bit slow in the goal-scoring department with no goals over his first six games, but once he started finding the back of the net, he didn’t stop, finishing with 44 goals over the last 76 contests. The 28 year-old was particularly effective in March and April as he put up 26 points (15 goals, 11 assists) in 19 games down the stretch. That allowed him to eclipse the 90-point barrier for the third time in his relatively brief career.
Point was a demon offensively at 5v5 and on the power play. He led the team with 28 5v5 goals and finished second to Steven Stamkos on the power play with 15. As part of the top line that carried the Lightning’s offense for most of the season, Point was there to help out as much as he finished goals off, as his 44 assists was fourth on the team.
How did he generate all of that offense? Well, in two ways. First off, no one on the team carriers the puck into the offensive zone better than Point does. We all know that he loves building speed up through the neutral zone and just shimmying his way past defenders before pulling up to hit a trailing player with a pass or taking the goaltender on one-on-one.
Secondly, and especially on the power play, Point just set himself up in the slot and waited for Kucherov to hit him with a pass for a quick one-timer. There is an art to getting open and having your stick free in the chaos that happens in front of the net, and Point has mastered it. Not bad for a player that is listed at 5’11” and 180 pounds.
The 8-year veteran isn’t much on the forecheck, and isn’t going to be sticking his nose in the corner to battle for the puck, at least not consistently. The good news is that the Lightning don’t want or need him to do that. The top line isn’t there to grind out goals. Let them get the puck in dangerous positions and shoot away. And shoot the puck he did. For the first time in his career, Point cracked the 400-shot attempt mark as he racked up 422 attempts with 229 finding their way on net.
With all of the attrition the offense has suffered over the last couple of seasons, the Lightning have needed the remaining players to step up, and Brayden Point has answered the bell for the last two seasons. Now, they need him to maintain that level. The best case scenario is that Jake Guentzel replaces Stamkos’ production. If that happens, they still need Point to put 45 goals and 90+ points.
The offense is driven through Nikita Kucherov, but it doesn’t work without Point. His ability to get the puck in the zone helps set everything up for Kucherov to pick apart the defense. With one less future hall-of-famer on the roster, maybe the rest of the league will finally start realizing how good Point really is.
