Sometimes I like asking myself questions. Then I look into those questions and come up with my own conclusions. Then I ask other people the same question and let them come to their own conclusion. That's one of the great things (and honestly sometimes one of the most annoying) about life. We can all look at the same exact thing and think something completely different.
This time the question I asked was, is Ryan Leonard living up to expectations? I don't know how anyone could say no to this question. So let's not bury the lead here. Is Ryan Leonard living up to the expectations, or the hype? Yes! Absolutely.
The only reason you could even attempt to say no to this question would be if you had extraordinarily high expectations on the twenty year old and expected him to put up piles of points in his first handful of NHL games. Because he hasn't.
Leonard is up to 14 total NHL games, nine at the end of the regular season, and now 5 in the playoffs. In those games he has a total of two points. Just two. One of those points was an empty net goal so only 50% of points have come with a goalie actually in the net. Not incredibly impressive.
But as we all know, or should know, points really isn't how you should judge most rookies. And when you watch Leonard, he has looked really impressive. He's looked really good on the ice, and the numbers back up how good he has looked too.
Leonard ranks towards the top of the team in several stats, and several of the more important on ice stats we can use to see how a player is performing.
Among the nineteen skaters who have played for the Capitals in the playoffs so far Leonard ranks number one in shot attempts percentage. He ranks first overall, and it is not particularly close. His 56.32% shot attempts percentage is ahead of second place Andrew Mangiapane who is sporting a 51.61% shot attempts percentage.
Leonard is also rolling with a pretty insane scoring chance for percentage of 65.85% too. That is second on the team and the only reason he is second is because Aliaksei Protas is first on the team, but he's played in just one game in the playoffs. Aliaksei Protas is at 66.67%. Protas has been on the ice for 6 chances for and 3 chances against. Leonard on the other hand has been on the ice for 27 chances for and only 11 against.
Leonard is also top five in high danger attempts percentage at 64.71%. He's behind only Protas, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Brandon Duhaime and Alex Alexeyev. He's ahead of guys like Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson, Connor McMichael, Pierre-Luc Dubois, etc.
Something that is impressive, and maybe a little weird, is how far ahead Leonard is ahead of his usual linemates in these stats. He has played mostly on a line with Lars Eller at center and Mangiapane. We've already shown his and Mangiapane's shot attempts percentage, Eller is all the way down at 46.43%, a nearly 10% gap between Leonard and Eller.
Leonard has a more than 10% lead over Mangiapane and Eller in scoring chance percentage. Leonard being at 65.85%, Mangiapane is at 54.55% and Eller is at 54.05%. Mangiapane and Eller both have a high danger attempts percentage of 58.33% while Leonard is up at 64.71%.
All very impressive numbers
Numbers are just numbers though. He has looked very good on the ice. He has not looked out of place at all in the playoffs. He has had chances to score, he has set up some chances. He has played physical. He has taken some hits. He's gotten into scrums. If you told someone to go find the rookie by only watching, I don't think many would pick him.
Has Ryan Leonard lived up to his hype? I think 100% yes he has. The stats that most people look at might not be there yet. The goals, the assists, the points. But if he continues to do what he is doing those numbers will come.
Things might get harder and they might get harder quickly. The Capitals are not playing the Montreal Canadiens again in round two. They're playing a much more difficult Carolina Hurricanes team. We'll see how he looks against a team like them.
But so far so good. Ryan Leonard looks very good. It's hard to not get excited when you watch a player like him at his age.
