Jets Draft: Jets Acquire Michael Frolik for Picks

 

Photo by clydeorama

Unbelievably, the Jets made a trade at the draft!

Frolik had an unusual season, scoring 10 points in 45 regular season games, and another 10 points in 23 playoff games. The best season of his career was his rookie season. He scored 127 of his 151 career regular season points with the Panthers in his first 3 seasons, but since being traded to Chicago, his role has been more defensive and the scoring has dried up. He was a 10th overall pick back in 2006, and was acquired for a 3rd (74) and 5th (134) this year. He’s an NHL quality player coming to a team without a full compliment of them.

The Chicago Player Usage chart above is really skewed by the fact that they were dominant. Quality of competition and Zone start make it seem like they played in a different league than everyone else – never in their own end, never against stiff opposition. Still, relative to itself, Frolik had a slightly tougher assignment than the first line of Toews and Hossa, and a little easier than the Bolland-Sharp pair. He come out with a positive relative corsi rating, which is another rare event on the Jets.

More than likely, he fills the hole on LW after Ladd and Kane, and we can hope he joins Burmistrov in a tough-to-play against, positive possession third line. Some report him as a centre, but that isn’t how he’s been used historically. Of course, Burmi may move to the RW where – you guessed it – there is also a hole. It won’t be a traditional third line, but could perhaps play the second toughs and give the Jets three lines with NHL players on them. He also will become a fixture on the penalty kill, where he excelled for Chicago.

Hockey Futures discussed him as a high-end scorer in his draft year, and his time with Kladno in the Czech Republic earned him the nickname ‘Baby Jagr.’ HF says, "He has displayed exceptional playmaking ability along with a gifted sense for the game. His combination of agile speed and a solid shot can produce plenty of razzle-dazzle in the open ice.  He needs to get stronger to handle the size of NHL defensemen."

Since his draft, he’s developed as a two-way player, playing just under 10 EV minutes a night on the Stanley Cup winning Hawks this year and also playing on the top PK unit for an average of 2:24 SHTOI per game.

Today is a strange day in Jets Nation. This is a great trade for the Jets, changing out Santorelli (a poor man’s Frolik) for Frolik at the cost of a handful of picks that were immediately replaced by trading #61 for a 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Frolik won’t be a game changer, but is a high quality hockey player from an excellent team. He’s young enough to be in the cluster, and is on a very affordable and reasonable contract.