Tessier vs. Lesieur - Who's the Better Rookie?

[KC15 340]

Like any VHL member I like to follow the success, or at least the progress, of my player, but I especially enjoy this at the beginning of a career. Now that I am playing a recreate, it is quite enjoyable to compare rookie seasons for the two players.

 

This is especially easy to do as the circumstances are quite similar for each player. My first create, Guy Lesieur, was a winger who played up after only one year in juniors. He joined the D.C. Dragons who had only come into the league one season earlier, if I recall correctly. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong – Lesieur was S69. As an expansion team, the Dragons struggled in Lesieur’s rookie season.

 

My current player, Luc Tessier, also played up after only one season in the juniors and is also a forward – albeit a center rather than a winger. And when he came up he joined the Davos Dynamo. While the Dynamo are not an expansion team, if you take a look at the standings, you can see that they struggle at about the same rate as if they were.

 

So, both players joined the VHL after only one season in juniors, both are forwards, and both played on struggling teams. This makes for an interesting comparison and perhaps the basis for a very accurate prediction of Tessier’s future success or failure in the league. Lesieur was a sniper and grew to have multiple 40+ goal seasons and even won the title for most goals one season. A satisfying career – though he desperately would have loved to win that ever-illusive Cup!

 

I’ve been tracking Tessier’s rookie season and feeling like he was doing well vs. Lesieur and his rookie season, but when I checked now (after 55 games played), I was surprised to see just how much better Tessier is performing than Lesieur.

 

Let’s look at Lesieur first. In his rookie season Lesieur put up the following numbers:

 

Goals

 

Lesieur netted just 12 goals on the season. Maybe not bad for a rookie on a struggling team, but nothing to really write home about. These 12 goals were good for 4^th best on the team. Ouch.

 

Assists

 

Guy liked to shoot and so he had even fewer assists – 10. These 10 helpers were only good for 9^th on the squad.

 

Shots

 

You’ve got to shoot to score, right? Lesieur put 145 shots on goal and it’s no surprise as a “shoot first and oh, it’s legal to pass the puck” kind of guy, these 145 shots made him the 3^rd most shot happy guy on the team. Vas y Guy!

 

Shot Percentage

 

Ok, Gretzky famously said, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”, but I don’t think he meant you were to pepper the goal and never bother with your accuracy. Guy really struggled in this category. Only 8.3% of his shots made the grade.

 

Ok, so let’s compare Tessier against Lesieur in each of these categories and then decide what that could mean for his career in the future.

 

Goals

 

With only 55 games played (not the full 72), Tessier has already netted 17 goals. This is 5 more than Lesieur scored in a full season. Projecting out a full season for Tessier at this pace, he could light the lamp 22 times this season. Wow! 22 goals for a rookie and almost double the number Lesieur managed. Lesieur was 4^th on his team; Tessier is 3^rd currenly.

 

Advantage decisively to Tessier.

 

Assists

 

Apparently Tessier is no more fond of passing than Lesieur as his assist total also lags his goal scoring, but he seems to be a much more balanced player. Tessier has 14 goals so far which is 4 better than Lesieur’s full season total. This projects out to 18 assists on the season and once again is almost double what Lesieur managed. Lesiur as 9^th on his team; Tessier is also currently 9^th.

 

Advantage, again, decisively to Tessier.

 

Shots

 

Another shooter for sure in this centerman. He has already put 146 shots on goal which represents one more than Lesieur’s full season total. This projects out to 191 on the full season. This isn’t anywhere near Lesieur’s total, but that would be completely unrealistic. Both Lesieur and Tessier are shot-happy forwards, but no rookie is going to manage 290 shots on goal! Lesieur was 3^rd on his team; Tessier is currently 5^th.

 

Still, advantage is decisively to Tessier, but not quite as dramatic.

 

Shot Percentage

 

This is a stat I watch very closely. I do not like to think my player is just blindly winding up and letting go. In his rookie season, unfortunately, that was pretty much the case for Lesieur. How about Tessier? Tessier has steadily improved his percentage as the season has progressed and currently sports an 11.6% shot ratio. That is over 3 points better than Lesieur and instead of being ranked 8^th on his team, Tessier is the second most accurate shooter on the Dynamo. Très bien, Tessier!

 

Advantage overwhelmingly to Tessier on this one.

 

Finishing off the comparison between rookie seasons between Lesieur and Tessier it is clear that Tessier is absolutely dominating the competition for better rookie season. Given that Lesieur had a really strong career, the future looks really bright for Tessier. Can we start having a Hall of Fame discussion? LOL Not hardly. One season does not make for a HOF bid, but at least it’s not out of the question.

 

Rookie of the Year?

 

Before closing, I think it’s important to note how Tessier is faring against his fellow rookies. This is what surprised me the most. As I kept looking at his growing stats and how much better they were than Lesieur’s, I began to think, “Just how good is this season? What are other rookies doing?” And that’s when it hit me – Tessier is 3^rd on the top 5 Rookie chart on the index! Markinson is in first with 42 points, Hlozek is second with 35 and then Tessier with his 31. Grapes and Bonaparte are hard on Tessier’s heels with 29 each.

 

As a shooter, I am excited to see that Tessier tops all 5 in goals with his 17 – 3 better than Grapes in second place.

 

Not sure he can finish out well enough to take top rookie honors, but at least he is in the hunt and that is exciting.

 

1069 words - claiming for weeks ending 6/20 and 6/27

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by KC15

[KC15 340]

Claiming Week 2 of 2 [Week ending 6/27]