Tessier Assesses His First Year in Davos

[KC15 340]

With the Seattle sweep of Chicago and Warsaw up 3-2 on Prague, the Cup Final is just around the corner. With the season drawing to a close, it’s perhaps time to take one last look back at Luc Tessier’s first year in the VHL.

 

Setting the Stage

 

Tessier came up after just one season in the junior circuit and just a handful of TPE over the cap. There was no third league at that time for him to continue growing in and it is a bit doubtful he would have gone there anyway knowing that he could be of some help with the parent club.

 

Performance vs. Fellow Rookies

 

By all measures of personal performance, S78 would have to be called a “banner year” for the HC Davos’ newest centerman. Let’s start with his performance against his fellow rookies. Tessier finished fourth overall among rookies in points. This he accomplished by notching 18 goals and 19 assists in his inaugural season in the VHL. He may have been fourth in points, but he was by far and away the top goal scorer. His 18 goals are 4 more than second place Jan Hlozek and a full 8 more than top point man, Hard Markinson. Of course, both Hlozek and Markinson are defensemen.

 

Performance on Team

 

Tessier’s 18 goals were good for fourth on the Dynamo and his 19 assists made him fifth in that category. That’s not lighting the league on fire, but it’s a very fine performance for a first-year man. An aspect of his game that Tessier will really want to improve is faceoffs. He won just 42.8% in his first year which put his third out of three active centermen. Tessier just equalled number 2, Jim Allen’s, TPE at the end of the season, however, and Luc is likely to improve upon his teammate’s performance in the circle in the S79 campaign.

 

Performance vs. Guy Lesieur

 

My first player, Guy Lesieur, enjoyed solid success in the league so it is always interesting to me to compare his and Luc’s rookie starts. Both came up after just one season in the juniors so the comparison on this basis is very even.

 

Lesieur notched 12 goals and 10 assists in his rookie season. This is respectable, but Tessier eclipsed both of those marks – goals by a margin of 6 or a 50% improvement on Lesieur and assists by 9 almost doubling Guy’s tally. So, definitely a much better opening campaign for Tessier.

 

Off-Ice Considerations

 

Whereas performing on the ice is the real goal, it is also worth taking a look at off-ice considerations when evaluating a rookie season. As a rookie, you also have to find your footing in the organization establishing relationships with management, teammates, and the fan base. All this is going well too. Tessier seems on the same page with his GM and is enjoying the locker room camaraderie with the rest of the Dynamo squad.

 

Davos may not have enjoyed the success the team had hoped for at season start, but everyone knew it would take 2-3 years to become truly competitive. Tessier’s rookie season with the squad has him already looking forward to the start of S79

 

533 words

 

[jRuutu 2,483]

9.5/10

 

Cool article! I enjoyed reading about your season. Especially the comparison between your old player was interesting to read about! Structure of the article makes the article easy to read. Everything is presented cleanly. The only suggestion for improvement is to add a picture at the top, but otherwise, solid work!