The third time is the charm.
For Chicago Blackhawks forward Teuvo Teravainen, it’s actually the second time this has been the charm.
The 30-year-old forward returned to the Blackhawks organization last summer. He signed a three-year contract worth $5.4 million per season, which is interesting because his expiring five-year contract was also worth $5.4 million.
View the original article to see the embedded media.
Teravainen is coming off a long tenure with the Carolina Hurricanes. In his final year with the team, he recorded 53 points in 76 games while skating 16:24 per outing.
Kyle Davidson’s decision to bring him back has already paid huge dividends. Since his return, he has been attached to Connor Bedard’s hip.
The two are a match made in Blackhawks heaven.
Perry Nelson-Imagn images
He lights the ice on fire with seven points in five games. He and Bedard are tied for the team lead in points, even though he has more goals than his younger teammate.
Nevertheless, there are several reasons to remain cautious about unjustified expectations.
First, his 27.3 percent shooting percentage is highly unsustainable compared to his career average of 10.8. But the goals will keep coming as long as he keeps putting pucks on net.
Secondly, his BOB is very high. As a refresher, PDO is calculated by adding the team’s on-ice shooting percentage and save percentage when that player is on the ice. According to Natural Stat Trick, his on-ice shooting percentage is 12.12 and his on-ice save percentage is 95.65.
This gives Teravainen a BOB of 1078. However, he has had a BOB of 1035 and 1033 over the past two years with the Hurricanes.
On the other hand, three of his four assists were primary. He can be expected to rack up more secondary assists as the season progresses. Especially since they are easy to obtain, it is not unreasonable to suggest that this could happen.
Teravainen hasn’t generated many secondary assists in his career either. His secondary assist rate generally ranged from 33 to 43 percent. With that in mind, if he sticks with Bedard all season, his leading assists will continue to skyrocket.
Blackhawks fans should just sit back and enjoy Teravainen’s second tour with the team. It’s charming, to say the least.
Visit the Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay up to date with the latest news, game day coverage, player features and more.
Related: Blackhawks’ Korchinski has impressive AHL debut
Related: Tyler Bertuzzi has scored for four original six teams
Related: Blackhawks inject young blood into the lineup
Related: Rockford IceHogs will honor Bryan Bickell
Related: Chicago Blackhawks should be excited about Rockford Ice Hogs
Related: Landon Slaggert’s contract provides additional organizational depth
