In a play typical of “the best pass is a rebound” philosophy the Charlotteown Islanders have adopted, Filip Chlapik scoops up the puck near the point on the power play and unloads a big shot. While he doesn’t find the back of the net, a juicy rebound is there for teammate Jake Coughler, who scores. The assist gives Chlapik points in 19 straight games, a franchise record, and keeps him near the top of the QMJHL scoring race with 18 goals and 34 points, both second in the league.
Chlapik’s season to date has erased any memories of what can only be described as a sophomore slump in 2015-16, when he scored just 12 goals and 54 points after being selected 48th overall by the Ottawa Senators. Here’s a prospect profile on him prior to that draft.
Before investigating Chlapik 2.0, you need to dig into what happened during his first two years in North America. Chlapik joined the Islanders in 2014 after the team selected the Czech centre 11th overall in the CHL Import Draft. In his first year, he scored 33 times to share the rookie lead with Shawinigan sniper Dennis Yan en route to 75 points in 64 games.
Then, last season. Not exactly what’s supposed to happen to a top-50 NHL Draft pick. “I don’t think I did very well coaching him,” says Islanders coach and GM Jim Hulton. “A big part of coaching nowadays is understanding what motivates your athletes.” But there’s another factor as well.
The Pittsburgh Penguins selected Islanders teammate Daniel Sprong two picks before Chlapik and Sprong surprised by sticking in the NHL until December. According to Hulton, the two are good friends and have a friendly competition pushing each other to be better. But Sprong’s return to junior didn’t magically turn around Chlapik’s production. In the 26 games without Sprong, Chlapik had six goals and 22 points; in the 26 games with Sprong back in the lineup, Chlapik also had six goals. Simply put, Chlapik’s year stunk with or without Sprong.
A major issue with Chlapik was conditioning. It’s something the Senators told him he needed to work on after development camp in the spring. The Senators gave him targets for weight and body fat and Chlapik was able to get under both between development campaign and training camp in the fall. “He’s a kid the game came very easy to for most of his life and he’s never really had to think about working at it in different ways than just on the ice.” says Hulton. “He had a short window to get himself back into shape, but he worked extremely hard—probably the hardest he’s ever had to work in his life. I think he’s seeing the fruits of his labour here.”
Since returning from Ottawa at the end of September, Chlapik, whose two-year window for signing with the Senators is closing, has at least a point in every Islanders game. It only took him 12 contests to match the 12 goals he had last season. He’s currently scoring an average of 0.95 goals per game, second behind Saint John’s Mathieu Joseph.
According to Prospect-Stats.com, Chlapik’s estimated goals-per-60 minutes in all situations is the highest in the QMJHL.
Name | Team | Age | GP | G | G/GP | eG/60 | GF% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Filip Chlapik | CHA | 19.285 | 19 | 18 | 0.95 | 2.68 | 65.62 |
Mathieu Joseph | SNB | 19.597 | 19 | 19 | 1.00 | 2.47 | 74.19 |
Dennis Yan | SHA | 19.422 | 16 | 15 | 0.94 | 2.31 | 71.43 |
Anderson MacDonald | SHE | 16.334 | 13 | 11 | 0.85 | 2.31 | 56.41 |
Jake Coughler | CHA | 20.397 | 20 | 14 | 0.70 | 2.05 | 61.90 |
Bokondji Imama | SNB | 20.118 | 19 | 11 | 0.58 | 2.02 | 57.89 |
Nicolas Roy | CHI | 19.608 | 17 | 14 | 0.82 | 2.00 | 71.43 |
All situations, min. 10 GP |
Charlottetown has 46 games left on the schedule, but it’s highly unlikely Chlapik will play all of them because of the world juniors. Last season he missed 11 games while representing Czech Republic, so let’s assume he’ll miss a similar number again this year. Whether you use G/GP or project Chlapik’s ice time over 35 games and use his eG/60 to find a number, you get between 51.25 and 51.19 goals scored. Last season, no QMJHLer cracked the 50-goal mark. Chicoutimi Saguenéens centre and Carolina Hurricanes prospect Nicolas Roy came the closest with 48.
But why is Chlapik scoring more?
Along with a mandate to get in shape, the Ottawa Senators wanted him to develop more of a shoot-first mentality and basically work on dominating at the junior level. “When I played with Daniel Sprong, my mindset was always pass him the puck, which was probably a mistake for me,” Chlapik says. “We had meetings with Ottawa, my dad and my agent and we said if I wanted to be a leader, I have to dominate here and be more selfish.”
Follow Jeff Marek’s 2017 NHL Draft Rankings all season.
He’s found a home on the power play—Hulton describes him as a king pin on the top unit. Of his 18 goals, half come with the extra man. Even in his 33-goal rookie campaign, only 10 came on the power play. And in 19 games, he’s taken the most shots in the league with 106—he had just 145 in 52 games last year. “The biggest difference this year is he’s using the shot,” says Hulton. “He’s got a terrific on-timer—we didn’t see it much last year, but we’re seeing it a lot this year.”
That heat map of Chlapik’s goals last season shows most came from the slot. But this season, the increased use of his one-timer means he’s scoring more goals from further away. Seven of his goals have come from the high slot and one from the point. The other eight have come from the slot or the areas directly to the right and left of the slot.
Of course, actually possessing the puck also helps create offence, and although winning faceoffs isn’t the be-all and end-all of possession, it certainly helps. This season, Chlapik has won 56.2 percent of the 297 draws he’s taken, an improvement on the 49.3 and 48.8 marks he posted the previous two seasons and 13th in the league among players who’ve taken 200 faceoffs. Chlapik attributes that to increased strength and speed for his improvement, but there’s also a little more effort being put in. “Before I didn’t really focus,” he says. “Now we have set plays. I try to win every faceoff because it’s a good chance to do something on offence,” says Chlapik.
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So, he’s in better shape, generating shots at a higher rate and getting more done off the draw, but can he keep up this pace? That is the question Chlapik, Hulton and the Senators are seeking an answer for. “I think the challenge with ‘Fil’ is to continue to play at a pro pace and prove to Ottawa that you can play at that level,” says Hulton, “and you’re not just getting points because you’re a strong 19-year-old in a young league.”