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When Jakub Voracek put the puck past Tim Thomas in Game 1 of the Flyers 2011-12 season, it was the first time he had scored a goal in the opening match of the schedule since his rookie year in 2008 with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Since his NHL debut, there hasn’t been a single season he’s ever gone on a consistent scoring streak, both in goals or assists. But none of that proves he isn’t a valuable, young skater capable of breaking out.
Question is…..When?
Trading for, and signing Voracek was another gamble GM Paul Holmgren took during his off-season house cleaning. Putting aside the risk, Jakub seemed like a very sensible fill-in for the vacant role left open by Ville Leino’s departure.
He has speed, great puck handling ability, and can dangle like Leino once did for us on the line with Briere and Hartnell.
In addition to all those attributes, Voracek’s size is something not to be ignored. The 22-year old Czech native is 6’2″, 214 pounds. Pairing his stature with the aforementioned skill, and you’ve got yourself a promising hockey player.
It all looks great on paper. But what doesn’t look so great is his history of scoring droughts and sporadic potted pucks.
Nineteen days and eight games have passed since a lit lamp came off the stick of Jakub Voracek. He is, however, no stranger to any goal scoring atrophy. In fact, he’s a perfect stranger to any consistent goal scoring streak at all. Only on three separate circumstances in his entire 256 NHL game career has he ever scored back-to-back game goals. Never has he gone on a three game run.
You may be questioning his time on the ice.
Jakub averages roughly 17.5 – 18.5 minutes of ice time a game per his career. With the Flyers thus far he’s averaged 14-minutes and 7-seconds of ice time.
Though it’s taken a dip with Philadelphia, that’s plenty of ticks off the clock to get something going.
What about multiple goal games?
Well, the last time Voracek scored more than one goal in a tilt was November 10th, 2010 against the St. Louis Blues when he lit Columbus’ lamp twice. He does not have one single career hat trick.
You could develop Voracek’s fate all you want, but keep in mind he’s skating this season with much better linemates for the first time in his tenure.
Could Jakub Voracek breakout and become a consistent goal scorer? Sure. He’s shown signs on the ice with good positioning, puck handling and shots taken/attempted.
He’s signed for one year at $2.25M, which is a sizable salary for a man believed to be what the history records say he isn’t. Lucky for our Flyers, he is only signed on-board to one season. He’s got the rest of this schedule to prove his worth.
Will he?
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