For all intents and purposes, the 2019-20 NHL season was a lost year for Karson Kuhlman (and, unlike most of us, that was the case long before COVID-19 hit back in the winter).
The final entrant on a season-long carousel of wingers slotted to the right of David Krejci during the 2018-19 season, Kuhlman found himself logging top-six minutes in both Game 6 and 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final — with Bruce Cassidy and his staff hoping that the Minnesota native's speed and two-way play would compliment a line in desperate need of some offensive traction.
The move paid off in Game 6 against St. Louis, with Kuhlman snapping a puck past Jordan Binnington to give Boston a 3-0 lead in the third period. But that tally was not a flash in the pan when it came to Kuhlman's efforts at elevating that second line.
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Even though he logged just 11 games up at the NHL level during that 2018-19 regular season, Kuhlman's tools clearly clicked on that second line next to Krejci and Jake DeBrusk — who had spent most of the previous nine months trying to extract offense out of linemates like Joakim Nordstrom, Peter Cehlarik and Ryan Donato.
In total, a second line of DeBrusk-Krejci-Kuhlman skated together for a little over 68 minutes of 5v5 TOI during the 2018-19 season. During that stretch, the Bruins scored eight 5v5 goals and relinquished three down the other end of the ice. That equates to an impressive goals scored per 60 minute (GF/60) rate of 7.00.
Now, going into the 2019-20 season, it was clear that those gaudy offensive numbers were in line for some regression. But beyond falling out of a top-six rotation, Kuhlman's campaign struggled to get off the ground at all — with a broken tibia suffered in October 2019 putting him on the shelf for an extended stretch. In total, Kuhlman closed out his sophomore campaign with just one goal and six points over 25 games — including zero points over five games during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"Obviously that was a tough start, getting hurt right off the bat like that," Kuhlman said Tuesday. "Kind of the first time in my career that I’d missed substantial time. I guess before, I’m looking at the past, got to be happy with getting this done and be thankful for my family and my agent to get this contract done. Obviously, the coaching staff and management of Boston to have confidence of me moving forward here. And lastly, with my teammates last year, they helped me so much during the injury and coming back from it. We expect a lot out of each other and we’re going to keep doing that moving forward."
Now, it remains unlikely that Kuhlman's profile (a speedy, north-south forward that's often the first man in on the forecheck) translates into the top-six role he carved out for himself in 2018-19. But that doesn't mean that the Minnesota Duluth grad can't bring value to this club moving forward — especially with the 25-year-old skater now locked in to a new, two-year contract with the B's.
The new deal, which Kuhlman inked Tuesday morning, carries a cap hit of $725,000 at the NHL level. The first year of the contract is a two-way deal, and switches to a one-way deal for the 2021-22 season.
With Kuhlman back in the fold, the Bruins have another intriguing option to slot down into its bottom-six corps, although an extended stretch in Providence could also be in the cards, given the current glut of players vying for spots up on the NHL roster.
"My expectations from myself are to go into camp kind of like I did last year," Kuhlman said. "Go in there and play my game and be able to help the team right off the bat. Now obviously it’s a great roster, like you said, we’re deep. Yeah, my expectations of myself are to be there and to continue to get better and to help the team out as much as possible."
When it comes to charting out the best fit for Kuhlman's on this B's roster in 2020-21, the most logical spot would be on the fourth line in a simplified, straight-line role next to the likes of Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner. However, even with Joakim Nordstrom signing with Calgary earlier this week, both Par Lindholm and Greg McKegg likely sit ahead of Kuhlman on the depth chart, while other youngsters like Trent Frederic, Cameron Hughes and Anton Blidh will also likely be completing for the same reps that Kuhlman is attempting to snag next season.
Based on just his playing style, it's easy to see how Kuhlman would be a nice piece next to Kuraly and Wagner, with the winger racking up 18 hits and 11 shots on goal in five games up in the Toronto bubble. But if Kuhlman wants to leapfrog past more established talent (Lindholm/McKegg) or more physical options (Frederic/Blidh), he's going to have to find other ways to remain in the lineup. The easiest solution? Finishing his scoring chances.
"Hardest thing to do in hockey is put the puck in the net," Kuhlman said. "And coming in, I’ve just been trying to watch the guys that do it consistently. What they do and how they go about their business and how pucks kind of find them in scoring areas and how they capitalize on it. Obviously, taking all that and kind of adding to my own game and putting a lot of time in, that’s kind of one of things I’ve been focusing on this summer is being better around the net and finishing opportunities when they’re there."
Much like Anders Bjork, Kuhlman is another analytics darling with promising metrics undercut by the lack of tangible production. You can drop heat maps, expected goals, and Corsi ratings all you want, but if a player isn't doing anything with the quality looks they're generating, then he's not going to remain in the lineup for very long.
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Such was the case with Kuhlman last season — with his rather uninspiring stat line (one goal in 30 total games between the regular season and playoffs) standing as a major discrepancy from the quality looks he's usually able generate.
Given Kuhlman's propensity to carry the puck straight to the doorstep of the opposing goalie, most of Kuhlman's shot attempts and scoring chances tend to be generated in Grade-A areas of the ice. Among the 22 Bruins that logged at least 250 minutes of 5v5 ice time in 2019-20, Kuhlman ranked:
4th in individual shots per 60 minutes (8.66)
3rd in individual expected goals scorer per 60 minutes (0.73 - behind only Pastrnak and DeBrusk)
1st in individual high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes (4.33)
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But, of course, few of those fancy stats translated into points on the board last year, with many of these quality looks oftentimes negated by the lack of a finishing touch. Now, this isn't to say that Kuhlman is all of a sudden going to develop into a 20-goal scorer with more years of development in the pro ranks. But if he can start to convert on on those greasy goals and supplement his two-way, tenacious game with 15-20+ points on a regular basis, it'll be awfully tough to remove him from Boston's lineup.
Kuhlman appears to have received the memo when it comes to fine-tuning his offensive game, with the forward already back on the ice up in Minnesota.
"For me, it’s a lot of net front stuff," Kuhlman said of improving his offensive production.. "I think that is kind of part of my game is getting around the net. Whether it’s tipping a bunch of pucks in practice or, this summer we’ve been doing a lot of getting rebounds, gathering them and getting them upstairs. I think a few times in playoffs there even, I had a rush or had a break and was unable to elevate it and that is the difference between scoring a goal and not. I think it’s a lot of little things that add up to a few more goals a year and that’s how I can contribute."
At first glance, it would appear as though Kuhlman is going to be on the outside looking in at regular minutes up in the NHL next season, especially with guys like Bjork, Ondrej Kase, Jack Studnicka, Craig Smith, Nick Ritchie and many others likely snagging those valuable shifts in the middle-six unit. Still, there's an awful lot to like about Kuhlman's game, especially if given some additional time to marinate down in Providence in 2021. But if he enters camp and starts making good on the scoring chances he regularly generates, Cassidy and Co. are going to have some tough calls to make when it comes to trimming down this roster.