Final Grade: B
Midseason Grade: C+
Season Stats: 80 GP, 35 G, 35 A, 70 pt, +10, 257 shots
Minutes: 1428 total (4th among forwards), EV 12:35, PP 3:42, PK 1:34
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Splits:
1st Half: 39 GP, 13 G, 12 A, 25 Pt, +3, 134 shots
2nd Half: 41 GP, 22 G, 23 A, 45 Pt, +7, 123 shots
Positions: All 80 games at RW
Lines: 2nd line (55 GP), 3rd line (21), 1st line (4)
Linemates:
C: Stastny (65 GP), Arnason (11), Sakic (4)
LW: McLean (29 GP), Wolski (20), Brunette (11), May (8), Svatos (5), Arnason (3), Laaksonen (2), Richardson (1), Rycroft (1)
Career: Although he turned in some solid numbers, Hejduk was nowhere near a career high in any major category.
Report: It was a tale of two seasons for Hejduk…The first half was poor, with just 25 points in 39 games and a pathetic 4 in the month of December…Turned it around in a big way in the 2nd half, with 45 points in the final 41 games – 3rd best on the team…In my midseason report, I stated that I felt Hejduk’s scoring slump was more due to shot selection than effort…His shooting percentage was 9.7% in the first half, 9th best on the team…In the 2nd half, his percentage almost doubled to 17.8%, 2nd best behind Stastny…Actually took less shots in the 2nd half, but he was taking much better ones…Had a miserable 6 PP points (3G 3A) in the 1st half, but 18 in the 2nd half (9G 9A)…Hejduk has a great shot and is probably the best on the team at finding open ice to receive a pass…Skates very well without the puck…Sometimes too well – gets whistled too often for being offsides…Scored more even strength goals (23) than anyone else on the team…His +10 was tied for 2nd best on the team, and tops among forwards…Is a good penalty killer…Wasn’t used much in that role early on, but played more on the kill in the 2nd half and ended up with 125 minutes, 4th among forwards…Regained his knack for scoring big goals…6 game winners this year after just 2 last year.
Fast Fact: Hejduk’s rookie year was ’98-’99. No player entering the NHL that year or since has as many points as Hejduk (544).
2007-2007 Salary: $4,000,000
2007-2008 Status: signed ($4,000,000)
Outlook: Hejduk really turned his game around in the 2nd half of the season. He strikes me as a guy who relies a lot on confidence, so I feel a lot of the positive strides he made will carry over into next season. I don’t know that there’s another Rocket Richard trophy in his future, but 40 goals shouldn’t be out of reach next year