In The Cheap Seats

Final Grade: D-

Midseason Grade: D-

 

 

Season Stats: 41 GP, 3 G, 1 A, 4 Pt, -3, 43 shots

Minutes: 437 total (13^th among forwards), EV 7:48, PP 0:02, PK 2:49, ATOI 10:39

 

Splits:

1^st Half: 36 GP, 2 G, 0 A, Pt, -3, 38 shots

2^nd Half:  5 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 2 Pt, E, 5 shots

 

Positions: Left Wing (41 GP)

Lines: 4^th (36 GP), 3^rd (5 GP)

 

Linemates:

C: Richardson (25 GP), McLean (7), Stastny (3), Arnason (3), Turgeon (2), Laperriere (1)

RW: Rycroft (20 GP), Laperriere (13), McCormick (4), Hejduk (2), Klee (1), Parros (1)

 

Career: Um, no.

 

 

Report: After a solid 2005-2006 season, Laaksonen was simply awful this year…Not quite as bad offensively as his numbers showed, but 4 points in 41 games is dreadful no matter how many bad breaks you get…Did not have an assist until 48 games into the season…Was sent down to Albany one game later…Had 16 points in 24 games with the River Rats…The secondary skills that made him a useful player – namely speed and defense – were almost non-existent this year…The way his speed seemed to simply disappear leads me to believe there was an injury that he was hiding…Even his PK work was off, as he allowed more goals per ice time than any other 5 on 4 regular…I wish I could find some positives, but, frankly, there just wasn’t anything nice to say.

 

 

Fast Fact: The team was winless (0-2-1) in games where Laaksonen scored.  

 

 

 

2007-2007 Salary: $684,000

2007-2008 Status: UFA

 

Outlook: Laaksonen is a free agent this summer. I think there’s virtually no chance that he will be back with the club next year, and it’s possible he will have difficulty landing a job with any NHL team.