Will Quill's first legitimate top-six finish in the NHL came in just his second season.
Tuesday's matchup against the Senators at Madison Square Garden may count as the seventh straight game between 22-year-old Mika Zibanejad and Riley Smith as left wingers, but Quill will be in either the first or second row. He has started a total of 19 games on either side of the line.
But Quill's individual campaign, and the most successful of his young NHL career, unfolded earlier this season while playing a third-line role alongside Filip Sitil and Kaapo Kakko. .
Kid Line 2.0 had many of the same attributes as the original version with Alexis Lafreniere, but Quill gave the unit a physical advantage, making it even more difficult to defend.
Skating together in 13 of the first 15 games of the season, and then in four more games before Kakko was injured in St. Louis on Dec. 15, the trio was on the ice for the Rangers' 13 goals and five games. He scored just two goals. According to Natural Stat Trick, on-5 was 184:16.
A healthy scratch and Kakko's response prompted a trade for the Finnish player to Seattle, but it also prevented one of the team's most successful units from reuniting.
Quill had 10 goals and 12 assists through the first 19 games of the season.
Since then, before Tuesday's game, he had five goals and five assists in his past 27 games, posting a minus-6 rating.
“Not necessarily [a different role]they can sometimes run into a little tougher opponents,” head coach Peter Laviolette said of Quill's current role compared to Sithill and Kakko. “Will’s a young player, so we’re always trying to make sure he’s good defensively, in a good way, and for the most part he is. Once you start playing against the top line all the time. The situation is different: a penalty kill role, a role of being out late in the game.
“He's not always perfect, and there are times when he gets back on the ice and works and shows and teaches. But we see him as a really good two-way player who's physical. We hope he can play great defense against other teams' top lines and contribute offensively against those top lines as well.”
Zibanejad and Smith aren't the first pair of top-six forwards Quill has played with this season.
The 6-foot-3, 212-pounder will be next to Vincent Trocheck and Smith, Brett Berard and Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Chytil, Trocheck and Kakko, Lafreniere and Chytil, and Chris Kreider and Chytil. are also lined up.
None of the aforementioned trio played together long enough to draw any concrete conclusions, but Quill's drop in productivity could be attributed to all of his movements throughout the lineup.
Entering Tuesday's game, Quill Zibanejad-Smith had 71 minutes and 55 seconds of ice time, and during 5-on-5 play, they were on the ice for just one goal and five goals against the Rangers.
They lost 40-31, but also held an eye-catching 19-9 edge in dangerous chances.
“I think they did a good job,” Laviolette said. “I thought they did a pretty good job against the top line. Defensively, I thought they did some good things. Offensively, they contributed as well.”
