Utica Comets Midseason Report Cards (Sort of)

I have had some people reach out to me looking for a midseason report card for the Utica Comets. The thing is, undergoing such an exercise is very subjective based on the differing expectations that people have for the players/prospects in the system. It is for this reason that I am going to do things a little differently than what you are probably expecting.

Today, I will give you a rundown of what the team has done to this point in the season and will include talking points for individual players as well, but I will be leaving it up to you, the reader, to decide on what actual letter grades you’d like to give to each player.

This article was meant to come out about a week sooner, but life got in the way, so bear in mind that all of the numbers contained within this piece are up to the halfway point of the Comets regular season, or the 38 game mark.

To start things off, let’s take a look at the Comets’ record over their first 38 games.

By the time the final buzzer sounded to end the Comets 38th game of the season, the team was celebrating a 5-2 win. That brought their overall record to 22-12-2-2 at the halfway point of the season. Utica had gone 10-7-2-1 at home by game 38 while showing a record of 12-5-0-1 on the road for their efforts.

The Comets power play was clicking along at 35/155 through 38 games, but they had also allowed nine shorthanded goals against. Their penalty kill had allowed 28 goals while down a man 167 times but had also scored five shorthanded goals.

It has to be considered great news that the team is being led by a pair of their prospects in terms of overall power-play scoring as Kole Lind and Brogan Rafferty were tied at 13 power-play points apiece through 38 games.

Justin Bailey was leading the club with seven power-play goals, while Rafferty’s 11 power-play assists topped the team.

On the shorthanded side of things, Reid Boucher has provided a pair of shorthanded goals along with one helper while down a man.

For the most part, it has been the usual suspects on the penalty kill with veteran AHLers Carter Bancks and Wacey Hamilton often being the first over the boards, (when healthy/in the lineup). Reid Boucher, Nikolay Goldobin, and Sven Baertschi have all seen their share of time there as well, but it has been the work of Lukas Jasek that has been somewhat of a revelation this year.

Jasek has taken on a prime role on the PK and has been doing solid work there, for the most part. Justin Bailey has also been a penalty-killing staple this year and his speed has shown to be handy when breaking pucks out of the Comets end.

On the back end, it has been Ashton Sautner and Jalen Chatfield doing their thing along with Guillaume Brisebois and Dylan Blujus. Olli Juolevi has taken on a big role on the team’s penalty kill and has been blocking a ton of shots this year while the team has been down a man.

The Comets have some firepower this year, as evidenced by them having five players on the league’s top-20 scorers’ list at the 38-game mark. They had 10 regulars who were putting up at least half-a-point-per game and two at over a point/game.

Reid Boucher was leading the charge on the offensive front with 42 points in 34 games, putting him at 1.31 points/game. Sven Baertschi’s 32 points in 26 games make him the other player who was putting up over a point/game at 1.23/contest.

There will surely be some Comets single-season records falling again this year as Reid Boucher is on pace to shatter the team’s single-season points record of 62 that he tied last season, as are Brogan Rafferty and Kole Lind. Rafferty is also on pace to crush Bobby Sanguinetti’s single-season high of 40 points from the blueline.

Boucher’s 22 goals led the team, while Rafferty’s 28 assists were tops in that department. Zane McIntyre had the most wins with 11 to Mikey DiPietro’s 10, while DiPietro had the club’s best goals-against-average at 2.68. His 0.908% save percentage was second to Bachman’s 0.909%.

Reid Boucher was also tops on the team for shots on goal with 148, while Justin Bailey sat second with 87. Brogan Rafferty wasn’t far behind with 74, while Kole Lind was no slouch with 70.

Francis Perron has been limited to just 29 games this year after sustaining an eye injury that will have him out for over a month by the time he returns, but he was the team’s leader in first goals scored in games at the halfway mark with three.

Reid Boucher led the team with five insurance goals and five game-winners as well. It’s almost as though the man can get it done at the AHL level. As mentioned earlier, Boucher also led the team with a pair of shorthanded goals. Rafferty, Bancks, Boucher, Sautner, Juolevi, and Hamilton have each picked up a shorthanded helper this year.

Lukas Jasek and Zack MacEwen have the Comets’ two overtime goals this season.

The team has also used forward Justin Taylor of the Kalamazoo Wings for a seven-game PTO, (professional tryout offer) as well as David Pope, who came over in a trade for defender Alex Biega, for three games this year. Forwards Adam Gaudette and Tyler Graovac also got into two and six games respectively before being summoned to Vancouver.