Zach Redmond: Avalanche Star of the Week
Defenseman Zach Redmond was a free agency signing by the Colorado Avalanche last summer. Redmond had spent two abbreviated seasons with the Winnipeg Jets previously. Though he was a healthy scratch early on for the Colorado Avalanche, he ended up playing 59 games for the team.
Every Sunday during the off season we’re going to take a look at different Colorado Avalanche players and the contributions they made to the team. This week let’s look at depth defenseman Zach Redmond.
Zach Redmond Statistics
In defenseman Zach Redmond’s 59 games with the Colorado Avalanche during the 2014-15 season, he earned 20 points with five goals and 15 assists. That put him third among all Avalanche defensemen in points total, behind Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson.
Redmond has a decent shot, but he didn’t do a ton of shooting, just 93 total or 1.6 shots per game. However, as a puck moving defenseman, he has good puck possession skills. He earned a turnover plus-minus rating of +3.
Redmond started out on the third pairing, but eventually he got bumped up due to injuries. His time on ice therefore increased as the season progressed so that he ended up with an average of just over 17 minutes per game. Early in the season he saw as few as 12 minutes of ice time in games, but by the end of the season he skated as much as 22 minutes in some games.
Redmond isn’t the most physical of defensemen. However, he delivers some hits with his 6-foot-2, 205-pound frame, 3.5 per 60 minutes. He blocked more shots, 4.5 per 60.
Zach Redmond’s statistics from Sporting Charts:
Statistics for Colorado Avalanche defenseman Zach Redmond for the 2014-15 season. Photo from Sporting Charts.
Zach Redmond Role
Describing Zach Redmond’s role on the team is a bit tricky. Ostensibly he’s a depth defenseman something in the mold of Nick Holden. In some ways, they’re practically the same guy, which made it hard when they were paired together since they seem to have the same flaws.
As I mentioned, Redmond was a healthy scratch for a lot of games. Many Avalanche fans wanted to see him in the lineup over Nate Guenin or even Brad Stuart. However, Redmond didn’t really get a foothold in the lineup until the injury bug bit the Avalanche hard, and Erik Johnson missed the second half of the season.
At that time, head coach Patrick Roy put right-hand shot Redmond right into the lineup with Johnson’s left-shooting defensive partner Jan Hejda. This was not a tit-for-tat replacement. Redmond held his own. Along with the rest of the team, he pulled it together in the second half and helped the team stay in the playoff running longer than looked possible at the beginning of the season.
Watch this game-winning goal by Zach Redmond:
Zach Redmond’s Future
Zach Redmond is one of eight defensemen GM Joe Sakic said the team is going with this season. However, the top four are slated to be Erik Johnson, Francois Beauchemin, Tyson Barrie and Nikita Zadarov. That leaves the remaining four defensemen, including Redmond, vying for the final two spots every night.
A lot is going to depend on how the players show up in training camp. However, Redmond stepped into a very difficult situation in the 2014-15 season when he had to skate on the top pairing against the toughest opponents. Like I said, he held his own, and coach Roy will probably take that into consideration. Could be that three defenseman are vying for the spot of Redmond’s partner on the third pairing next season.
Next: Avs Player Profile: Ryan Wilson
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