Summer Assignment: What is Brandon Saad’s Grade?

Report Card Brandon Saad (Photo Shop Image by Joe Kremel)

Brandon Saad

Regular Season

Games-46

Goals-10

Assists-17

+/- +17

Game Winning Goals-2

Post-Season

Games-23

Goals-1

Assists-5

+/- -1

Shots-50

Contract Status– Saad is signed through 2015 with a cap hit of 894,167 a season. When his contract does expire he will be a restricted free agent.

Summary– Saad after playing in two games in the regular and post season with the 2011-2012 Blackhawks.  Saad made the roster at the beginning of the 2013 season but was a healthy scratch on opening day against the Los Angeles Kings.  Daniel Carcillo was injured on opening day and Brandon Saad was placed not on the fourth line, but in Carcillo’s spot on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa.  Saad didn’t tear up the stat sheet right from the start like a prodigy, but he was playing solid hockey improving game by game getting praise by the coaches while Pat Foley was ready to explode when he did tally his first career goal.

Saad was a slow starter in Rockford during his 31 game stint during the lockout and his stat total was slow but it built up quickly once it started.  Yes, playing on the top line provided a lot more scoring opportunities but he also cashed in on them.  When Carcillo returned from injury it took only some partial shifts for two periods for the coaching staff to decide to stick with Saad on the top line.  Saad was a Calder finalist for rookie of the year which he finished third but his solid play is the reason that the Hawks finished with the best record in the NHL.

Saad in the playoffs was sent off to the bottom six shortly after the emergence of Bryan Bickell as the playoff scoring machine. Saad still played hard and on some nights was the best worker on the team while not accumulating any points.  Saad finally broke through with his first career playoff goal in the Game #1 triple overtime classic when he scored the first goal for the Hawks in the Finals.

Pre-Season Prediction- We didn’t do an over/under for Saad but it’s safe to say he would have bypassed any of our numbers that would have been set.

Grade- Saad had a tremendous season with a solid playoff without the scoring production.  The sky is the limit for Saad! He gets a B+ for the 2013 season!

What is your grade for Saad?

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