Antoine Roussel’s Quiet Career Year
Although it’d be hard to classify Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel as quiet because of his big personality and presence on the ice, he’s rather quietly having the best season of his NHL career.
New Breed
The French native is known around the league for his agitator-style of hockey that combines aggression with the skill of a third or fourth line player. Roussel represents the new breed of pests, for lack of a better word, in the league because gone are the days of one-dimensional “fighters”.
No. 21 is often methodical in his timing of hits, checks and chirps to get under the skin of his opponents and it’s something that is certainly a lot easier said than done. Alongside veteran forward Vernon Fiddler, Roussel talks a big game and this season in particular he’s backing it up.
Career Season
In his previous three NHL seasons Roussel, or Rous as he’s more casually known, amounted 68 points in 200 games for the Stars. That includes his career high of 29 (14G, 15A) in 2013-2014.
This season Roussel is already at 23 points (11G, 12A) in merely 65 games. Dallas has played 67 games thus far, meaning Roussel has 15 more opportunities to surpass his previous career high. If he can score seven more points he’ll break his previous record and reach 30 points for the first time.
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He’s also leading the Stars in game-winning goals after last night’s late third period tally in Ottawa, which is quite the feat considering the quality of Stars forwards on the roster.
More so than the offensive side of his game, is Roussel’s dedication defensively. Last year he sat minus-20 at the end of the regular season, which means he was on the ice for twenty more goals against than for the Stars. This season, however, he sits at a respectable plus-4.
That’s evidence of his improved defensive game and although it’s not the best indicator of a player’s impact on their team, it provides an idea of how defensively committed they are.
The totality of Antoine Roussel’s game is better than it’s ever been and he’s inching closer to his potential, which undeniably makes this year his best yet.
Final Stretch
While the Stars as a team have been better this season than before, Roussel’s strides toward his true potential have definitely been a highlight of the year that’s gone unnoticed for the most part.
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He’s a young player that knows his brand of hockey and is working to perfect his style of play, which is something the Stars can only be happy about moving forward.