The Mighty Matt Moulson

When you take a look at some of the top goal scorers this season—you’ll see some of the names that you might expect: A healthy Marian Gaborik, Alexander Ovechkin, Rick Nash, Jarome Iginla, Sidney Crosby and Matt Moulson. Wait—who? Unless you’re in New York or Los Angeles, there’s a good chance that you have no idea who the hell Matt Moulson is or where he’s come from. Through a quarter of the season, the 26 year old “kid” is coming into his own and the hockey world scratching it’s collective head.

Moulson’s journey—not his statistics—is what makes him one of the best stories of the young season. He was initially drafted by the Penguins in the 9th round of the 2003 draft. That’s right—the guy that has BURST on the scene this year was drafted 6 years ago by a team that never signed him in a round that no long exists (the draft has been cut down to 7 rounds). After being drafted by the Penguins, he ended up completing a 4 year career at Cornell and even wore the “C” by his senior season.

Even though he was initially drafted by Pittsburgh, he never signed with the Pens. He signed as an unrestricted free agent before the 2006-07 season with the Kings. He played exclusively with the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL during his first season in the organization. He was up-and-down between the AHL and NHL for the next 2 seasons before the Kings were forced to make a decision. He had a few opportunities to stick with the big club—but for various reasons he had never quick made the jump that the Kings coaching staff hoped that he would. With the signing of Teddy Purcell out of Maine and the early development of Wayne Simmonds and Oscar Moller, the Kings organization made the decision that his window of opportunity had closed.

For the second time in his professional career, Moulson watched the team that held his rights choose to let him go for nothing. He had developed into a point-per-game guy in the American Hockey League with Manchester—but he never really had a clearly defined role in the NHL. Was he going to be a 3rd liner with a decent overall game? Was he going to figure out a way to make his scoring touch in the AHL translate to the NHL? I always liked Matt Moulson as a player; but I too thought that his window had closed with the Kings. Where was he going play? And with the young talent developing at such a quick pace, did he have more potential than the prospects he was competing with? I certainly didn’t think so.

Even though Moulson was unable to ever solidify his spot as a bonafide NHLer with his time with the Kings, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t have supporters in Los Angeles. Connie Kim from A Queen Among Kings was one of his biggest backers over the last few years—and is happy to see his success. When asked about his inability to make the jump, she had a few insightful points:

“I think Matt Moulson could never stay up with the Kings because of his failure to consistently meet the expectations the Kings management placed on him. They wanted him to fit a certain mold and was given ample opportunity to do so (granted on a poor roster), but he was never able to hold his level of play on any type of consistent basis. There has definitely been a high expectation placed on kids brought through the Manchester system (as there should be) and we can definitely see those who have met and exceeded those expectations and those who have fallen short. Scott Parse has met and Brian Boyle did not; Teddy Purcell is currently hanging by a thread. Unfortunately, Moulson fell into the latter category and was left unsigned by the Kings.

Looking at the current Kings roster, he might have been at the top of the list for a Manchester call up with Ryan Smyth now out of the line-up. I would definitely like to see what the production would be from the second or third line with Moulson in there. Perhaps he’d help in the second line’s overall production and puck possession or to get those ugly goals on the third. It’s hard to say. I’m definitely not upset with the Kings for not re-signing Moulson; I more or less understand the reasoning and I’m ecstatic he’s finally gaining recognition for his hard work.”

As the old saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The Islanders had neither a plethora of talent nor depth at the start of training camp this season. The Kings looked like they were a step ahead of the Islanders rebuilding process—and Moulson was a step behind in his maturation as an NHL player. If anyone in the Islanders organization says they knew what they were getting with Moulson, I’d call them a liar to their face.  Last time I checked, $575,000 on a 1-year contract doesn’t buy you a sure thing.

The interesting thing is that this isn’t the first time the Islanders have taken on an ex-King and watched him develop into a #1 line guy. A couple of seasons ago, Jason Blake made his exodus (not under the best of circumstances) took his act to Long Island.

The Jason Blake connection isn’t lost on Islanders blogger extraordinaire B.D. Gallof (HockeyIndependent.com). I recently asked him what it was that Moulson that brought to the Isles that made him so valuable on the top line. Some Kings fans knew what he could grow into, but I wanted to know what qualities had stood out to the Islanders fanbase during his fantastic first impression.

“When Jason Blake left the Isles; they lost a skill player who rose based on will and smarts. Unfortunately, to his detriment, Blake had a chip on his shoulder, and it never went away. So as his value maximized on the Isles, his behavior and me-first style didn’t quite enamor the Isles to open up the wallets.

Enter, one full year later, in that gap, one Matt Moulson, also coming from the LA Kings system. Like Blake, he has good skills, smarts and high speed. He also has very good hands and knows how to actually pass a puck. He, unlike Blake, isn’t small. He’s over 6 feet and over 200lbs. So he’s not exactly easy to push around either. He’s also has a sound defensive game.”

Gallof agrees that the major difference between the 2008 Matt Moulson and the 2009 version is opportunity. While the Kings had plenty of options, there were multiple, glaring holes in the Top 6 for the Islanders. Who was going to play with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo? Would they be able to find someone else that could join them to create a powerful line? Maybe add someone that could create chemistry so the Isles could separate their two young studs to try to balance out the scoring? Gallof hits on that as well:

“On that Isles, opportunity was there and he jumped on it. At 26 years old, he is not a late bloomer, but a grower. He’s grown each step of the way, and the Isles, he’s doing and going at the same time to be a NHL top 2 line regular. While LA had no room for him, on the Isles, the sky is the limit. Moulson has come up aces, and shown to be a top two line regular. With defenses focused on Tavares or Okposo at times, Moulson has shown to be advantageous to these match ups and dangerous. As a third wheel to a top line, he’s made it very balanced. If teams focus on the other two, he’s capable of being the kind of play to be a jack-of-all-trades, and be whatever that is needed at the time. This has accounted for many of his goals and assists.

Moulson is the real deal. A bonafide NHL player. Now we shall see if he can stay consistent and remain a weapon on the top line.”

In recent games, Islanders head coach Scott Gordon has toyed with the idea of breaking up Tavares and Okposo to get a little balance on the stat sheet. Okposo was dropped and Richard Park moved up to the 1st line.

His two goals that night say that the change probably won’t slow his production. Who would have thought at this time last year, a team would be breaking up their top line because Matt Moulson was productive enough to carry a top line with a teammate?

This season Moulson has already piled up 10 goals and 8 assists in only 21 games. That’s right—he already has more NHL points with the Islanders than he had in 3 years within the Kings organization. Do you think it helps that the Tavares family and Moulson family have been friends since their lacrosse playing days?  You can’t buy that kind of chemistry!  No wonder he’s already becoming a fan favorite on Long Island!

The best part of Moulson’s story is that it couldn’t happen to a better guy. As sports fans, we always root for the guy that looks like he plays because he LOVES the game. When you look at his career path—from USHL castoff to top-liner in New York, THAT’S what it’s all about. Part of the reason that I love his success on the Island is because he wasn’t even necessarily brought in to be a scoring threat. He ended up with the Islanders because he had a decent overall game, played two-way hockey, showed that he could produce at the high level in the AHL and would work hard every game.

It makes you almost want to cheer for the Islanders, doesn’t it?

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Special thanks to HockeyIndependent founder B.D. Gallof and Connie Kim from A Queen Among Kings and Kingscast for their excellent insight.

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