When Kaspars Daugavins was called up, the expectations were largely that he will get a few games until Daniel Alfredsson comes back. However, Daugavins has played well in his six games with Ottawa. He is responsible defensively and has been very useful on the penalty kill. He averages 1:46 of penalty kill time, which is fifth among Senators forwards. It is worth mentioning though, that the Senators have taken 22 penalties in the six games Daugavins has played (3.67 penalties per game) and 46 in the nine games he hasn’t played (5.11 penalties per game). Daugavins has been a regular on the penalty kill, albeit on the second unit.
In the games that Daugavins has played, the Senators penalty kill has only allowed one goal while Daugavins was on the ice and four goals in total. To put it another way, the Senators penalty kill has been 18/22 for 81.8% in games when Daugavins plays and 33/46 for 71.7% in the nine games he hasn’t played. Of course, Daugavins hasn’t improved the penalty kill all by himself, but he’s certainly performed well on it.
Beyond the penalty kill, Daugavins isn’t completely one dimensional. He’s created a few scoring chances already in his short stint and he had 54 points in 73 games with Binghamton last year as well as 20 points in 23 playoff games.
When Daniel Alfredsson returns, will Kaspars Daugavins keep his place?