At the end of last season, Ben Lovejoy, not completely unfairly, shouldered some of the blame for the sudden end to the Penguins 2015–16 season, especially since general manager Jim Rutherford traded promising 24-year-old blueliner Simon Despres for 31-year-old Lovejoy at the trade deadline.
To close out 2014–15, Lovejoy finished with three points and a -7 rating in 20 games with the Penguins while Despres scored a goal and finished with six points in 16 games with the Ducks.
In the playoffs, Lovejoy managed two assists in five games in the opening round loss to the New York Rangers with Pittsburgh while Despres scored a goal and recorded seven points in 16 playoff games in a Western Conference Final appearance.
Four games into the 2015–16 season, Despres suffered a concussion and remains sidelined with symptoms, making revisiting the trade impossible, but over the past month, Lovejoy emerged as the best defensive defender on the Penguins blueline while simultaneously elevating the play of rookie Brian Dumoulin along the way.
Lovejoy, touting a résumé of forming formidable pairings with young, talented defenders, namely Cam Fowler in Anaheim, started the season on the third pairing with Dumoulin, expecting to see some penalty kill time and mostly eat minutes.
But since November, Lovejoy boasts a 20:08 minutes per game average while Dumoulin averages 18:28 minutes per game. To really see the evolution of the Penguins blueline over the first quarter of the season, consider Ian Cole, now averaging 17:36 minutes per game since November, after starting the season on the top pairing with Kris Letang.
Almost every defensive statistic proves Lovejoy as the best defensive defender currently on the team. The Dartmouth product ranks second with a +7 rating and 26.9 average shifts per game.
As for #FancyStats, Lovejoy, not surprisingly, comes up a little short on the offensive side of the ice, but leads the team with 180 defensive zone starts and a 37.9 percent zone start percentage, all indications the coaching staff trusts the New Hampshire native in virtually any situation, especially on the penalty kill.
Despite currently ranking third among defenders on the team with five points, Lovejoy needs to show a higher degree of offensive consistency. Scoring multiple points twice in 26 games, Lovejoy actually boasts only three games with a point.
Regardless, the steady play of Lovejoy allows Dumoulin to continue to develop at a steady rate, especially offensively. With Dumoulin recording three points in the past five games, including a pair of assists against the Los Angeles Kings and some powerplay minutes, Lovejoy continues to build a reputation for pairing well with young puckmovers.
With injuries and inconsistency hitting the Penguins blueline at different times throughout the season, the Lovejoy-Dumoulin pairing, solidified by the consistency and strong defensive play of Lovejoy, continues to impress.
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