Arizona Coyotes All-Star Break Grades – Carl Soderberg
By Jim Lynch
Carl Soderberg has been a great addition to the Arizona Coyotes so far this season. He is apart of one of the best Penalty Kills in the league, and he is going to continue that the rest of the season.
Carl Soderberg has never been the biggest offensive threat in the NHL. However, he has been reliable from time to time. The 34-year-old did not break into the league until the age of 27. His NHL path was very interesting, to say the least, but at the end of the day, a trip that took him through Boston and Colorado have stopped in Arizona this season.
Soderberg has never really been leaned on heavily to make a difference night in and night out, however that changed for the most part when he came to Arizona. Now Soderberg was one of only a few centers that were going to be leaned on to take faceoffs night in and night out, while he has dropped out of the top 6 for the most part he still is playing a big role on the Penalty Kill.
While I wish the Coyotes would allow Nick Schmaltz to be an all-time centerman, that would limit Soderberg’s role considerably on this team. Soderberg is averaging 16:14 minutes a night, the lowest for him by almost a minute the last few seasons. Although he is taking on a smaller role with the team he is still making a difference, putting up 27 points so far this season.
More from Howlin' Hockey
- How the Arizona Coyotes could line-up with Logan Cooley signed
- Report: Logan Cooley could be closer to signing Arizona Coyotes ELC
- Arizona Coyotes sign Matias Maccelli to three-year deal
- Ivan Prosvetov signs one-year deal with Arizona Coyotes
- Arizona Coyotes cut Galchenyuk after reported police incident
Soderberg has benefitted by playing with two of the Coyotes best young players, Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. Although I like seeing Soderberg making a difference night in and night out, I wish the Coyotes would give Schmaltz and Keller their best center to play with. When Dvorak was centering Schmaltz it was amazing.
I think Carl Soderberg is deserving of a C+ for his game so far this season. If it was not for his relatively low Corsi numbers for the team I would have put him higher, and of course, his 45.4 Faceoff Percentage being the second-lowest of his career thus far.
Here is to Soderberg being even better in the second half of the season. We have referred to the PK as the Coyotes bread and butter many times, and that is only enhanced thanks to the play of Carl Soderberg!