Toronto Maple Leafs: Ilya Mikheyev Is About to Heat Up

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been killing their competition in the North Division this year, despite a slow start from one of their top wingers.

Ilya Mikheyev started the season on the third line with Alex Kerfoot and Zach Hyman but has been promoted to the second-unit with William Nylander and John Tavares due to injuries. This is familiar territory for the 26-year-old, who shared a lot of ice with those two last season.

After a 13-game scoreless drought to start the 2020-21 campaign, Mikheyev finally got on the board, scoring his first goal of the season against none other than Carey Price. It wasn’t a highlight-reel goal but it was the type of tally you’d expect from the 6-foot-2 forward.

Paired back on a line with Hyman and Kerfoot, the trio put their hard hat’s on and drove to the front of the net. Hyman passed the puck to Kerfoot, who put the puck on Mikheyev’s doorstep. From there, Soup had an open-net and jammed it home. I’m sure Kerfoot would say that he meant to pass the puck here, but I’m almost certain he fanned on it.

Toronto Maple Leafs Mikheyev Is Ready To Heat Up

Prior to an injury that forced him to miss half of the 2019-20 campaign, Mikheyev was on-pace for a 16-goal season. As a rookie transitioning from the KHL, those numbers were very promising. What was even more promising about Mikheyev’s production was the fact that he was only making $925K.

If you’ve watched every Toronto Maple Leafs game this season, you’ve noticed that Mikheyev has been getting chances. Although it took him a month to score his first goal, it didn’t mean he wasn’t productive. Every night it felt like he’d get a breakaway or chance on net to score, but he was never able to capitalize.

During his rookie season, Mikheyev scored eight goals on 98 shots, representing an 8.2 shooting percentage. However, in 14 games this year, his shooting percentage has dropped to 4.3 percent (stats: hockeyreference.com)

For the average NHLer, that percentage is incredibly low. According to Sportsnet’s Dimitri Filipovic, here’s how the typical player does:

"“As a frame of reference, the league average conversion rate for forwards tends to hover somewhere between 10 and 11 per cent in a given campaign.”"

Since Mikheyev has been stuck on a line with Hyman and Kerfoot for most of the season, he’s been more dedicated to defense, so there hasn’t been much of an emphasis on scoring. However, now that Wayne Simmonds, Joe Thornton and Nick Robertson are injured, Mikheyev will be looked at to provide more offense.

The numbers will average out in a given season, so although Mikheyev’s shooting percentage is down, it won’t stay that way all season. In fact, it should only rise and those breakaway chances that were getting stopped will start going in the back of the net.

Don’t be surprised if he scores again on Saturday night and has double-digit tallies by the end of the season, so if he’s available in your fantasy hockey league, I’d recommend you pick him up.