BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — To get a fair appraisal of Luke Kunin and his value to the Wisconsin men's hockey team, you must go beyond the obvious.
You have to do a deep dive into the numbers.
You need to pose a basic question that gives way to a surprising response.
You must show up at LaBahn Arena on Tuesday mornings and quietly take a seat.
Kunin, the sophomore winger and captain for the Badgers, is putting together a resume that can be measured against all of his elite predecessors at UW.
He needs one goal to reach 20 for the season, which, at age 19, would make him the youngest sophomore in the last 40 years to reach that plateau at Wisconsin. Mike Meeker, 81 days younger than Kunin, had 26 goals in 1976-77.
Kunin is vying to become the third player in modern program history to lead the Badgers in goals in his first two seasons, joining Tom Obrodovich (1965 to '67) and Mark Johnson (1976 to '78).
At this juncture, Kunin has a better career goals per game average (0.64) than Joe Pavelski (0.46) and Derek Stepan (0.26) had at UW prior to both having multiple 20-plus-goal seasons in the NHL.
Those numbers tell a good story about Kunin, a first-round NHL draft pick of Minnesota who has 38 goals in 59 career games for the Badgers, but they become more meaningful if you burrow a little deeper.
Heading into a Big Ten Conference series with Michigan on Friday night and Saturday night at the Kohl Center, Kunin has shown a remarkable ability to deliver in decisive moments.
Sixteen of his career goals have put the Badgers ahead, 11 have tied the game and eight have been the first score of the game overall.
Sixteen of his career conversions have been the first of the game for Wisconsin and, astonishingly, 15 have come in the first or last minute of a period, which translates to an instant upgrade in momentum.
"Goals that matter," is how UW associate head coach Don Granato defined them.
Granato knows Kunin well from their days at the U.S. National Team Developmental Program. Kunin played for Granato on the under-18 squad before both made their way to Madison.
Granato said Kunin, from Chesterfield, Missouri, has a knack for rising to the occasion, to produce "goals that help your team, or refocus your team or change momentum in a game."
Granato said Kunin wants to be pushed to excel in those moments.
"No question those numbers point to that," Granato said.
Kunin, a right-handed shooter listed at 6-foot and 197 pounds, is best known for his thermonuclear one-timer, especially on the power play. Twelve of his career goals, including seven this season, have come via the man-advantage.
Earlier this week, UW head coach Tony Granato, Don's brother, caused some eyebrows to arch when he mentioned Kunin and two NHL superstars — Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay and Alex Ovechkin of Washington — in the same sentence.
"He's as good a goal-scorer as I've coached as far as understanding what strengths he has as a goal scorer," Tony Granato said of Kunin. "He knows where to shoot the puck. His release is outstanding."
Granato is more than qualified to speak on the topic of scoring goals. He amassed 100 in four years at UW — one of three in school history to reach that level — and 264 in 13 seasons in the NHL. He followed that up by working 13 years as a coach in the NHL.
"It comes off his stick awful quick and awful hard," Granato said of Kunin's shot. "There's NHL players that are great goal scorers and you could say he shoots it like Stamkos (and) somewhat like Ovechkin.
"He's in that area where if he's inside the top of the circles or inside the circles and he's got a chance to get it off, there's a pretty good chance it's going in."
Stamkos has two NHL season of 50-plus goals, while Ovechkin has seven. Granato was asked about mentioning those two in the same breath with Kunin.
"Is he going to score 50 goals in the NHL like those two guys did? I don't know about that," Granato said.
"But I can tell you from what he adds to our team, he does the same thing for our team that Stamkos and Ovechkin (do) for theirs."
Kunin had a sheepish reaction to that assessment.
"It's kind of a disrespect to those two guys," he said of Stamkos and Ovechkin. "It's nice to hear that, but there's definitely a long, long ways to go to be in the (class) with those guys."
Kunin leads the 20th-ranked Badgers (15-10-1 overall, 8-4 in the Big Ten) in scoring with 29 points (19 goals, 10 assists). They sit in sole possession of second place with eight regular-season games remaining in part because of Kunin's clutch habits.
UW is 10-5 when he scores a goal and 5-0 when he scores the first goal of the game.
The Badgers are 7-2 away from home, a reality tied to the fact Kunin shows 10 goals and 16 points in those contests.
Kunin will carry a four-game goal-scoring streak into the series with the Wolverines (9-14-3, 2-8-2).
If you stroll through LaBahn Arena on Tuesday mornings, you might catch Kunin putting in extra work with one of the Granatos, but usually Don.
"He leads the way there," Granato said of Kunin. "It was not me advocating."
For the better part of an hour Kunin will engage in shooting and skill drills designed by the Granato brothers.
"I just go out and do what they tell me," Kunin said.
The session varies in pace and content. Kunin will work on timing. He'll spend time shooting off a different foot. He'll corral pucks that are tumbling or rolling on end. He might watch video of previous in-game shooting situations.
"When we go out there it really is his time to get a feel for the puck, to visualize scoring in the game," Don Granato said.
"He likes to do a lot of shooting. We mix some skill stuff in there, but it's primarily shooting."
Kunin said he did something similar last season with former associate head coach Luke Strand with an eye toward doing individual things that don't fit into a team practice.
"It really helps," Kunin said.
"For Luke, I think it gives him peace of mind," Don Granato said of the weekly sessions. "This is a time where I think he can gather his thoughts and visualize going into the next game."
Another project awaits.
