Kyle Phillippi
Jake Voracek was a man amongst boys last season as he racked up a career-high 81 points with a whopping 59 assists and 22 goals.
Then the money came his way — $66 million over eight years — and deservingly so, even for an organization that has gotten itself into some pretty challenging contract situation. Voracek was still just 25-years-old at the time he signed the deal and had plenty of good years of hockey left for a team that has a pretty bright future.
So what the heck is the reason behind him having zero goals through 15 games?
This is a man that was fourth in scoring just one year ago. There has to be some explanation to this, right?
Honestly, there’s no rhyme or reason for what is behind this, although some people have their theories.
He’s been snake-bitten, at least that’s how I have seen it. He has just one even strength goal since December 21, 2014 — that’s 63 games. 63 games. Yet, he is firing shots on net like none other. Voracek has 56 shots on goal, that’s among the top 10.
It’s also the most shots by a player without a goal.
Last season — I hate referencing the previous season — Voracek had 23 goals on 221 shots, essentially one goal every 10 shots.
Right now, he has no goals in 56 shots. Hmm.
It truly is strange. This is something no one can predict nor explain. If you watch the games, you can see that he’s doing what he normally does. He’s in the position to score, he just isn’t getting them by.
He simply is snake-bitten. And, after last night’s game against the Avalanche in which the Flyers scored zero goals as a team, he wasn’t available to speak to the media. So now, he’s just plain silent.