The seventh player in our series is Fedor Tyutin (toots).
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| No funny caption here. People should put copies of this photo on Cooke's tombstone when he dies, to remind others of how he lived. |
Tyutin's game is an all-around one. He's been solid in his own zone throughout his career, which is anchored around intelligent play, good body positioning, safe breakout passes, good puck possession and a solid physical side. Although he lacks in punishing knockout hits, he has an effective physical game where he uses his 6'3" frame to lean on players, clear the crease and make hits when they're low-risk options. In the offensive zone, he's never been considered a true power play QB but he has always been relied on as a good second or third defenseman on the PP. He even led the CBJ in offensive production for the 2010-11 season. He makes good passes, has a solid NHL-caliber shot and moves his feet well. The only downside has been occasional lack of awareness that most NHL defensemen of this caliber are prone to. These haven't been often. The other thing is that he's been put into an untenable situation here as the default #1 defenseman for a few seasons (until the addition of Jack Johnson) which isn't something he's suited to.
It is worth mentioning that he is one of the few Russians who scraps. By "scrap", I don't mean to say that he wins fights, but that at least he isn't afraid to throw the gloves down once in awhile even if he gets beaten like a side of beef.
Off the ice, he's quiet. He has a family and loves it here in Columbus. Among the various reports of country club behavior and dressing-room malcontents, his name has never appeared. He's not exactly Chad Johnson. Which is good for the team, but bad for bloggers looking to make fun of him a bit.
Here are his career stats, from HockeyDB:
| Regular Season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 8 | |||||||||||||
| 2003-04 | New York Rangers | NHL | 25 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 14 | -4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2004-05 | Hartford Wolf Pack | AHL | 13 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2004-05 | St. Petersburg SKA | Russia | 35 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 22 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| 2005-06 | New York Rangers | NHL | 77 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 58 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2006-07 | New York Rangers | NHL | 66 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 44 | -8 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| 2007-08 | New York Rangers | NHL | 82 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 43 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 2008-09 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 82 | 9 | 25 | 34 | 81 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009-10 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 80 | 6 | 26 | 32 | 49 | -7 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2010-11 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 80 | 7 | 20 | 27 | 32 | -12 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2011-12 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 66 | 5 | 21 | 26 | 49 | -21 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| NHL Totals | 558 | 42 | 143 | 185 | 370 | 28 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 12 | |||
Another aspect of his game that you can see evidence of here is that he's been fairly durable. Last year was his first season since 07-08 playing less than 80 games.
Tyutin's best statistical seasons came since his addition to the jackets, which we could partially attribute to increased power play time since his move over here. In 08-09 and 09-10, he was able to put up 34 and 32 points, respectively. He hasn't topped 10 goals, although he was able to reach a respectable 9 in 08-09.
Last season, before the waters started to swirl in the toilet bowl that would flush out all our hopes and dreams, Tyutin was signed to a healthy contract which comes in under $5mil per year for the next 6 years. He sounded as optimistic as most of us did back then, and gave us the same lip service about our city and our team that we needed to hear. Early in the season, he seemed just as lost and ineffective as the rest of the team under Scott Arniel. He missed defensive assignments and any shots that got through found the net waiting for them behind Steve Mason or Curtis Sanford. He had his personal worst plus/minus at -21. Later in the season when he was paired with Nikitin, he found a better role for himself both tutoring a younger Russian defenseman and playing with a partner who was more offensive-leaning than he is. The pairing seemed to be effective, at least for Nikitin. His stats looked bad on the surface as the season ended early for Toots, with 26 points in 66 games (which would work out to 33 points if he'd played a full complement at this rate) and even with the awful goaltending, his minus 21 stands out. He stayed relatively healthy until the end of the season, when he had to sit out due to a broken hand. We expect him to be healthy in October.
Next season, if the first defensive pair is healthy and ready to go and not suspended, we can expect Tyutin to slide comfortably into being the more defensive minded player on a second pairing which will see plenty of power play time. He won't be the workhorse that we hoped for when he was signed, but he will earn his keep. And just as importantly, he gives us a versatile option should a spot open up ahead of him. If both Murray and Erixon emerge as better defensemen than Tyutin next year- which, although unlikely, is a possibility- Tyutin could even end up being expendable. And his reasonable contract would make him valuable in any potential trade scenarios.
Prediction for Fedor Tyutin in 2012-13: 8G, 25A, 33 Pts. 75+ GP.
I see him plateauing around 35 points per season but continuing to play a solid all around durable game for the next six to eight years before tailing off. He's proven himself capable of handling big minutes and a lot of different situations in a manner that is competent, but not outstanding. You need guys like him to win in the playoffs, and hopefully our children's children will live to see that day for the CBJ, with or without Toots.
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| Tyutin got taken to Bjarmaland by Ryan Getzlaf. |
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