by Mark Owens

During their current 8-0-3 run, Dawes has racked up four goals, six assists, and two shootout goals. That span also includes one game-winning goal and an assist on another game winner. On the season, Dawes now has 11 goals, 13 assists, three game winning goals, two shootout goals (in three chances), and is +10, tied for first on the team with Scott Gomez. He has three goals and four assists in the last six games. The Rangers are 15-3-1 when Dawes scores a point.

After a fairly impressive training camp, including one memorable preseason game playing with Shanahan and Gomez (a sign of things to come), Dawes was one of the final cuts on October 1st. Not making the 23-man roster seemed to have a motivating effect, as Dawes responded by accumulating 14 goals and 20 assists in 20 games over three stints with the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The Rangers recalled him on October 17th after Sean Avery suffered a shoulder injury. Dawes scored his first two goals of the season in a 2-0 win over the Devils on October 25th. Four nights later, he scored the game’s first goal in a 3-1 win over Tampa Bay. In Newark on November 14th, Dawes silenced the Devils fans by evening the score at 1-1, minutes after Jamie Langenbrunner gave the Devils a 1-0 lead. The Rangers went on to win that game 4-2. However, Dawes did not score in the next three games and was once again sent to Hartford.

Dawes continued to rip up the American Hockey league and was recalled on December 16th. The Rangers were slumping badly during that time (remember Marian Gaborik‘s five-goal game?) and Dawes contributed just one goal over five games and was once again demoted on December 28th.

For a team with the NHL’s least productive offense at that point, the demotion was somewhat inexplicable. Tom Renney seemed to be holding Dawes to a higher standard of play than non-producers like Marcel Hossa. In hindsight, the up-and-down season seemed to fuel Dawes’ passion and productivity.

Since returning to New York on January 7th Dawes has amassed six goals and 12 assists in 26 games. During that span, the Rangers are 15-7-4. His precision passing and timely goal scoring have given the Rangers two potent offensive lines. On the season, Dawes, Gomez and Shanahan have outscored Avery, Dubinsky and Jagr 131 to 118, in four less games. The emergence of Dawes is a big reason why the Rangers’ offense leaped from 30th in the league to 20th, fueling their recent surge.

Dawes has also shown a knack for getting his team on the scoreboard first. Of his 11 goals, five were the game’s first goal. In a league where the team scoring first wins more than 70% of the games, Dawes’ contributions become even more impressive.