Could Kulemin's Newborn Baby be Good Luck?

Let's hope so. The guy is having a less than stellar season so far, especially after having what appeared to be a breakout last year. He played all 82 games last year and tallied 30 goals, 27 assists, and finished with a +7 rating. This season, through 55 games, he has a whopping 5 goals and 18 assists, which factors out to be roughly .42 points per game. Not exactly what he or his teammates were hoping for, I'm sure.

It was announced on Twitter that he missed practice today to be with his wife who went into labor. So, congratulations on that one, Nik. That's pretty awesome. However, how could a newborn baby be of any luck to an athlete? Well, let's look back to last year.

Kulemin's regular centerman, Mikhail Grabovski, wasn't having the greatest start of the season last year. Through some research on hockey-reference (if you haven't been there, you're missing out), I found that through the first 35 games last season, Grabbo had 13 goals, 14 assists with a +1 rating. That ends up being about .77 points per game. That's not all that bad, I suppose, but I remember him getting a lot of crap about not producing enough. Fast forward to December 30, and his girlfriend goes into labor and gives birth to their daughter. Now, I don't know if or how this would have any real affect on how an athlete performs, but it sure seemed to be the case. From that point on to the present day, Grabovski has played in 95 games, while tallying 34 goals and 50 assists, which comes out to .88 points per game--a significant increase, I'd say.

So yeah. Let's hope Kule's kid sparks a fire under him too. The Leafs are going to need all the help they can get if they're going to continue this playoff push.