It’s been a while (November 9, 2019) since Caitlin Berry and I posted anything regarding the journey of Liam Kirk, so with the GB forward having reached a personal landmark in this current campaign, it seems like a good time to pick up the thread.

The reason it’s taken Kirk until this stage of the season to hit half a century in points is down to two separate injuries that have led him to miss fifteen games.

Currently ranked 85th in OHL scoring with exactly fifty points (21-29) in 47 games, Kirk is also ranked sixth in team scoring for both assists and points, and fifth in goals.

Expanding on his current 1.06 points per game average, the lad from Yorkshire would have 65 points at this stage of the season had he been able to remain healthy, good for 45th in OHL scoring.
Returning from a length injury nearly always results in a period of adaptation to the pace of play, especially in the second half of the season, so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Kirk may have improved upon his PPG average and for the sake of this theory let’s add on ten points to the ‘healthy’ 65.

Where would 75 points rank him in OHL scoring right now? 25th.
If that were indeed the case, then the narrative surrounding Arizona’s 7th round selection in 2018 would look a whole lot different.

Points Breakdown:

Thirty Even Strength Points
Seventeen Power-Play Points
Twenty-one Goals
Thirty-eight Primary Points

On return from his most recent injury which kept him out of action for eleven games, Kirk has accrued five goals and six assists in eleven outings.
Peterborough Petes acquired Los Angeles Kings prospect Akil Thomas in a trade before the deadline pass and the lad from Sheffield has mostly played on the RW with Thomas as his centre.

So good because of Thomas?

Not so much actually with Kirk playing a fairly sizeable role in helping his new centreman to produce.

This was a great play that began with Kirk and the two began to show some early chemistry with a perfect pass from Thomas allowing the GB forward to tap-in.

The most recent game saw the pair combine on three goals as Liam Kirk registered three primary assists.

Showing his wrist shot off to great effect here.

So what now for Kirk?

Well, this article was prepped and ready before the Corona Virus led to all hockey in North America being suspended.
Had that not been the case the 20-year-old might have enjoyed a prolonged playoff run with the Peterborough Petes.

All options after that are up for debate but there has to be a possibility of him signing a PTO for either an ECHL or AHL team.

Looking forward, this article https://wp.me/p2gDti-SE that was produced back in November describes the options for the summer and beyond.