Comparing this year to last: Special teams
by James Mirtle
on Jan 12, 2009 9:41 PM CST
in Statistics
6 comments
One more reason for the pile that the Bruins have been excellent and the Stars awful this season: special teams.
You always hear they're important, but a good way of quantifying that is to think of it this way. Teams play about 12 per cent of the game on the power play — and that's where they do about 30 per cent of their scoring.
Here's a look at how teams are doing when up a man in comparison to last year's figures:
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |||
| RK | TEAM | PP PCT | PP PCT | PP Dif |
| 1 | St. Louis | 14.0 | 21.7 | 7.7% |
| 2 | Chicago | 15.9 | 22.8 | 6.9% |
| 3 | Detroit | 20.8 | 27.4 | 6.6% |
| 4 | Boston | 17.6 | 23.8 | 6.2% |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 21.8 | 26.9 | 5.1% |
| 6 | Atlanta | 16.4 | 21.1 | 4.7% |
| 7 | Anaheim | 16.6 | 21.3 | 4.7% |
| 8 | San Jose | 18.7 | 22.9 | 4.2% |
| 9 | Washington | 18.8 | 22.5 | 3.7% |
| 10 | NY Islanders | 14.5 | 17.9 | 3.4% |
| 11 | Minnesota | 18.9 | 21.7 | 2.8% |
| 12 | New Jersey | 15.6 | 18.1 | 2.5% |
| 13 | Buffalo | 18.0 | 20.4 | 2.4% |
| 14 | Calgary | 16.8 | 18.9 | 2.1% |
| 15 | Toronto | 17.8 | 19.9 | 2.1% |
| 16 | Colorado | 14.6 | 16.6 | 2.0% |
| 17 | Edmonton | 16.6 | 18.2 | 1.6% |
| 18 | Los Angeles | 17.5 | 18.5 | 1.0% |
| 19 | Vancouver | 17.0 | 17.3 | 0.3% |
| 20 | Ottawa | 18.3 | 17.9 | -0.4% |
| 21 | Nashville | 14.8 | 13.3 | -1.5% |
| 22 | NY Rangers | 16.5 | 14.0 | -2.5% |
| 23 | Pittsburgh | 20.4 | 17.2 | -3.2% |
| 24 | Carolina | 18.8 | 15.6 | -3.2% |
| 25 | Dallas | 18.0 | 14.4 | -3.6% |
| 26 | Tampa Bay | 19.3 | 15.7 | -3.6% |
| 27 | Columbus | 14.8 | 10.8 | -4.0% |
| 28 | Florida | 19.2 | 15.1 | -4.1% |
| 29 | Phoenix | 18.5 | 12.8 | -5.7% |
| 30 | Montreal | 24.1 | 15.2 | -8.9% |
| Average | 17.7 | 18.7 |
This might be the only good news in St. Louis this season.
Detroit, meanwhile, has been torching teams with the man advantage, while Montreal's magic left town with Mark Streit apparently. Phoenix and Columbus have also been atrocious on the power play.
Here are the PK numbers:
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |||
| RK | TEAM | PK PCT | PK PCT | PK Dif |
| 1 | Boston | 78.6 | 83.3 | 4.7% |
| 2 | Los Angeles | 78.0 | 82.4 | 4.4% |
| 3 | Calgary | 81.4 | 85.7 | 4.3% |
| 4 | Buffalo | 83.2 | 87.1 | 3.9% |
| 5 | NY Rangers | 84.5 | 87.7 | 3.2% |
| 6 | Minnesota | 85.2 | 87.7 | 2.5% |
| 7 | Chicago | 82.1 | 83.9 | 1.8% |
| 8 | Ottawa | 81.2 | 82.4 | 1.2% |
| 9 | Florida | 82.4 | 83.1 | 0.7% |
| 10 | NY Islanders | 81.9 | 82.4 | 0.5% |
| 11 | Montreal | 82.5 | 82.6 | 0.1% |
| 12 | Philadelphia | 83.2 | 83.2 | 0.0% |
| 13 | Phoenix | 80.8 | 80.4 | -0.4% |
| 14 | San Jose | 86.0 | 85.4 | -0.6% |
| 15 | Tampa Bay | 82.1 | 81.2 | -0.9% |
| 16 | Washington | 80.5 | 79.6 | -0.9% |
| 17 | Vancouver | 82.6 | 81.6 | -1.0% |
| 18 | Carolina | 78.9 | 77.8 | -1.1% |
| 19 | Pittsburgh | 81.0 | 79.7 | -1.3% |
| 20 | Nashville | 85.4 | 84.0 | -1.4% |
| 21 | New Jersey | 82.8 | 81.2 | -1.6% |
| 22 | Anaheim | 83.1 | 81.1 | -2.0% |
| 23 | Columbus | 83.3 | 81.1 | -2.2% |
| 24 | Colorado | 81.4 | 78.8 | -2.6% |
| 25 | Detroit | 84.0 | 80.2 | -3.8% |
| 26 | St. Louis | 84.4 | 80.5 | -3.9% |
| 27 | Atlanta | 78.8 | 73.9 | -4.9% |
| 28 | Toronto | 78.2 | 73.0 | -5.2% |
| 29 | Dallas | 85.6 | 77.4 | -8.2% |
| 30 | Edmonton | 84.7 | 74.9 | -9.8% |
| Average | 82.3 | 81.4 |
The most shocking thing about that table? The Leafs, rotten on the penalty kill last season, are even worse this time around, to the tune of a 5.2 per cent drop. Atlanta's another team that went from awful to more awful.
Boston and L.A., meanwhile, were two teams that struggled in this metric last season and have climbed the ranks. The Rangers and Minnesota remain two of the best killing teams, however.
If we combine the PP difference and the PK difference, it gives you a sense of how special teams, in total, are affecting teams:
| RK | TEAM | PP Dif | PK Dif | Tot |
| 1 | Boston | 6.2% | 4.7% | 10.9% |
| 2 | Chicago | 6.9% | 1.8% | 8.7% |
| 3 | Calgary | 2.1% | 4.3% | 6.4% |
| 4 | Buffalo | 2.4% | 3.9% | 6.3% |
| 5 | Los Angeles | 1.0% | 4.4% | 5.4% |
| 6 | Minnesota | 2.8% | 2.5% | 5.3% |
| 7 | Philadelphia | 5.1% | 0.0% | 5.1% |
| 8 | NY Islanders | 3.4% | 0.5% | 3.9% |
| 9 | St. Louis | 7.7% | -3.9% | 3.8% |
| 10 | San Jose | 4.2% | -0.6% | 3.6% |
| 11 | Detroit | 6.6% | -3.8% | 2.8% |
| 12 | Washington | 3.7% | -0.9% | 2.8% |
| 13 | Anaheim | 4.7% | -2.0% | 2.7% |
| 14 | New Jersey | 2.5% | -1.6% | 0.9% |
| 15 | Ottawa | -0.4% | 1.2% | 0.8% |
| 16 | NY Rangers | -2.5% | 3.2% | 0.7% |
| 17 | Atlanta | 4.7% | -4.9% | -0.2% |
| 18 | Colorado | 2.0% | -2.6% | -0.6% |
| 19 | Vancouver | 0.3% | -1.0% | -0.7% |
| 20 | Nashville | -1.5% | -1.4% | -2.9% |
| 21 | Toronto | 2.1% | -5.2% | -3.1% |
| 22 | Florida | -4.1% | 0.7% | -3.4% |
| 23 | Carolina | -3.2% | -1.1% | -4.3% |
| 24 | Tampa Bay | -3.6% | -0.9% | -4.5% |
| 25 | Pittsburgh | -3.2% | -1.3% | -4.5% |
| 26 | Phoenix | -5.7% | -0.4% | -6.1% |
| 27 | Columbus | -4.0% | -2.2% | -6.2% |
| 28 | Edmonton | 1.6% | -9.8% | -8.2% |
| 29 | Montreal | -8.9% | 0.1% | -8.8% |
| 30 | Dallas | -3.6% | -8.2% | -11.8% |
| Average | 0.2% |
Boston's been incredible in a lot of ways this season, but we haven't heard enough about their climb on special teams. Ditto for Chicago, Calgary and Los Angeles.
On the other end of things, Dallas, Montreal, Edmonton and Columbus are having real difficulty living up to last season's numbers — and the Oilers and Blue Jackets didn't even make the postseason last year.
Ottawa's numbers, meanwhile, are dead even — but they're nowhere near where they were in the standings 12 months ago.
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1) Another conclusion. Based upon their top 10 standing(8th) in this list and their basement dwelling in the NHL, the NY Islanders must be down right abyssmal 5-5!
by Fauxrumors on
Jan 13, 2009 7:46 AM CST
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Yes, the Isles are the worst team in this (or probably any other) League 5-on-5. The Bruins have been flat-out sick (no “mono” joke intended) in just about every aspect of the game.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
by J.P. on
Jan 13, 2009 8:14 AM CST
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That the Jackets could have one of the biggest year-to-year dropoffs in power play after a 14.8% baseline year is mortifying.
Dear Hitch: you’re killing hockey, no matter how pretty your goalie’s numbers are.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
by J.P. on
Jan 13, 2009 8:12 AM CST
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System goalies?
Seems like any goalie they plug in gets shutouts, too bad they don’t win enough games otherwise.
Honk if you love Justice!
"I'm betting that I'm just abnormal enough to survive. "
by TheTick on
Jan 13, 2009 9:23 AM CST
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There’s no question Mason’s numbers are inflated a bit playing there.
by James Mirtle on
Jan 13, 2009 1:28 PM CST
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The Rangers power play is especially brutal if you factor in short handed goals.
The Rangers have scored 27 times on 193 opportunities for a 14.0% success rate on the PP. However they’ve given up 13 shorthanded goals, meaning that their net goals for on the PP is actually only 14, for a PP success rate of around 7.0%.
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* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.
by Chemmy on
Jan 13, 2009 9:35 AM CST
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