I’m Back, But Not Quite Like Crosby
November 21st, 2011, 9:02 pm
I was going to post something about my trip, which has very little to do with hockey, but I can’t in good conscience now. Sid’s comeback is just a hair more impressive than mine. I hope you’ve seen the game or highlights. Two goals (both backhand shots, no less) and two assists. Remember, he missed 68 games. It’s impossible not to make a comparison with Mario Lemieux here. Lemieux had a much longer absence, to be sure, but from a hockey perspective, Crosby means just as much to the Penguins now as Mario did then. And, to top it all off, they both scored four points in their respective returns. Just amazing.
Back to the Sharks- it’s been a great welcome home present for me to see them dismantle Detroit, Dallas, and Colorado in the last three games. Of course the number one thing to talk about is the penalty kill, which I’m sure we will when we record the podcast this week after the Chicago game. Just wanted to give a bit of a funny stat. I decided to calculate how the Sharks ranked in terms of the percentage of games they gave up a PP goal, instead of just overall PK%, where they currently stand at 3rd worst (74.6%). I fully expected the Sharks to have given up a PP goal in a greater percentage of games than any other team- it seemed like every goddam game the opponent scored with the man advantage. But it’s not actually the case:
- Dallas 65% (13/20)
- Carolina 63.6% (14/22)
- Islanders 61.1% (11/18)
- Winnipeg 60% (12/20)
- Columbus 60% (12/20)
- Los Angeles 60% (12/20)
- Detroit 57.8% (11/19)
- Ottawa 57.4% (12/21)
- Toronto 57.4% (12/21)
- Colorado 57.4% (12/21)
- San Jose 55.5% (10/18)
Dallas is a full seven percentage points better in PK% – 17th overall, the best on this list- and yet has given up a PP goal in 65% of the games they’ve played. I don’t really know what that means, but it’s interesting.
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Yay Mike’s back!!! Welcome back man.It does seem like the Sharks have given up a PP goal in every damn game this year, and it’s been aggravating to say the least.
General Question: After the current core of veteran players retires, do you think the Sharks will have to bottom out and build a winner through the draft (like Pittsburgh, Chicago…), or can the Sharks continue to win with the likes of Couture, Pavelski, Burns, etc. as the main core?
And how about Pierre LeBrun placing the Sharks #1 on this week’s power rankings?
http://espn.go.com/nhl/powerrankings/_/season/2012/week/8
Keep up the good work dudes!
-Paul in NYC
THN put SJ at the top too. In terms of percentage of pts possible SJ has the best record in the NHL.
I saw an interesting stat that they are up at like 80something% since they changes their scheme to be slightly more aggressive (sometime last week?). Source: hfboards.
It helps that we don’t take a lot of penalties overall. That’s one of the main reason the stat is skewed IMO. When you don’t take a lot of penalties, but do give up the goal on the man advantage, things will seem much worse then they really are. I bet the majority of goals given up by the Sharks actually came from a PP opportunity, and not 5 on 5. As long as they score more goals in the end though, is all that really matters.
This is a good point, and I just answered a tweet to the same effect. I looked at some more stats, the Sharks are 2nd best in the league in times shorthanded (59) where Dallas is 2nd worst (99).
I tried to measure the spread of PP goals allowed as well. For instance, if you have 9 games where you allowed a PP goal against and you allowed 9 PP goals total, the spread metric would be 1.0. Sharks have allowed 15 PPGA spread amongst 10 games, so their metric is 0.67. The biggest spread in the league belongs to Florida (given up 10 PPGA in 9 different games).
Also, the Sharks are tied for #1 in the league in terms of percentage of total GA being PPGA (34.88%) Tied with the Red Wings. Relatedly, the Sharks are 2nd best in the league in ESGA/G (even strength goals allowed per game) with 1.33.
you can use statistics to prove anything, 9 out of 10 people know that!
Dudes:
Alot of big sports sites have the sharks #3 in power rankings. Do you think this is fair considering that the sharks have beaten both the Wild and the Penguins? Where do you think the sharks realistically should be in the power rankings?
I forget… Did that qualify for a goalie steal?
34 saves in the shutout and outshot by 14…?
Either way outstanding to see Niemi helping the boys win a close one like that.