Top NHL Slapshot Artists

by Dirk Hoag on Oct 17, 2006 3:27 PM EDT

So who's got the best slap shot in the game of hockey? Well, according to shooting percentage on slap shots only, the answer would appear to be (drum roll, please...) Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks. Last season, Cheechoo scored on 21% of his slapshots, well above the league average of 7.51% for all slapshots, as found in yesterday's article covering Scoring Percentage by Range and Shot Type. Particularly notable with Cheechoo is his 27% scoring rate from the 31-40 foot range, which means he didn't just load up with cheap goals in close to obtain his lofty results (although he did certainly load up within the 10-foot mark).

The interesting thing to note here is the validation that the top goal scorers don't just get their numbers due to taking lots of shots, but that they do appear to score more often when they do shoot. Guys like Jaromir Jagr, Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Ovechkin (who ranked 3rd, 5th, and 6th last year in total ice time for forwards) also rank highly in slap shot scroring, at #3, #11, and #12 respectively.

For this study, I screened for the top 100 players from last season in terms of slap shots taken, broke down the results based on range, and summarized to obtain individual scoring percentages as shown in the picture below. Empty Net goals are not included in these figures, and I've highlighted some of the more interesting cells where percentages are high (green) and where they are abnormally low (red).

Just click the picture below to enlarge.

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I don't thimk shooting percentage is a good way to measure who is bets on slapshots (or any kind of shots). You tend to get leaders who are afraid to shoot except in high odds situations.

A player like Al MacInnis was often among the league leaders in slapshots, but he didn't shoot intending to score all of the time. Sometimes he got rebounds, deflections, tip ins etc. This is part of a good slapshot. Using it in all occassions - not just to score goals. Using it to aset up plays. Using it because the other team is scared of it. I consider Al MacInnis the best slapshot of all time and he would not show up near the top if you ranked the best slapshots by shooting percentage.

Cheechoo has a good slapshot and he showed it last year, but if I had to pick one player (there is nobody as obvious as MacIniis or even Brett Hull today) I think I'd pick Alexander Ovechkin.

by The Puck Stops Here on Oct 18, 2006 9:21 AM EDT reply actions

I would hope that "leaders who are afraid to shoot except in high odds situations" would be screened out by looking at only those who took the most slappers. There certainly has to be a minimum number of attempts before you can consider something legitimate.

Also remember to keep the statistics within their proper context. What is shown here is simply scoring percentage, nothing more, nothing less. Now, I could also run an analysis to determine how often a 2nd shot quickly results from a slapshot (rebound opportunities). A combination of those two factors would probably give you a pretty good picture of the most productive slap shot artists.

The other interesting aspect of this is how different players perform at different ranges. Look at Paul Kariya, for example. Good production inside 30 feet, but outside of it, no goals in 60 shots. Or Jaromir Jagr and Brian Gionta, who scored on >40% of slap shots in the 21-30 foot range. The numbers can be used to describe a player's characteristics, not just their place within a good vs. bad spectrum.

One bubble that should be burst is the MPH measure of slap shot analysis. It doesn't matter how hard a guy shoots if he takes too long to get the shot off, or is wildly inaccurate.

Thanks for the feedback - for the moment, I'm tossing relatively raw data up here for public consumption, and input like yours can help refine it further.

by The Forechecker on Oct 18, 2006 12:17 PM EDT reply actions