Team By Team Opportunistic Turnovers

Late last week I reported on individual leaders from last season in terms of offensive chances generated from Takeaways and Hits, so now it's time to present the numbers on a team-by-team basis. What's interesting here is that some teams generated offense out of their hits and takeaways much more effectively than others. On average, 19.2% of Takeaways and 7.5% of Hits resulted in an offensive chance within 10 seconds (defined as a Shot, Goal, Blocked Shot, or Missed Shot). So let's take a look...

If you compare these results with the table here, which shows total Hits and Takeaways from the 2005-6 NHL season, you'll see some teams failed to generate much offense out of their physical game. The Boston Bruins, for example, had the 3rd-most hits in the league, but were near the bottom in offense generated, producing shots less than 5% of the time after making a hit. The Philadelphia Flyers, on the other hand, produced shots almost twice as often, jumping from 16th in the Hit rankings to 5th on the list here.

The story is similar regarding Takeaways. Tampa Bay was in the middle of the pack in terms of Takeaways, but dead last in chances generated from them. Instead of getting shots 19% of the time, they struggled below 12%. At the opposite end of that scale were the Ottawa Senators, who were 12th in Takeaways, but 3rd in offense generated from them, converting at a 22.45% clip.

Offensive Chances Generated From Takeaways & Hits (2005-6)

TEAM	TAKEAWAYS	HITS	TOTAL
Montreal Canadiens	213	113	326
Ottawa Senators	141	131	272
New York Islanders	129	133	262
Washington Capitals	128	130	258
Calgary Flames	129	117	246
Philadelphia Flyers	115	123	238
Atlanta Thrashers	132	104	236
Colorado Avalanche	165	68	233
Toronto Maple Leafs	82	147	229
New York Rangers	131	95	226
Detroit Red Wings	131	94	225
New Jersey Devils	139	85	224
Edmonton Oilers	123	99	222
Dallas Stars	106	115	221
Nashville Predators	113	99	212
Anaheim Ducks	120	90	210
Columbus Blue Jackets	115	86	201
Boston Bruins	112	86	198
Phoenix Coyotes	81	113	194
Carolina Hurricanes	113	77	190
Los Angeles Kings	76	110	186
Chicago Blackhawks	90	94	184
San Jose Sharks	83	101	184
Pittsburgh Penguins	84	98	182
Vancouver Canucks	82	100	182
Buffalo Sabres	96	82	178
St. Louis Blues	89	89	178
Florida Panthers	93	79	172
Minnesota Wild	103	56	159
Tampa Bay Lightning	72	67	139

These are just a couple elements that I'll be using in the coming weeks to provide detailed analyses for each of the NHL teams as we approach the quarter-pole of the 2006-7 season. It's about time for teams to start making roster moves as they realize that training camp dreams just won't work out (isn't that right, Flyers fans?), and a thorough look inside the numbers might help assess where each team truly needs some help.