Updating Top Shot-Producing Faceoff Men

by Dirk Hoag on Nov 21, 2006 5:46 PM EST

Yesterday we looked at shot generation immediately after the faceoff on a team-by-team basis, so now it's time to look at some of the outstanding players. Since we looked at last season with a minimum of 100 offensive-zone faceoffs, we'll use 25 draws as our minimum for this year so far (yes, it's a small sample size, but most of our top ten had 45-60). Recall that the league average this season is for a shot within 5 seconds of an offensive-zone faceoff 7.21% of the time.

**Shot Generation After FO By Player**
Player	Faceoffs	Shots	Shot Gen %
Andy Hilbert, NYI	27	6	22.22%
Alexander Svitov, CBJ	45	9	20.00%
Stu Barnes, DAL	45	8	17.78%
Dean McAmmond, OTT	62	10	16.13%
Ian Laperriere, COL	45	7	15.56%
Jeff O'Neill, TOR	52	8	15.38%
Mike Zigomanis, PHX	47	7	14.89%
John Madden, N.J.	68	10	14.71%
Kris Draper, DET	49	7	14.29%
Matthew Stajan, TOR	57	8	14.04%
Yanic Perrault, PHX	36	5	13.89%

This table "goes to 11", because everyone knows that Yanic Perrault has a great reputation as a faceoff man, so I wanted to include him in the post.

As far as Rally Killers go, three players have taken the requisite number of offensive zone draws without generating any shots so far: Boston Bruin Wayne Primeau (37 FO's), Columbus Blue Jacket Mark Hartigan (35 FO's), and Detroit Red Wing Dan Cleary (38 FO's). Interesting names to note near the bottom of this list are San Jose's Joe Thornton (3 shots on 146 draws for 2.05%) and Tampa's Brad Richards (4 shots on 137 draws, 2.92%).

So remember, print out this post and take it to your next NHL game, so you can shout out helpful suggestions to the head coach as he ponders who to send out for that critical late-game faceoff...

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Comments

Check out this Hockey Numbers post, where he points out that quick-shots off faceoffs generally are pretty useless; they score half-as-often as other shots.

What good, then, is this table? Would a team with these centermen be any good? None of the names resemble any assist-leaders, and few seem to be on particularly winning teams.

You've put a few posts together on this subject, but I don't see why this is valuable data; there is no evidence I see that quick shots off a faceoff do a team any good (unlike rebound shots, for example).

Probably this needs to be started in another way--first find out what goals are going in, then find out how they get created.

My $0.02.

by Earl Sleek on Nov 27, 2006 4:47 PM EST reply actions

That's some an interesting piece - I'll have to take a second look at my extracts, to see how these shots compare against expected results (given Shot Quality), and whether rebound opportunities are at all significant here (my guess is probably not).

As I go through these various points of statistical inquiry, some areas will obviously prove to be more useful than others. If indeed we can show that "quick shots off faceoffs generally are pretty useless," then I'd say that in itself is pretty darn interesting.

Thanks for the note!

by The Forechecker on Nov 27, 2006 5:34 PM EST reply actions