"We Don't Need No Stinkin' Assists..."

After having recently looked at the NHL's leading assist makers, in an attempt to weed out those players loading up on 2nd Assists, I thought I'd take a look at the opposite end of the scoring formula. How often are Unassisted Goals scored, and which players get the most and least unassisted tallies? On an individual level, that could help us see who can create (and capitalize on) their own offensive chances, while on a team level, it might give us some insight into offensive style. For instance, a low-scoring team with a high proportion of "Solo Goals" might have goal-scoring talent on the roster, but not enough playmaking ability to set them up more often.

Somewhat surprisingly, when we look back at the 2005-06 season, only 4.8% of non-empty net, non-penalty shot goals were scored without an assist. In terms of overall results, Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes led the league with 6 such markers:

Unassisted Goal Leaders 2005-06

Player	Total Goals	Unassisted	Portion
Eric Staal, CAR	43	6	13.9%
Antii Laaksonen, COL	16	5	31.3%
Mike Fisher, OTT	22	5	22.7%
Brian Gionta, NJD	47	5	10.6%
Alexander Ovechkin, WSH	52	5	9.6%
Brian Rolston, MIN	32	4	12.5%

At the opposite end of that spectrum, we find that out of the top 25 goal scorers from last year, there were four players who scored zero unassisted goals: Ottawa's Dany Heatley, Anaheim's Andy McDonald, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, and Edmonton's Ryan Smyth.

And now for the team-by-team results...

Unassisted Goals By Team 2005-06

Team	Total Goals	Unassisted	Portion
Washington Capitals	227	21	9.25%
Ottawa Senators	306	21	6.86%
Philadelphia Flyers	251	18	7.17%
Detroit Red Wings	291	16	5.50%
New York Rangers	237	15	6.33%
Carolina Hurricanes	271	14	5.17%
Atlanta Thrashers	265	13	4.91%
Nashville Predators	248	13	5.24%
Colorado Avalanche	271	13	4.80%
San Jose Sharks	258	12	4.65%
Columbus Blue Jackets	211	12	5.69%
Chicago Blackhawks	207	12	5.80%
Florida Panthers	224	12	5.36%
Anaheim Ducks	240	11	4.58%
Toronto Maple Leafs	250	11	4.40%
Minnesota Wild	214	11	5.14%
Dallas Stars	249	11	4.42%
New Jersey Devils	228	11	4.82%
Boston Bruins	223	11	4.93%
Calgary Flames	208	11	5.29%
Vancouver Canucks	240	9	3.75%
Montreal Canadiens	237	9	3.80%
New York Islanders	216	9	4.17%
Pittsburgh Penguins	242	9	3.72%
Buffalo Sabres	263	8	3.04%
Edmonton Oilers	241	8	3.32%
St. Louis Blues	189	8	4.23%
Tampa Bay Lightning	237	8	3.38%
Phoenix Coyotes	235	7	2.98%
Los Angeles Kings	236	4	1.69%

The real outliers here are Washington, which scored a much higher portion of their goals unassisted than any other team in the league, while on the bottom end you have Phoenix and L.A., which were the only two teams scoring less than 3% of their goals unassisted.

As for this year, we have three players so far with 3 Solo Goals each: Atlanta's Marian Hossa, Toronto's Mats Sundin, and (what is it about this family?) Pittsburgh's other rookie sensation, Jordan Staal.

And as to our team-by-team numbers, the Capitals are again leading the way...

Unassisted Goals By Team 2006-07 (as of 12/28)

Team	Total Goals	Unassisted	Portion
Washington Capitals	109	10	9.17%
Buffalo Sabres	133	10	7.52%
Atlanta Thrashers	117	10	8.55%
Toronto Maple Leafs	118	9	7.63%
Detroit Red Wings	101	8	7.92%
Colorado Avalanche	116	8	6.90%
Anaheim Ducks	132	7	5.30%
Pittsburgh Penguins	111	7	6.31%
Chicago Blackhawks	84	6	7.14%
Calgary Flames	95	5	5.26%
Tampa Bay Lightning	113	5	4.42%
Ottawa Senators	119	5	4.20%
New York Rangers	107	5	4.67%
Florida Panthers	106	5	4.72%
Minnesota Wild	94	5	5.32%
Columbus Blue Jackets	90	4	4.44%
New York Islanders	103	4	3.88%
Boston Bruins	101	3	2.97%
Nashville Predators	119	3	2.52%
Carolina Hurricanes	115	3	2.61%
San Jose Sharks	107	3	2.80%
Edmonton Oilers	96	3	3.13%
Philadelphia Flyers	82	3	3.66%
Montreal Canadiens	104	3	2.88%
Los Angeles Kings	100	2	2.00%
St. Louis Blues	80	2	2.50%
Dallas Stars	98	1	1.02%
Phoenix Coyotes	84	1	1.19%
New Jersey Devils	91	1	1.10%
Vancouver Canucks	88	1	1.14%

Across the league this year, 4.6% of non-empty net, non-penalty shot goals are solo efforts, quote close to last year's 4.8% figure. As to major moves by various teams, the Philadelphia Flyers are on a pace to score only about a third as many solo goals as last season, whereas the Buffalo Sabres have already exceeded last year's total and should score more than 20 by season's end (but then again, what kind of goals aren't they scoring these days?).

So if your favorite team's playmaker gets injured this year, take a look above and see what propects there are for players to create their own offensive chances. In some cases, there may be enough offensive skill around to make up for the loss...