Taking One For The Team

by Dirk Hoag on Feb 13, 2007 11:44 AM EST

Found on Kukla's Korner, there's an article by Michael Farber over at SI.com discussing the prevalence of blocked shots. Great shot-blocking is definitely an underappreciated art form, and while there are some nice anecdotes in Farber's piece, I was left wondering - other than his impressions, do we really have any evidence that shot-blocking is on the rise?

I took a look through the play-by-play files for this year (up through Sunday night) and last, and found that at indeed, we've seen about a 5% increase in blocked shots per game since last season:

Year	EV	PP	SH	Total
2005-06	18.47	0.67	6.80	25.94
2006-07	20.48	0.58	6.11	27.17

Blocked Shots per game (both teams), broken down by situation.

Interestingly, we've seen a decline in the number of Shorthanded blocks, and a significant jump in the number at Even Strength. I'll have to dig through the pre-lockout files to see if a longer-term trend is in the works...

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My guess is that the drop in SH/PP shot blocks is due to the drop in the number of penalties called.

by Jeff J on Feb 14, 2007 8:57 AM EST reply actions

With newer ways of protecting ones self from shots, I'm sure more guys are willing to take one for the team.

I saw a clip on Tomas Holmstrom not too long ago; he's got some great padding for his legs. A little extra piece here and there can go a long way.

by Matthew Macaskill on Feb 14, 2007 2:20 PM EST reply actions