Since nothing important has happened today in the world of the Ottawa Senators (or really for weeks or months, depending on your definition of 'important'), I thought it might be fun to take a look at a fun bunch of statistics.
To compare our players and rate their performances, I often use the NHL Stats machine. It was only recently that I noticed an unusual category I'd not seen before under the 'Stats View': HITS - Players. It lead to a few fun numbers that I'd like to share with you.
We all know Spezza loves to give away the puck, dangle freakin' dangle style. I thought he might've been the worst in the League. While his 96 giveaways last season (can you believe that's still pretty close to only one per game?) were second to Thornton's 103, when you factor in the six fewer games Spezza played, he tops Thornton's giveaways per game rate, 1.263 to 1.256, narrowly earning the giveaway king crown. Our next 'best' player last season came in 31st with 66GvA, but since he's gone to the Big Apple, Redden shouldn't be a worry. What might be worrisome is that both Heatley and Alfie sneak into the top 50, with 60 apiece, making our top line not only the most feared by goalies, but possibly the most enticing one to opportunists.
A pair of handy stats that we can use to give us hope for the season come next: Blocked Shots and Hits. In the top 100 hitters, we have seven players. Phillips brings up the rear, coming in 76th with 126BkS, going on up through Ruutu, Smith, Volchenkov, Schubert, and Neil, and being led by Fisher at 7th, with 234. On average, teams have just two and a half players among the top 76 in the League; with nearly thrice that at 7, it might make other teams start to think twice next season.
Our outlook for blocked shots is quite bright as well. We have the second and third most productive shot blockers from last season in Volchenkov and Smith, and Phillips ranks in at 13th. Again, most teams would have averaged a single player in the top 30; we'll give both Auld and Gerber some help by having three in the top 15. Stranger though are the next entries on the team in the category: Meszaros, at 74th, Commodore at 82nd, and Redden at 86th. Two (or possibly three) of those will be gone next year, taking away 289BkS, over 3.5/game (although given Commodore's short tenure with the Sens, that loss will actually be slightly less). Thankfully, in comparison, our top three combined for 564BkS, not quite twice as much, but it is still a spot to watch out for, that will show in the shots we allow each game. For interest, Fisher is the next highest Senator on the list, clocking in at 128th in the League (5th overall though, among forwards).
That's about all that was interesting for today, in my world anyways. Here's hoping that I can soon wakeup to the Sens in Europe.
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