Comparing the Habs centremen

A statistical look at Gomez, Plekanec, Desharnais and Halpern

In my grading system each position has been given specific metrics to help create a grade that's as indicative as possible to how a player performs his role. Faceoffs have been added to help centremen's grades, while shot blocks are there to help defensemen's grades.

The Statistics I've gathered over the course of the last 25 games have begun to show patterns. These patterns are painting an interesting picture as to some players strengths and weaknesses. This blog will focus on the Canadiens centremen, and will be limited to players with a solid base of statistics specific to centremen; thereby reducing the possibility of statistical anomalies caused by a limited amount of data.

For average total grade there is only a 3-point difference between the 4 centremen. Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais are tied with the top grade at 64. Scott Gomez comes in with a 62, while Halpern's grade currently stands at 61.

Plekanec and Gomez are an interesting study. In Plekanec we have a centreman with 19 points and a plus-9 rating over the course of the study. While Gomez has 12 points and is minus-12; yet there is only a 2 point difference in grade. This is the product of Gomez's strengths (yes, I said strengths and Gomez in the same sentence) carrying his grade.

Gomez's grade is the product of his ability to equal Plekanec's in most other metrics. Both players are doing what first or second line centremen are supposed to do; get the puck into the offensive-zone and attempt to create offense. The two categories where we see a substantial gap between the two, only go to reinforce our perception of their specific strengths. Gomez has a better winning percentage for faceoffs in the offensive-zone, while maintaining a defensive-zone faceoff winning percentage substantially lower than number 14. The other metric is defensive-zone take-aways. Gomez has only 11 DZTAs, while Plekanec shows why he is the better defensive player with 23 DZTAs.

Despite David Desharnais struggles in the faceoff circle, he has still managed to post a grade equal to Plekanec's and 2 points ahead of Gomez. Desharnais has done this by way of his offense He has won a higher percentage of neutral and offensive-zone puck battles than both Gomez and Plekanec.

Desharnais has better offensive numbers and a better plus/minus than Gomez. That said, the fact that Gomez is playing bigger minutes against better players could explain his plus/minus. Then again, a counter-argument could also be made that Gomez gets almost twice as much powerplay time as number 58; yet has less points. Regardless of the argument, the numbers tell us that Desharnais has been a more productive player than Gomez over the last 25 games. What it does not tell us is whether this would hold true if the two players were used differently by Jacques Martin.

Despite being the team-leader in overall faceoff percentage, Jeff Halpern has struggled winning faceoffs in the defensive-zone while short-handed, and winning even-strength offensive-zone faceoffs; he has the team's worst winning percentage in both these categories. That said, Halpern shines in most neutral-zone categories. He has a solid success-rate when dumping the puck into the offensive-zone, and has the Habs' second-best winning percentage (among forwards) when engaging in neutral-zone puck battles.

I've been pleasantly surprised by how the statistics are rounding into form. An argument could be made that these 4 centremen should be ranked according to the grade they've achieved through this system. Plekanec being the first line centre; Desharnais the second; Gomez third; and Halpern centring the fourth line. More importantly than this however, is the picture these stats paint of what each player brings to the team. 

	6	11	13	14	15	20	21	22	32	44	45	46	47	52	53	55	57	58	63	67	68	75	76	81	94	31		TEAM TOT
OZWW	54	171	72	183	86	100	190	5	106	99	19	150	2	112	27	4	120	143	6	215	89	46	108	126	48	0	OZWW	2281
OZWL	38	159	61	162	68	56	134	2	78	50	7	125	1	57	25	3	108	87	6	144	57	30	67	92	38	0	OZWL	1655
SKI +	5	138	32	147	19	19	87	0	37	6	3	72	0	22	16	0	61	59	1	71	10	1	31	39	20	0	SKI +	896
SKI-	0	31	4	35	3	7	24	1	7	7	0	24	0	8	2	0	15	12	0	21	2	0	3	11	6	0	SKI-	223
DI+	44	81	21	99	66	40	77	7	78	61	14	44	2	47	26	1	23	36	6	79	53	63	119	41	24	4	DI+	1156
DI-	5	13	12	22	15	17	16	0	16	19	7	16	0	11	8	1	9	14	0	16	19	16	31	10	6	0	DI-	299
DZWW	92	92	29	100	78	180	89	19	80	158	70	69	12	41	24	11	35	57	6	62	180	194	295	64	30	2	DZWW	2069
DZWL	80	54	17	57	47	104	47	9	38	114	35	51	10	25	26	5	31	35	3	51	108	93	161	32	36	0	DZWL	1269
NZWW	15	22	9	20	20	11	29	0	27	20	10	26	2	9	10	1	25	25	1	35	16	10	16	21	12	0	NZWW	392
NZWL	16	26	13	18	12	13	17	1	18	15	5	16	2	5	13	1	20	19	0	16	12	9	17	13	11	0	NZWL	308
DZTA	39	11	8	23	11	11	6	2	6	36	4	5	0	10	2	1	8	6	1	4	13	28	29	5	2	1	DZTA	272
DZGA	41	23	10	28	17	45	16	1	12	30	18	18	3	6	3	3	10	10	1	16	47	58	72	10	8	35	DZGA	541
NZTA	16	11	11	19	11	14	12	0	12	23	3	12	1	3	7	0	12	9	0	14	15	28	13	6	6	0	NZTA	258
NZGA	9	25	14	36	15	24	20	2	23	28	4	28	1	24	3	0	21	21	2	25	14	22	36	8	9	0	NZGA	414
DZFOW	0	33	1	52	26	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	3	30	3	0	0	0	1	8	5	0	DZFOW	169
DZFOL	0	36	1	39	26	0	6	0	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	33	3	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	DZFOL	155
DZPKFOW	0	9	0	47	8	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	DZPKFOW	74
DZPKFOL	0	7	0	42	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	DZPKFOL	68
OZPPFOW	0	36	0	36	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	OZPPFOW	76
OZPPFOL	0	25	0	25	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	OZPPFOL	61
OZFOW	0	56	0	58	16	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	23	0	0	0	0	0	7	2	0	OZFOW	168
OZFOL	0	39	1	62	34	0	2	0	2	0	0	1	0	3	5	0	0	24	4	1	0	0	0	7	6	0	OZFOL	191
PS THRU	41	16	6	15	2	71	11	3	0	58	11	8	2	0	0	1	2	6	1	2	54	22	74	5	3	0	PS THRU	414
PS BL	17	8	4	17	1	42	9	1	1	29	4	7	2	3	0	2	4	2	0	3	31	11	38	5	0	0	PS BL	241
DZBS	36	7	0	21	9	36	6	3	13	46	13	9	3	4	3	1	9	11	3	8	17	43	30	4	8	0	PS BL	343
POINTS x2	8	24	16	38	14	36	24	0	4	28	2	20	0	18	2	0	16	26	0	32	18	8	34	10	2	0	POINTS x2	380
+/-	4	-12	4	9	1	-1	1	1	-3	-3	-2	-5	-1	0	3	0	4	0	0	-3	4	-1	-4	-4	-3	0	+/-	-11
SHOTS	22	60	26	90	22	46	89	2	30	45	7	57	2	36	13	0	46	36	1	82	35	16	70	21	16	0	SHOTS	870
WINS	376	755	235	957	389	563	629	42	392	577	154	467	25	304	138	20	364	470	29	601	504	458	816	353	182	7		9807
BATTLES	578	1213	368	1491	640	872	921	58	595	872	236	758	45	447	220	35	580	735	48	897	790	698	1245	549	310	42		15243
GRADE	65	62	64	64	61	65	68	72	66	66	65	62	56	68	63	57	63	64	60	67	64	66	66	64	59	17	OVERALL	64
PLAYER	6	11	13	14	15	20	21	22	32	44	45	46	47	52	53	55	57	58	63	67	68	75	76	81	94	31		GRADE

**I ADDED SOME NEW METRICS TO PUT MORE EMPHASIS ON OFFENSIVE SUCCESS: PTS, +/-, AND SHOTS. POINTS HAVE BEEN MULTIPLIED BY 2 IN ORDER TO INCREASE THEIR WEIGHT ON THE FINAL GRADE**

	6	11	13	14	15	20	21	22	32	44	45	46	47	52	53	55	57	58	63	67	68	75	76	81	94	31		TEAM TOT
%OZPBW	59	52	54	53	56	64	59	71	58	66	73	55	67	66	52	57	53	62	50	60	61	61	62	58	56		%OZPBW	58
%SKI +	100	82	89	81	86	73	78	0	84	46	100	75		73	89		80	83	100	77	83	100	91	78	77		%SKI +	80
%DI+	90	86	64	82	81	70	83	100	83	76	67	73	100	81	76	50	72	72	100	83	74	80	79	80	80	100	%DI+	79
%DZPBW	53	63	63	64	62	63	65	68	68	58	67	58	55	62	48	69	53	62	67	55	63	68	65	67	45	100	%DZPBW	62
%NZPBW	48	46	41	53	63	46	63	0	60	57	67	62	50	64	43	50	56	57	100	69	57	53	48	62	52		%NZPBW	56
DZTA	39	11	8	23	11	11	6	2	6	36	4	5	0	10	2	1	8	6	1	4	13	28	29	5	2	1	DZTA	272
DZGA	41	23	10	28	17	45	16	1	12	30	18	18	3	6	3	3	10	10	1	16	47	58	72	10	8	35	DZGA	541
NZTA	16	11	11	19	11	14	12	0	12	23	3	12	1	3	7	0	12	9	0	14	15	28	13	6	6	0	NZTA	258
NZGA	9	25	14	36	15	24	20	2	23	28	4	28	1	24	3	0	21	21	2	25	14	22	36	8	9	0	NZGA	414
%DZFOW		48	50	57	50		45		0					50	100		75	48	50				100	67	100		%DZFOW	52
%DZPKFOW		56		53	36		100		100						100			0							64		%DZPKFOW	52
%OZPPFOW		59		59			33										0	30							0		%OZPPFOW	55
%OZFOW		59	0	48	32		33		33			0		25	38			49	0	0				50	25		%OZFOW	47
%PS THRU	71	67	60	47	67	63	55	75	0	67	73	53	50	0			33	75	100	40	64	67	66	50	100		%PS THRU	63
WINS	376	755	235	957	389	563	629	42	392	577	154	467	25	304	138	20	364	470	29	601	504	458	816	353	182	7		9807
BATTLES	578	1213	368	1491	640	872	921	58	595	872	236	758	45	447	220	35	580	735	48	897	790	698	1245	549	310	42		15243
GRADE	65	62	64	64	61	65	68	72	66	66	65	62	56	68	63	57	63	64	60	67	64	66	66	64	59	17	OVERALL	64
PLAYER	6	11	13	14	15	20	21	22	32	44	45	46	47	52	53	55	57	58	63	67	68	75	76	81	94	31		GRADE