Habs neutral-zone risk / reward ratings

The Montreal Canadiens lived and eventually died off the transition. It was a team built on speed, and a team built on speed is a team built to control the neutral-zone. Whether it's Hal Gill (speed not withstanding) holding the defensive blue-line, Travis Moen winning a wall battle, Scott Gomez carrying the puck into the offensive-zone, or Tomas Plekanec laying in a soft dump-in; all of these events constitute strong neutral-zone plays.

Neutral-zone risk / reward is a calculation where we take all of a player's positive-events in the neutral-zone (won puck-battle, successful dump-in, successful skate-in, successful pass, successful deak) and divide them by how many minutes a player plays. We then take a player's negative-events  in the neutral-zone ( lost puck-battle, unsuccessful dump-in / skate-in, unsuccessful pass, unsuccessful deak) and divide that by how many minutes a player plays. The negative events per minute played is now subtracted from the positive events per minute played to give us a player's risk / reward rating in that particular zone. The higher the number the better a player has played in the particular zone.

 Regular season raw data available here


Most active?

Among the Habs regulars Ryan White was the most active in the neutral-zone.White led the team with 0.96 neutral-zone events per minute of ice time. Other active players in the neutral-zone include Lars Eller  (0.98), Scott Gomez (0.86), Tomas Plekanec (0.85), David Desharnais (0.83), and Mike Cammalleri (0.83). The defenseman with the most events in the neutral-zone per minute of ice-time was PK Subban (0.62).


Least active?

Jaroslav Spacek had the least amount of events in the neutral-zone per minute of ice-time (0.32). Other players with few neutral-zone events include James Wisniewski (0.38) and Paul Mara (0.38). The forwards with the least amount of neutral-zone events per minute of ice-time were Mathieu Darche (0.64) and Jeff Halpern (0.64)


Helps the most?

The players with the most positive events in the neutral-zone per minute of ice-time were Lars Eller (0.61) and Ryan White (0.61). PK Subban led all defensemen with 0.42 positive-events in the n-zone per minute of ice-time.


Hurts the most?

Players with the most negative events in the neutral-zone per minute of ice-time include Ryan White (0.37), Lars Eller (0.35), David Desharnais (0.29), Benoit Pouliot(0.28), Scott Gomez(0.28), Tomas Plekanec(0.28), and Mike Cammalleri (0.28). The defensemen with the most negative-events per minute of ice-time were PK Subban (0.19) and Yannick Weber (0.19).

Top neutral-zone risk / reward rating

The player with the top risk / reward rating in the neutral-zone during the regular season was Travis Moen (0.32). Moen's success-rate for neutral-zone passing was terrible, but his work along the wall and ability to consistently dump the puck into the offensive-zone carried him to the top rating. Other players with strong n-zone ratings include Scott Gomez (0.30) and Brian Gionta (0.30). The top n-zone risk / reward rating among defensemen went to PK. Subban (0.23).


Lowest neutral-zone risk / reward rating

The player with the lowest risk / reward rating in the neutral-zone during the regular season was James Wisniewski (0.08). Other players with low neutral-zone risk / reward ratings include Roman Hamrlik (0.10) and Yannick Weber (0.11). The lowest neutral-zone risk / reward rating among the Habs forwards belongs to Benoit Pouliot (0.18).

	6	11	13	14	15	20	21	22	32	34	44	45	46	47	51	52	53	55	57	58	63	67	68	75	76	81	94
POS/MIN	0.24	0.58	0.55	0.56	0.43	0.23	0.51	0.26	0.57	0.82	0.27	0.33	0.48	0.83	0.59	0.43	0.61	0.30	0.47	0.55	0.46	0.49	0.29	0.32	0.42	0.61	0.47	POS/MIN	0.44
NEG/MIN	0.08	0.28	0.28	0.28	0.21	0.15	0.20	0.12	0.25	0.52	0.17	0.17	0.23	0.74	0.39	0.21	0.37	0.13	0.28	0.29	0.11	0.22	0.19	0.15	0.19	0.35	0.18	NEG/MIN	0.22
	6	11	13	14	15	20	21	22	32	34	44	45	46	47	51	52	53	55	57	58	63	67	68	75	76	81	94
EV/ MIN	0.32	0.86	0.83	0.85	0.64	0.38	0.71	0.38		1.34	0.45	0.50	0.71	1.57	0.98	0.64	0.98	0.43	0.75	0.83	0.57	0.71	0.48	0.47	0.62	0.96	0.65	EV/ MIN	0.65
RISK/REWARD	0.15	0.30	0.27	0.28	0.23	0.08	0.30	0.15	0.32	0.30	0.10	0.17	0.25	0.10	0.20	0.22	0.24	0.17	0.18	0.26	0.34	0.27	0.11	0.17	0.23	0.26	0.28	RISK/REWARD	0.22
	6	11	13	14	15	20	21	22	32	34	44	45	46	47	51	52	53	55	57	58	63	67	68	75	76	81	94