Puck possession has become our main focus here at Boucher Scouting. Our original and most basic event involves puck-battles. We define puck-battles as any situation where a player is in a realistic position to either acquire puck possession for himself, or remove puck possession from an opposing player. These puck-battles can either take place along the boards, at centre-ice, or in front of the net.
Among Canadiens forwards with substantial events, Brian Gionta has the best puck-battle winning percentage. Gionta has won 56% of his offensive-zone puck-battles; three percentage points better than any other forward. Despite his size, Gionta also led the team in puck-battle winning percentage during last year's playoffs, and regular season. Among defensemen with substantial events, Josh Gorges has the top offensive-zone puck-battle winning percentage. Gorges high success-rate speaks volumes not only about his strong stick, but also about his impressive decision-making.
Among forwards currently on the roster, Tomas Plekanec (38%) and Mike Cammalleri (40%) have the lowest offensive-zone puck-battle winning percentage. The defensemen with the lowest o-zone success-rates are Hal Gill and Raphael Diaz.
Defensive-zone
Among defensemen, Yannick Weber has the top defensive-zone puck-battle winning percentage. Weber's success-rate of 65% is 5 percentage points above any other player. Gorges has the second-best defensive-zone puck-battle winning percentage. The top success-rates for forwards belong to Max Pacioretty and Mathieu Darche. Both players win just under 58% of their d-zone puck-battles.
Erik Cole and David Desharnais are the two players with the lowest defensive-zone puck-battle winning percentage. Among defensemen, the lowest success-rate belongs to PK Subban.
Neutral-zone
Among defensemen, Weber has the top winning percentage. Number 68 wins 75% of his neutral-zone puck-battles. Two percentage points better than Hal Gill, and 5 percentage-points better than PK Subban. The forward group is led by Mike Cammalleri, David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty, as all 3 players have success-rates north of 60%.
Josh Gorges neutral-zone puck-battle winning percentage is at a surprisingly low 38%. Other players with low n-zone success-rates are Spacek, Plekanec, Moen and Diaz.
What is this?
I track each and every play during a game. The main focus being on puck-possession. Any play by a player that maintains or acquires puck-possession is deemed a positive-event, while any play that fails to acquire, or loses puck-possession is considered a negative-event. I input the result into a database, allowing me to track players' successes or failures. I average approximately 1100 points of data per-game (when covering an entire team), or about 70 points of data per-player. Most players average just over 3 events per minute of ice-time. Whether it's an incomplete or complete pass-attempt, a won or lost race to a loose puck, a won or lost puck-battle, etc.; each result is tracked for each player. The results are also tracked by zone (offensive/defensive/neutral) and by situation (even-strength/powerplay/short-handed) and inputted into the database as such. This allows us to track how each player performs in each zone, and in each manpower situation. Click the FAQ tab above for further information.
No comments:
Post a Comment