One of the first things I look at to determine if a player can bounce back after a down year is his shooting percentage. There are other factors of course, but I always like to see if a player’s shooting percentage took a dip. The reasons behind a dip could vary. Maybe he’s playing with less-talented linemates so it’s tougher for him to get open. Maybe a hand injury impacted the speed and accuracy of a player’s shot. Maybe he’s shooting from further away. Maybe he ran into a hot goalie more times than average.

Below you’ll find 10 players who saw a significant decline in their shooting percentage this season. There’s no guarantee these players will rebound as the lower shooting percentage could be the sign of the start of a decline instead of a blip. But it’s something to take note of.

10. Johnny Gaudreau

Gaudreau had the type of season that many fantasy GMs would like to forget. He didn’t sign until right before the season started, got injured and didn’t contribute in the peripheral categories. But you don’t draft Gaudreau for the peripherals, you draft him for the points. After a sluggish start, he wound up with 61 points but it could have been higher if his shooting percentage wasn’t down. It may seem strange that a 9.9 percent shooting percentage is considered low, but he came into the season with a shooting percentage of 14.3. If he hit his average he would have had 26 goals instead of 18 and would have been closer to 70 points instead of 60.

9. Claude Giroux

Giroux had 14 goals this year, his lowest non-lockout season since he was a rookie way back in 2008-09. Giroux came into this season with a career shooting percentage of 11 percent. If he shot that number this year, he would have had 22 goals instead of 14. Granted his last couple of seasons were around the nine per cent mark (and then seven per cent this year) but he also averaged 260 shots. This year he had 199. He needs to shoot more to make up for his decline in shooting percentage or else bring the shooting percentage back up.

8. Brendan Gallagher

Going into this season, Gallagher had a career shooting percentage of 10.2 per cent. His shooting percentage this year was 5.3 percent. Shooting his career average would have given Gallagher 19 goals in 64 games, as opposed to 10 goals. But those 18 missed games may have played a large role in his low shooting percentage. Two seasons ago, he broke two fingers on his left hand from blocking a shot. This year he broke his hand after getting hit by a Shea Weber slapshot. That may have taken something off his shot.

7. Patrice Bergeron

Bergeron finished with a 7 percent shooting percentage, the second-lowest of his career and much lower than his previous three years of 11.2 percent. He did manage to get to 21 goals because he took 300-plus shots, only the second time in his career he’s taken that many. But he would have gotten 34 goals if he had shot his normal percentage.

6. Derick Brassard

Brassard has a history with the Rangers of consistently having a high shooting percentage. This year went against the trend. Brassard took 195 shots, a career high, and shot 7.2 percent. To put in perspective how low the latter number was, he averaged 12.9 shooting percentage in three-plus years with the Rangers. If he had shot that mark in Ottawa, he would have scored 25 goals instead of 14 and would have hit the 50-point mark instead of 39. 

5. Jordan Eberle

Eberle should have had sustained success with Connor McDavid but couldn’t score consistently enough to stick on the same line. Eberle would have scored an extra eight goals if shot at his career shooting percentage of 13.4 percent instead of the 9.6 per cent he had. This puts him near the 30-goal and 60-point marks and makes his season seem much better than the disappointment that it was.

4. Anze Kopitar

There wasn’t a lot to like about Kopitar’s season. His 12 goals and 52 points were the lowest of any non-lockout season of his career. Also worrisome is his declining shot total as he hasn’t reached 200 shots in the past three years. He came into the season shooting 12.4 per cent for his career but shot 8 percent this year. He could have scored an extra seven goals if he shot his normal percentage, but he also needs to get his overall shot count up as well.

3. Shayne Gostisbehere

The sophomore slump hit Ghost hard when it came to goals. He had 17 goals on a 11.2 shooting percentage in rookie season and seven goals on 3.5 shooting percentage this year. That’s a huge setback. If he had matched his first-year shooting percentage, he’s at 22 goals. Even if he shot seven percent, he would have doubled his goal total.

2. Corey Perry

Perry is turning 32 years old in a couple of weeks, so he’s someone you need to be careful with when it comes to gauging his potential for a comeback season. It is worth nothing that Perry shot 8.8 per cent this year, which is much lower than his normal and is the lowest since he had the same mark back as a sophomore in 2006-07. Perry had shot 16 percent in the previous three seasons. If he hit that mark this year, he would have scored 34 goals instead of 19. That’s a huge difference.

1. Tyler Seguin

Seguin was a first-round pick in many drafts last fall but poolies were left a little frustrated by the Dallas Star. Despite playing in all 82 games (he had missed at least 10 games in each of the previous two campaigns), he had his worst year as a member of the Stars. His 26 goals mark the first time he didn’t reach at least 33 while in Dallas. He came into the season shooting 12.6 percent since being traded to the Stars but only shot 8.6 per cent this year. If he had shot his average, he would have had scored a career-high 39 goals.