We did a similar column last season, but I thought we would look at each category this time instead of by the team. All shots are not equal and this kind of analysis is focused on the bigger picture and the philosophy that you can't score if you don't shoot. All stats are taken from Dobber's Frozen Tools and NHL.com.

So far this season NHL teams have averaged 3.00 goals per game (up slightly from last year's 2.90) on an average of 29.88 shots per game (29.97 last year) which is a 10.05 shooting percentage (up from 9.67 last season).

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The average number of shot attempts (SAT) per game is 56.29 (52.53 last year) of which 13.45 (12.62) are blocked (23.9 percent of SAT) and 11.42 (10.78) miss the net (20.28 percent). The NHL average for shot attempts that result in shots on goal is 55.81 (55.46) percent.

Individually, I'm going to focus on some of the leaders from each category and some players that stand out for good and bad reasons.

Shots on Goal

Last season, Auston Matthews led the NHL in SOG with 222, followed closely by Brady Tkachuk at 220, Nathan MacKinnon at 206 and Connor McDavid at 200. Alex Ovechkin leads this season so far with 166 followed by Kyle Connor.

Top Five in the West

Kyle Connor – Winnipeg – 138 in 33 GP

Nikolaj Ehlers – Winnipeg – 134 in 33 GP

Timo Meier – San Jose – 130 in 31 GP

Connor McDavid – Edmonton – 126 in 33 GP

Roman Josi – Nashville – 122 in 34 GP

Shot Attempts

The leader in the NHL is Alex Ovechkin with 325 shot attempts (SAT) in 36 games, with the leader in the West a little surprising in that it is Nikolaj Ehlers on Winnipeg with 263 SAT in 33 games. Last season, Nathan MacKinnon led the NHL with 374 SATs in 48 games, so it looks like Ovechkin should pass that pace.

Top five in attempts in the West:

Nikolaj Ehlers – Winnipeg-  263 in 33 games

Roman Josi – Nashville –  235 in 34 games

Timo Meier – San Jose –  226 in 31 games

Matthew Tkachuk – Calgary – 220 in 33 games

Kyle Connor – Winnipeg –  216 in 33 games

On-Net Percentage (SOG/SAT)

With a minimum of 65 attempts, Sam Gagner on Detroit hits the net with the highest percentage at 75.3 with 58 SOG in 77 attempts. In 2020-21, Zach Parise had the highest net hitting rate at 74.4 percent with 90 SOG on 121 attempts.

Top five in the West (min 65 SAT)

Ryan Johansen – Nashville  – 74.6 percent (50 SOG/67 SAT)

Ryan O'Reilly – St. Louis – 72.5 (79/109)

Tanner Pearson – Vancouver – 72.1 (88/122)

Pavel Buchnevich – St. Louis – 71.8 (102/142)

Nils Hoglander – Vancouver – 70.3 (83/118)

Bottom five in the West (min 65 SAT)

John Klingberg – Dallas – 33.6 (43/128)

Mark Giordano – Seattle – 39.6 (55/139)

Vince Dunn – Seattle – 39.8 (37/93)

Connor Murphy – Chicago – 40.3 (29/72)

Brayden McNabb – Vegas – 40.4 (38/94)

Blocked Shots – Percentage

Have you ever wondered if your favorite quarterback on the power-play has his shots blocked more than others? This stat is for you!

The player that has the highest percentage of shots blocked in the NHL so far this year is Jeff Petry in Montreal with 48 percent of his 102 attempts blocked. Last season the leader was Marco Scandella in St. Louis who had 43.4 percent blocked from 113 attempts. Zach Parise had the least amount of blocked shots last season at 6.6 percent on 121 attempts.

Top five in the West (min 65 SAT)

John Klingberg – Dallas – 47.7 percent (128 attempts)

Tucker Poolman – Vancouver – 45.5 (77)

Quinn Hughes – Vancouver – 41.9 (167)

Connor Murphy – Chicago – 41.7 (72)

Cam Fowler – Anaheim – 40.9 (154)

Bottom five in the West (min 65 SAT)

Ryan Johansen – Nashville – 7.5 percent (67 attempts)

Robert Thomas – St. Louis – 7.5 (67)

Carl Grundstrom – Los Angeles – 9.1 (66)

Nick Cousins – Nashville – 10.3 (78)

Ryan O'Reilly – St. Louis – 11.0 (109)

Missed Shots – Percentage

This stat lets us see players that just can't seem to hit the net or conversely the player that shoots every puck into the goalie's breadbasket for an easy save. Last season, Brett Ritchie missed the net 35.1 percent of the time on 77 attempts (he has only played 12 games this season).

Top five in the West (min 65 SAT)

Philip Tomasino – Nashville – 36.4 percent (77 attempts)

Brendan Lemieux – Los Angeles – 31.3 (83)

Kailer Yamamoto – Edmonton – 29.2 (65)

J.T. Miller – Vancouver – 28.8 (146)

Luke Kunin – Nashville – 28.6 (98)

Bottom Five in the West (min 65 SAT)

Esa Lindell – Dallas – 8.4 percent (95 attempts)

Alex Goligoski – Dallas – 8.7 (69)

Erik Johnson – Colorado – 8.9 (112)

Tanner Pearson – Vancouver – 10.7 (122)

Philipp Kurashev – Chicago – 11.3 (71)

Goalposts and Crossbars

Last season, Elias Pettersson only played 26 games but he had 126 shot attempts. He hit a crossbar four times and the post four times for a percentage of 6.3 on his attempts. Cal Clutterbuck was the next closest in the NHL with four posts and one crossbar in 93 attempts over 50 games for a percentage of 5.4. Nathan MacKinnon led the league with 10 posts or crossbars last season.

This season, David Pastrnak along with Kevin Fiala lead with eight posts or crossbars. Pastrnak has 249 attempts in 31 games and Fiala has 191 attempts in 33 games.

Top Five in the West

Kevin Fiala – Minnesota – 8

Patrick Kane – Chicago – 7

Adam Henrique – Anaheim – 6

Troy Terry – Anaheim – 6

Matthew Tkachuk – Calgary – 6

Thanks for reading and if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know below and/or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15.