Ramblings: Some Interesting Stats, Trade Rumors and Trade Reactions … (June 26)

Dobber

2023-06-26

The Prospects Report was released June 1. Updated Friday with the 17th annual Mock Draft. You can order all of the 2023-24 fantasy products in the shop here (or subscribe!). The draft is in just two days – follow along with our experts, while at the same time get the fantasy hockey angle on every player. Not to mention a full breakdown of players already in each team's system!

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And ground has now been broken on the 18th annual Fantasy Guide.

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A few days ago, I was searching the web for the final number on the overall league S%. I Googled different terms, trying to find a link that will give me what I want. I looked at sites like Quant Hockey and Hockey Reference, still coming up empty. Not even NHL's site had it. Best I could find was a breakdown by team. I know it's a simple matter of pasting the standings into Excel, adding up the goals and the shots and doing the math – 20 seconds at most. But I couldn't believe that this data couldn't be found and I stubbornly spent a good 20 minutes looking. Then I realized – Frozen Tools has this. I'm such an idiot. Frozen Tools has everything. So I go to the site, check out the Team Stats in the menu, and voila – the league and team summaries for a variety of stats are right there. I go to Frozen Tools out of habit for all my player stat info (if I'm looking for something and it's not there, I have it added – but that hasn't happened in a long time). But for team info, it's not yet habit to go look there. Lesson learned.

That number, by the way, is 9.6%. That's the league S% for 2022-23.

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An interesting thing I stumbled on while looking at that page – the Ottawa Senators led all teams in PP ice time at 6:05 per game. They also were second in SH ice time at 6:12 per game. Why are they so highly ranked in both? Perhaps they just play scrappy. But at the same time, Vegas is last in PP ice time, averaging 4:13 per game. They are also last in SH ice time, though, at 3:46 per game. Why does the same team practically lead in both PP and SH…and the same team is last in both PP and SH? I have no theories.

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Delving into Frozen Tools, I found other interesting tidbits…

When Alex Ovechkin was healthy (73 games), he was out on 96.5% of the available power-play time for Washington. Almost every second. All year long. Next highest was Leon Draisaitl at 80.6%.

Jason Robertson finished sixth in scoring, as you know. But he was tied for third in points per 60 minutes played (4.2). In fact, out of anyone in the Top 20 in scoring, only William Nylander (who finished 20th) averaged less ice time than Robertson's 18:50.

Daniel Sprong actually finished 11th in points-per-60 with 3.7. That's interesting and impressive, but his 12.4% 5on5 S% tells me that his production is bound to dip next season.

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Here are the Top 10 highest secondary-assist percentages, among players who have a points-per-60 of 2.0 or higher:

Artturi Lehkonen (2.3 pts/60), 70.0%

Jesperi Kotkaniemi (2.1), 68.08%

Andrei Kuzmenko (3.3), 60.0%

Rickard Rakell (2.4), 59.4%

Phil Kessel (2.1), 59.1%

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (3.8), 58.2%

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Eetu Luostarinen (2.0), 57.7%

Jason Zucker (2.4), 57.1%

Tomas Tatar (2.3), 57.1%

Lucas Raymond (2.1), 57.1%

Indicates that their assist totals were likely puffed up a little this year, and is one of many red flags to consider when evaluating players this offseason.

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Connor Ingram signed a three-year contract extension with the Coyotes, so they are rolling with the Karel Vejmelka/Ingram combo again. They could definitely do worse. I'm a big fan of both netminders. They'll both face a lot of rubber this year.

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Everyone hates seeing their player get traded to Arizona, but it's not all bad for Sean Durzi. What I really like about this trade for him is that he has escaped the huge glut of right-handed shots in Los Angeles, and joins a team with absolutely no glut. Juuso Valimaki shoots left. I love Valimaki and think he makes an excellent buy-low player. His numbers don't impress, unless you break them down by half-season. He had 23 points in his last 39 games. He and Durzi will/should man Arizona's top PP unit and the two could also make up a pairing at even strength (though JJ Moser also shoots left and could end up partnering with Durzi). This trade opens up a possible Valimaki – Durzi and Moser – Victor Soderstrom (who shoots right) top four.

Right-handed defensemen are quite valuable in the NHL, and the Kings were blessed with an overage. I'm not sure they did well, though, in trading two of those players away. Helge Grans was traded for cap space, and I never fail to be impressed by the value teams place in that. A couple million in cap space was worth a top prospect in Grans. In all, the Kings got a second-round pick and a couple million in cap space for Grans and Durzi. And now Los Angeles is down to three top puck-moving right shots in Drew Doughty, Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke. Still great depth there, when you include Matt Roy, but I feel like some other teams are desperate for righty shots and would have paid more.

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Tony DeAngelo was reportedly traded to Carolina in exchange for a low-end prospect, but the trade then supposedly hit a snag. Regardless, at some point DeAngelo will be moved. The Flyers are completely rebuilding their defense and even though they have a new GM, I suspect a lot of this is John Tortorella getting rid of the attitudes. Gone are Ivan Provorov and (soon) DeAngelo. In is Helge Grans and possibly either Emil Andrae or Yegor Zamula. Ronnie Attard is close as well. Training camp is looking to be highly competitive.

A young defense corps doesn't bode well for Carter Hart and newcomer Cal Petersen, each of whom had their share of struggles over the past couple of seasons.

Remember Kevin Hayes was also in Tortorella's doghouse at one point, even getting scratched for a game despite actually leading the team in scoring. He was involved in a trade to St. Louis that involved Torey Krug heading the other way – but this deal was scuttled when Krug wouldn't waive his no-trade clause.

I actually like Hayes as a fantasy option. Yes, he had 54 points, which was his second-best season and he did it at a later age (he's 31). But his metrics look good in terms of driving possession relative to the quality of competition, and his 5on5 S% actually points to his having poor puck luck. He got most of his points playing with Scott Laughton, so his numbers weren't exactly puffed up by a superstar. Wherever he ends up, I think he might surpass his career high again.

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See you next Monday.

One Comment

  1. chuckcouples 2023-06-26 at 00:27

    Why do the same teams have the most and the least pp/pk time per game?

    One very easy answer… GAME MANAGEMENT instead of refs who call the rulebook. Most games end with teams having very close to the same amount of PPs so if you take lots of penalties, the refs give your opponents lots of penalties and vice versa.

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