This week, we will look at each roster in the West and determine which players have the most high-danger shots per game and which are the most successful in terms of shooting percentage.

If you are curious, the stats are available at Dobber's Frozen Tools here.

Here is the definition of a high-danger shot per the NHL.

The area within 29 feet of the center of the goal and bound on both sides by an imaginary line drawn from the faceoff dot to 2 feet outside the goalpost

The NHL average for forwards is 0.62 shots on goal per game from the high-danger area and 0.55 /g from the mid-range area.

83.9% of all goals for forwards come from the high-danger or mid-range areas.

The average shooting percentage from the high-danger area is 19.75.

The average shooting percentage from the mid-range area is 11.26.

Zach Hyman led the NHL with 44 goals and led with 2.25 SOG/g from high-danger area.

Auston Matthews led the NHL with 22 goals from the mid-range area but Nathan MacKinnon (18 goals) led with 1.9 SOG/g.

Anaheim Ducks

Frank Vatrano led the Ducks in high-danger shots on goal with 60 in 82 games but was behind Alex Killorn (0.79), Leo Carlsson (0.76), Robby Fabbri (0.75) and Mason McTavish (0.75) with 0.73 high-danger shots per game (HDS/G).

Vatrano had 16 of his 37 goals in this area, followed by Fabbri (15/18), McTavish (13/19) and Troy Terry (12/20).

Vatrano was tied for 13th overall in the NHL with 14 goals from mid-range.

Trevor Zegras (2/6) had just 0.55 HDS/G, which was ahead of Terry (0.47/g), Ryan Strome (6/11) (0.43/g) and Brett Leason (3/11) (0.32/g). These would be the forwards on the Ducks who don't venture often into this area.

Terry was the most accurate shooter in the red zone with 12 goals on 36 SOG (33.3%) followed by Fabbri with 15 goals on 51 SOG (29.4%).

Calgary Flames

Nazem Kadri led the Flames in high-danger shots on goal with 84 followed by Blake Coleman with 77 and surprisingly Andrei Kuzmenko with 60.

On a per-game basis it was the same order with Kadri (1.02/g), Coleman (0.99/g), Kuzmenko (0.83/g) and Martin Pospisil (0.71/g).

Coleman led the team in goals with 22 of his 30 goals coming from close in. He was followed by Kadri (18/29), Yegor Sharangovich (16/31), Anthony Mantha (16/23) and Kuzmenko (15/22).

Mantha (33.3%) was the most accurate in 2023-24 followed by Sharangovich (29.1) and Coleman (28.6).

Forwards on the Flames who struggled to get shots on goal from the red zone were Walker Duehr (0.2/g), Ryan Lomberg (0.2/g), Matt Coronato (0.32/g), Jonathan Huberdeau (0.51/g) and Connor Zary (0.52g).

Martin Pospisil had all eight of his goals from the red zone.

Chicago Blackhawks

Tyler Bertuzzi should help the Blackhawks as he scores most of his goals from in close (18 of 21 goals) and had the most shots on goal per game (0.99) from the red zone in 2023-24. He was followed by Nick Foligno (0.96/g), Connor Bedard (0.72/g) and Ryan Donato (0.72/g).

Taylor Hall only played 10 games in 2023-24 but should be amongst the leaders, if healthy, as he had 58 SOG in 61 games (0.95/g) in 2022-23.

Bertuzzi had the most goals in close (18/21) followed by Foligno (14/17), Jason Dickinson (13/22) and Teuvo Teravainen (10/25).

Jason Dickinson (28.9%) was the most accurate, followed by Bertuzzi at 22.8%.

Some of the perimeter players in Chicago are Teravainen (0.42 HDS/g), Andreas Athanasiou (0.43/g), Lukas Reichel (0.46/g) and Philipp Kurashev (0.48/g).

Bedard was 12th overall in the NHL in mid-range shots on goal per game at 1.4/g and scored 11 of his 22 goals from that range.

Colorado Avalanche

If Valeri Nichushkin doesn't return to the Avalanche, they will miss him. He led Colorado with 1.68 HDS/g, followed by Artturi Lehkonen at 1.16/g, Nathan MacKinnon at 1.05/g and Mikko Rantanen at 0.91/g.

Nichushkin also led the team with 22 goals from the red zone (22/28), followed by MacKinnon (21/51), Rantanen (20/42), Jonathan Drouin (14/19) and Lehkonen (12/16).

Drouin was the most accurate at 28.0%, followed by Rantanen (27.4), followed by MacKinnon (24.4), Nichushkin (24.2), and Lehkonen (23.1).

Miles Wood was above average with 0.69 HDS/g but only had three of his nine goals from the red zone. His shooting percentage was just 5.9%, which was far below the league average of 19.75%.

Casey Mittelstadt is the lone forward on Colorado who has trouble getting shots from in tight as he had a below-average 0.51 HDS/g and scored just five of his 18 goals from the red zone.

MacKinnon led the NHL in shots on goal from mid-range (1.9/g) and had 18 of his 51 goals from there.

Dallas Stars

The Stars were led by Wyatt Johnston at 1.06 high-danger shots per game, followed by Roope Hintz (0.99/g), Logan Stankoven (0.96/g), Tyler Seguin (0.91/g) and Jamie Benn (0.88/g).

Hintz led Dallas in goals with (19/30), followed by Johnston (17/32), Seguin (16/25), Benn (14/21) and Jason Robertson (14/29).

Seguin was the most accurate at 25.8%, followed by Hintz at 24.1%, Mason Marchment at 24.0% and Robertson at 23.3%.

Perimeter players on the Stars were Sam Steel (0.36/g), Evgenii Dadonov (0.53/g) and Marchment (0.62/g).

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers shoot a lot from the high-danger area and none more than Zach Hyman at 2.25 HDS per game. He had 44 of his 54 goals from there, with Sam Reinhart at 34 goals being the next best in the NHL.

Connor McDavid was next on Edmonton (1.08/g), followed by Evander Kane (1.01/g), Jeff Skinner (0.89/g), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (0.84), Viktor Arvidsson (0.83/g), Adam Henrique (0.83/g) and Leon Draisaitl (0.83/g).

Behind the 44 goals from Hyman, were McDavid (20/32), Henrique (19/24), Draisaitl (15/41) and Kane (13/24).

Henrique was the most accurate at 27.9%, followed by Hyman and McDavid at 24.4%.

Skinner was better from mid-range shooting at 15.6% compared to his high-danger shooting percentage of 10.6% in 2023-24.

In looking at the chart of shot locations, it's obvious that Draisaitl has found a hole in the system, as he seems to score quite a few goals on the power play from below the faceoff circle, just outside the high-danger zone. Only 22 of his 41 goals were scored from the high-danger or mid-range zone. It is a flaw for sure.

Perimeter players on the Oilers were Derek Ryan (0.33/g), Mattias Janmark (0.48/g), Dylan Holloway (0.5/g) and Connor Brown (0.53/g). It's not a coincidence that none of these players had more than six goals in 2023-24.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings are not a team that shoot often from the high-danger area as newcomer Warren Foegele would have led the team with 1.0 HDS/g in 2023-24. After Foegele, Trevor Moore (0.9/g) and Quinton Byfield (0.9/g) were the only Kings well above league average.

Moore led the Kings with 21 of his 31 goals, followed by Byfield (17/20), Kevin Fiala (14/29), Anze Kopitar (14/26) and Phillip Danault (13/17).

Danault was the most accurate shooter with 29.5%, followed by Moore (28.4%), Kopitar (25.5%), Fiala (23.7%) and Byfield (23.6%).

Perimeter players on the Kings are Trevor Lewis (0.33/g), Arthur Kaliyev (0.39/g) and Alex Laferriere (0.43/g). Kaliyev averages almost 2.0 SOG per game and if he could increase his number from within the red zone, he might break 20 goals or more.

Minnesota Wild

Joel Eriksson Ek scored 28 of his 30 goals in 2023-24 from within the high-danger and mid-range zones. He led the Wild in shots on goal from the high-danger area with 1.7 per game. Kirill Kaprizov followed him at 1.17/g, Matt Boldy at 0.87/g and Marco Rossi at 0.8/g.

Kaprizov led the team in goals from the red zone with 23 of his 46 goals. Eriksson Ek (21/30) was next, then Boldy (16/29), Ryan Hartman (15/21) and Rossi (14/21).

Players on the Wild who struggled to get to the paint were Frederick Gaudreau (0.19/g), Reese Johnson (0.26/g), Jakub Lauko (0.28/g), Marcus Johansson (0.41), Mats Zuccarello (0.45/g) and Marcus Foligno (0.49/g).

Nashville Predators

Filip Forsberg (30/48) led the Predators in goals with 30, followed by Ryan O'Reilly (20/26), and Gustav Nyquist (14/23). Newcomers, Jonathan Marchessault (20/42) and Steven Stamkos (13/40) are not big net front presences.

O'Reilly had the most shots per game from the red zone at 1.07/g, followed by Forsberg (1.05/g), Colton Sissons (0.88/g), Cody Glass (0.85/g) and Marchessault (0.8/g).

Forsberg was the most accurate with a 34.9 shooting percentage, followed by Marchessault (30.3) and Nyquist (29.2).

Tommy Novak (0.46/g), Philip Tomasino (0.51/g) and Juuso Parssinen (0.54/g) all struggled to get shots from in close.

Forsberg was 8th in the NHL in SOG from mid-range with 1.51 per game.

San Jose Sharks

Tyler Toffoli should help the Sharks with some offense as he averaged 0.86 shots on goal per game compared to the next best being Fabian Zetterlund (0.68/g).

Toffoli had 17 of his 33 goals from in tight, while Zetterlund led the Sharks in 2023-24 with 12 of his 24 goals being from the high danger area. No one else had more than nine goals on the roster.

William Eklund (0.54/g) was below average, along with Alexander Wennberg (0.49/g), Luke Kunin (0.44/g), Nico Sturm (0.38/g), Carl Grundstrom (0.38/g), Ty Dellandrea (0.33/g) and Barclay Goodrow (0.27/g).

Seattle Kraken

The Kraken's best goal scorer is Jared McCann and he scores most of his goals (17/29) from mid-range where he averaged 0.99 SOG per game. McCann scored nine goals from the high-danger area but averaged just 0.5 SOG per game.

Jaden Schwartz led the Kraken in high-danger shots on goal per game with 0.93, followed by Jordan Eberle (0.92/g) and Shane Wright (0.88/g). Wright only played in eight games but is someone to look at going forward.

Eberle led the team in goals (11/17), followed by Schwartz (10/13).

McCann was 4th overall in the NHL in goals from mid-range with 17, helped by a 21.5 shooting percentage.

Most of the Seattle forwards struggled to generate offense from within close as Oliver Bjorkstrand (0.35/g), Chandler Stephenson (0.4/g), Tye Kartye (0.4/g), Brandon Tanev (0.41/g), Eeli Tolvanen (0.42/g), Andre Burakovsky (0.43/g) and Matty Beniers (0.48/g) all were well below the league average of 0.62/g).

St. Louis Blues

Jake Neighbours‘ 27-goal campaign in 2023-24 seems unsustainable on the surface, but he did score 20 of those goals from the red zone and led the Blues in goals and 1.03 SOG per game from there.

Pavel Buchnevich at 0.91 SOG per game was the only other player on St. Louis who was well above average.

Buchnevich was behind Neighbours in goals with (16/27) and followed by Jordan Kyrou (15/31) and Brandon Saad (13/26).

Kyrou led the team in shooting percentage at 26.8, with Neighbours (25.3) and Saad (22.4) behind him.

Kyrou was tied for 13th overall in the NHL for goals from mid-range with 14.

Perimeter players were Nathan Walker (0.27/g), Kasperi Kapanen (0.36/g), newcomer Alexandre Texier (0.36/g), Radek Faksa (0.36/g) and Oskar Sundqvist (0.37/g).

Utah Hockey Club

The sample sizes are small, but the two best players in Utah were Josh Doan (1.45/g) and Barrett Hayton (1.12/g) in getting shots on goal from the red zone. No other forward was significantly above average.

Clayton Keller led the team in goals (15/33), followed by Lawson Crouse (12/23) and Logan Cooley (11/20).

Dylan Guenther (35.3%) and Keller (34.1%) had the best shooting percentages in close but would need to get into the zone more often as Guenther managed 0.38 shots on goal per game and Keller 0.56/g.

Other forwards not getting shots in the high-danger zone were Kevin Stenlund (0.26/g), Liam O'Brien (0.28/g), Jack McBain (0.4), Michael Carcone (0.5/g), Nick Schmaltz (0.53/g) and Cooley (0.55/g).

Vancouver Canucks  

Brock Boeser led the Canucks with 22 of his 40 goals in the red zone, followed by Nils Hoglander (19/24), J.T. Miller (16/37), Elias Pettersson (14/34) and Conor Garland (14/20).

Boeser also led with 1.1 shots per game with Jake DeBrusk (0.89/g) and J.T. Miller (0.88/g), behind him.

Miller was tied for the 5th most goals (16) in the NHL from mid-range and had a staggering 25.0 shooting percentage from there.

The highest shooting percentages from in close during 2023-24 were Daniel Sprong (35.7%), Hoglander (32.2%) and Dakota Joshua (29.5%).

Forwards who struggled to get inside the zone were Phillip Di Giuseppe (0.27/g), Vasily Podkolzin (0.32/g), Nils Aman (0.33/g), Sprong (0.37) and Kiefer Sherwood (0.44).

Vegas Golden Knights

The big five in Vegas were Tomas Hertl (0.94/g), Jack Eichel (0.94/g), William Karlsson (0.93/g), Mark Stone (0.91/g) and Nicolas Roy (0.87/g), who all had very similar shots on goal stats.

Vegas was led in goals by Karlsson with 14 of his 30 goals, matched by Ivan Barbashev (14/19), and followed by Eichel (13/31) and Mark Stone (12/16).

Victor Olofsson (0.24/g), Keegan Kolesar (0.29/g), Alexander Holtz (0.38/g) and Brett Howden (0.49/g) all struggled to generate chances from in close.

Eichel was 3rd in the NHL in SOG from mid-range at 1.67 per game. He was tied for 13th overall in goals with 14.

Winnipeg Jets

Gabriel Vilardi played just 47 games in 2023-24 but led the Jets in goals in the red zone with (19/22), and was followed by Kyle Connor (17/34), Mark Scheifele (16/25) and Nino Niederreiter (15/18).

Vilardi averaged 1.4 shots per game, with Niederreiter (1.0/g), Scheifele (0.96/g), Connor (0.89) and Cole Perfetti (0.8/g) not far behind.

Connor had the best shooting percentage (29.3) with Vilardi (28.8) close on his heels.

Connor was 11th overall in the NHL with SOG from mid-range with 1.41 per game. Nikolaj Ehlers outscored Connor 15 to 12 from mid-range.

Winnipeg forwards who don't get to the inside often were Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (0.08/g), Rasmus Kupari (0.21/g), Mason Shaw (0.25/g), David Gustafsson (0.28/g), Mason Appleton (0.32g), Jaret Anderson-Dolan (0.35/g), Morgan Barron (0.36/g), Ehlers (0.43/g) and Vladislav Namestnikov (0.49/g).

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or players you'd like me to look at please message or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15.