Flames Fancy Stats 8-Game Check-In
By Ryan Pike
9 years ago
Folks, eight games are in the books for the Calgary Flames, which means we’re approximately 10% of the way through the regular-season schedule. In addition to realizing how quickly the season actually flies by, it’s a chance to take a quick (and very preliminary) glance at the analytics behind the Flames successes and struggles thus far.
And remember the oft-repeated mantra of the analytics community: “sample size!” It’s just 8 games – 6 of which were on the road. Take these numbers for a small sample of a long, long season and with the appropriate shaker-full of salt.
Percentage stats are all even-strength, except for zone entries (which is more of a tendencies measure than a possession stat). Only players who have played 5 or more games have been included here, so this excludes defenseman Raphael Diaz and forwards Josh Jooris, David Jones, Brian McGrattan and Devin Setoguchi.
Need a quick refresher of what these fancy stats are, click here.
CORSI LEADERS
Forwards:
- Jiri Hudler – 48.59%
- Sean Monahan – 48.45%
- Paul Byron – 46.37%
Defenders:
- Mark Giordano – 50.22%
- T.J. Brodie – 46.88%
CORSI LACKERS
Forwards:
- Brandon Bollig – 32.09%
- Joe Colborne – 33.86%
- Johnny Gaudreau – 36.36%
Defenders:
- Ladislav Smid – 36.45%
- Deryk Engelland – 37.50%
TOUGHEST MINUTES (CF%)
Forwards:
- Sean Monahan – 55.88%
- Paul Byron – 55.26%
- Mason Raymond – 55.15%
Defenders:
- T.J. Brodie – 55.48%
- Mark Giordano – 55.35%
EASIEST MINUTES (CF%)
Forwards:
- Brandon Bollig – 51.85%
- Lance Bouma – 53.15%
- Matt Stajan – 54.15%
Defenders:
- Ladislav Smid – 53.58%
- Dennis Wideman – 54.24%
ZONE HIGH GROUND (OZ Start%)
Forwards:
- Johnny Gaudreau – 50.00%
- Sean Monahan – 48.39%
- Brandon Bollig – 45.24%
Defenders:
- Deryk Engelland – 54.35%
- Kris Russell – 48.42%
ZONE LOW GROUND (OZ Start%)
Forwards:
- Paul Byron – 31.65%
- Curtis Glencross – 33.77%
- Matt Stajan – 34.21%
Defenders:
- Ladislav Smid – 34.33%
- T.J. Brodie – 34.82%
SCORING CHANCE LEADERS
Forwards:
- Paul Byron – 50.75 SC%
- Curtis Glencross – 46.03 SC%
- Sean Monahan – 44.83 SC%
Defenders:
- Mark Giordano – 51.85 SC%
- T.J. Brodie – 45.05 SC%
SCORING CHANCE LACKERS
Forwards:
- Lance Bouma – 30.91 SC%
- Brandon Bollig – 32.61 SC%
- Mason Raymond – 33.33 SC%
Defenders:
- Deryk Engelland – 28.00 SC%
- Kris Russell – 33.33 SC%
PUCK DUMPERS
Forwards:
- Lance Bouma – 36.5 carry%
- Jiri Hudler – 36.7 carry%
- Curtis Glencross – 36.8 carry%
Defenders:
- Ladislav Smid – 0 carry%
- Deryk Engelland – 12.5 carry%
PUCK CARRIERS
Forwards:
- Mikael Backlund – 68.0 carry%
- Matt Stajan – 62.1 carry%
- Paul Byron – 55.3 carry%
Defenders:
- T.J. Brodie – 44.4 carry%
- Kris Russell – 35.0 carry%
COMMENTS & NOTES
- Not a lot of surprises in terms of possession stats. Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie are really good. They play tough minutes, don’t get the zone start high ground and move the puck towards the opposite net anyway.
- Paul Byron is a big surprise here, though. Tough minutes and tough starts, and he’s among the forward leaders anyway.
- Johnny Gaudreau is a tale of two cities. He’s in the low-middle group in terms of Corsi and scoring chances, but he’s one of the players that most frequently carries the puck into the offensive zone. But the coaching staff has to be disappointed with his bad numbers, especially since he got the high ground this year (so far) that Monahan got last year.
- By any measure, Deryk Engelland and Ladislav Smid are not all that good. Smid at least has the defense of getting buried in terms of zone starts. Brandon Bollig is basically the Engelland of the forward group.
- Team-wide, Calgary has a 41.64 CorsiFor% at even-strength. They lead the NHL in shots blocked by a team (by a hefty margin over the #2 team, San Jose, even when factoring in playing more games). Only 40.45% of Flames even-strength zone starts are in the offensive zone, which is second-worst in the NHL. In short: the puck starts in the Flames end and stays in the Flames end a lot over the first 10% of the schedule.
- Man, is goaltending bailing these guys out. I bet Karri Ramo and Jonas Hiller never have to buy a meal.
- And once again, it’s early and there’s a lot of random noise in the numbers. We’ll do another update after game #16 and see what’s changed. For now – grain of salt and all that.
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