Numbers Game: “Shoot the Puck!”

Shoot the puck – One of the oldest adages in the game; coaches preach it, some players follow it (see Alexander Ovechkin, Jeff Carter), while others seem to painfully adverse to it (see Tomas Kaberle).  The 18,000+ “qualified” coaches that attend the NHL games (with obvious notable exceptions in Atlanta, Phoenix, etc.) scream it on every offensive rush.  What do the stats say though?  Do more shots lead to more goals?  It makes sense.  More shots, more rebounds, more offensive pressure, more goals.

The numbers confirm it, to a certain degree (check stats below).  The Wings lead the league in shots/game and with 3.54 goals/game, they lead the league in that category as well.  In fact, there are only 3 teams in the top 10 in goals/game that are not ranked in the top 10 in shots (Bruins, Flyers and Penguins).   The average team ranking in goals/game among the top 10 in shots is 10.1.

However, an interesting trend appears among the teams ranked from 11^th -20^th in shots and those ranked from 21^st -30^th.  Out of the teams ranked amongst the lowest in the league in shots, there are only 2 teams that rank among the lowest (21^st-30^th) in goals/game.  In fact the average goals/game ranking among the teams ranked 21^st-30^th in shots/game is 15.3 compared to the 20.5 average ranking for teams located in the middle of the pack for shots (11^th-20^th).

Team	Shots/G	Shots Rank	Goals/G	Goals Rank
DET	35.6	1	3.54	1
SJS	34.5	2	3.42	3
WSH	32.4	3	3.22	5
CGY	32.3	4	3.18	6
NYR	32.1	5	2.43	28
CHI	31.9	6	3.31	4
TOR	31.5	7	2.94	10
CAR	31.5	7	2.49	26
NJD	31.1	9	3.06	8
MTL	30.4	10	2.94	10
ANA	30	11	2.81	16
BUF	29.6	12	2.84	14
COL	29.6	12	2.65	21
CBJ	29.5	14	2.66	20
TBL	29.4	15	2.54	24
OTT	29.4	15	2.4	29
BOS	29.3	17	3.43	2
NSH	29.3	17	2.39	30
NYI	29.2	19	2.47	27
LAK	29.1	20	2.56	22
PHI	29	21	3.18	6
DAL	29	21	2.9	12
FLA	28.8	23	2.78	17
VAN	28.1	24	2.84	14
EDM	28.1	24	2.78	17
STL	27.9	26	2.78	17
MIN	27.8	27	2.55	23
ATL	27.7	28	2.86	13
PHX	27.7	28	2.51	25
PIT	27.1	30	3.02	9