Here are some interesting stats that have stood out so far this season:
- Atlanta’s Rich Peverley is sixth in the NHL in points-per-game with 1.33. Wouldn’t Nashville love a scoring winger right now?
- Ales Kotalik leads the NHL with 13 power play points. That Oilers power play is sure struggling pretty bad right now…
- Patrick Marleau leads the NHL with 16 road points. Taking the captaincy away from him only seems to have increased his willingness to become better.
- Matt Carle leads the NHL in +/- with a +15. Think Chris Pronger has anything to do with that?
- Tomas Kaberle leads all NHL defensemen with 20 points. But some in Toronto thinks he should be trade bait?
- For all the attention Craig Anderson has been getting, Ryan Miller continues to lead NHL netminders with a .938 save percentage. That’s the battle, including Tim Thomas, for U.S. starting netminder.
- On the other hand, Roberto Luongo is 30th in the NHL with a save percentage of .903. Martin Brodeur is the favorite to start for Canada.
- Marian Gaborik leads NHL forwards in ice-time with 22:15 minutes per contest. John Tortorella is known for playing his horses a ton–see: Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis in Tampa.
- Chris Pronger leads NHL defensemen in ice-time with 27:15 minutes per-game. He’s my Norris winner so far this season.
- Probably not known to many people outside Montreal, Roman Hamrlik is tenth in the NHL in defensemen ice-time with 25:27 per-game. Injuries have necessitated Hamrlik’s increased workload.
- Vancouver’s Kevin Bieksa leads the NHL in penalty minutes with 61. He needs to cut down on that total, as he’s one of their horses.
- The Flyers lead the NHL in power play percentage, converting at a 27.9% clip. Again, that guy Pronger may be pretty impactful.
- The Blackhawks lead the NHL in penalty killing percentage, stopping the opponent 87.1% of the time. A great defense and some very aware forwards willing to throw around their bodies.
- Nashville has the worst power play in the NHL with a converting percentage of 11.1. The Predators don’t have enough offensive talent and the talent they do have–Legwand, Erat, etc.–has been missing in action.
- The Leafs have the worst penalty kill in the NHL with an awful 71.6% killing rate. Wow. With shot blocking defensemen on the blue line, this team has to be better. Obviously the poor goaltending is a factor but the forwards need to sacrifice their bodies and the defense needs to step it up.
- Buffalo leads the NHL in shots on goal per-game with 34.3. A very well balanced team that can come at you from all lines.
- Surprisingly, the Flames sit at the bottom of the NHL in shots on goal per-game with 25.6. Odd totals for sure. I expect this total to rise.
- The Chicago Blackhawks have allowed the least amount of shots on goal per game, allowing only 22.6 against. Arguably the most talented team in the game–so no surprise here.
- The Panthers are allowing a whopping 35.6 shots against per game. Vokoun/Clemmensen need help. The Panthers, in my opinion, need an identity.
- The best five-on-five scoring ratio in the NHL belongs to the Capitals. Still posting big offensive totals without Ovechkin too.