Over the past few years, the hockey analytics community has begun to embrace the usefulness of data visualization in presenting statistical concepts in user-friendly, easy-to-understand ways. Analysts like Micah Blake McCurdy, Carolyn Wilke and Sean Tierney have become essential follows on Twitter for their unique methods of presenting data.
Since the start of the season, I’ve been tracking offensive zone entries and defensive zone exits for the Philadelphia Flyers, and the most recent full set of entry data can be found here. But with the help of Sean Tierney of Today’s Slapshot, we can use viz to turn mass amounts of charts and numbers into a more accessible and intuitive format. Then, the newly-created visualization can be utilized to make observations on the previously-complex data.
This particular viz focuses on individual player offensive zone entries. It showcases the amount of entries that each player had created (via Entries per 60 minutes of 5v5 play) and the percentage of entries that came with possession of the puck. The viz was limited to Philadelphia Flyers players with at least ten NHL games this season.
Observations
- Jakub Voracek is pretty incredible. Even on a team that leans towards a dump-and-chase style, he leads all Flyers in Entries per 60 and has the highest controlled entry percentage (59.4%) on the team. He’s clearly the most effective individual creator of offense in the neutral zone on the Philadelphia roster.
- The regular centers on the roster (Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Nick Cousins, Scott Laughton, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare) all tend to lag a bit in Entries per 60 relative to the wingers. This makes sense, as the center’s role on the breakout is usually one of support to his defensemen, helping them to push the puck up ice to the wingers who create the entry into the offensive zone. But with the exception of fourth-liner Bellemare, all of the usual centers have controlled entry percentages over 50% — a high number for a Philadelphia forward. Due to their positioning on the breakout, it seems that Flyers centers jump into an active role on the rush only when there is a clear path to a controlled entry.
- This data makes it clear that R.J. Umberger is simply slowing down physically. Not only does he have the lowest controlled entry percentage among Flyers forwards, his Entries/60 lag behind his counterparts as well. Instead of driving play into the offensive zone, Umberger was clearly a passenger this season, and his benching has likely contributed to the team’s recent surge.
- Shayne Gostisbehere is head and shoulders above the rest of the defense in creating offense, but you likely didn’t need a viz to tell you that. Still, he’s in another class entirely when it comes to Entries/60, showing his willingness to jump into the rush and push the puck into the offensive zone. And despite the higher-than-average number of total entries, Gostisbehere still possesses the best controlled entry percentage (45.3%) on the blue line. The numbers back up the eyes in evaluating the Ghost Bear as a true threat on the rush.
- While he often receives criticism for his passive play in the neutral zone without the puck, Andrew MacDonald is still viewed as a solid defenseman with the puck on his stick. As a result, his extremely low entry statistics are surprising at first glance, as he checks in dead last in Entries/60 and next-to-last in controlled entry percentage. However, my theory is that this is due to his role as Gostisbehere’s regular partner. With Ghost given the green light by the coaching staff to freelance and create on a regular basis, his partner MacDonald has likely been told to play the role of a stay-at-home defenseman, hanging back in case a Ghost rush goes bad. I’d still easily rank him above Nick Schultz and Brandon Manning when it comes to puck skills.
- Bet you didn’t expect to see Radko Gudas with a higher controlled entry percentage than Michael Del Zotto. Still, keep an eye on Gudas in the coming games. While he is prone to ugly-looking turnovers, Gudas’ puck skills are better described as “inconsistent” rather than totally absent. While he rarely gains entry into the offensive zone on his own, he’s fully capable of springing a forward into the zone with possession via an accurate pass through the middle of the ice.
