LOGIN | REGISTER | RSS FEEDS

The Puck Stops Here

Next entry: Top 20 Offensive Zone Starters

Previous entry: Top 20 Team Corrected Corsi Ratings

Worst 20 Team Corrected Corsi Ratings

by PuckStopsHere on 07/17/10 at 09:20 AM ET
Comments (2)

Yesterday, I listed the top 20 players by team adjusted Corsi ratings.  This is a strong indicator of puck possession which measures the difference in the number of shots directed at goal (shots on goal, missed shots and blocked shots) by a team and their opposition in 5 on 5 situations when a given player is on the ice.  This number is strongly team dependent as good teams tend to possess the puck more than weak ones.  Thus a team adjustment is made to better compare between different teams.

This adjustment is not perfect.  It does not take into account the usage of a player (defensive vs. offensive) or the quality of his teammates or opposition, but it goes a long way toward identifying some of the best and worst puck possession players at even strength.  That is not always the same as identifying the best hockey players because there is more to hockey than even strength puck possession (for example special teams play).

Here are the worst 20 players in the 2009/10 season by team adjusted Corsi rating:

Rank  

Player   

Team   

Corsi 

This is a group of players who failed in terms of puck possession last year.  In some cases it was because they played a tough defensive situation, but in most it was due to poor play from the player in question.  We will be better able to differentiate between the two groups by doing a further adjustment for zone starts.

At the top of this list is Jason Strudwick of the Edmonton Oilers, who has little claim to being an NHL calibre player, but the Oilers are bringing him back next season.  Keith Ballard is next.  He was the failed shutdown defenceman in Florida last year, perhaps in a lesser role in Vancouver next year he can do better, but it is hard to be too optimistic.  Ryan Johnson is third and his performance is noteworthy because it took him only 58 games to do that poorly.

One of the more notable players on the list is Chris Drury of the New York Rangers at number seven.  He plays a tough defensive role for the Rangers, but is not earning his over $7 million salary cap hit.  Zbynek Michalek comes in at thirteen.  He played a tough defensive role in Phoenix.  The fact that Pittsburgh signed him up for five years at $20 million is a bit questionable.  It seems that NHL GMs have not been willing to pay goalies or forwards their worth (at least compared to last seasons) but have no problem with increasing salaries for defencemen.  I think Pittsburgh will come to regret that signing.  Jay McClement comes in at 16 for St Louis.  I picked him as a Selke nominee and I wasn’t the only one.  I think his position on this list is largely due to a tough defensive assignment and his penalty killing successes are not measured by this even strength metric.  Nevertheless, it is true that McClement is not strong in the puck possession game.  The final notable player I want to point out is Ed Jovanovski in Phoenix.  He has not played very well for the last couple of seasons.  This one-time all star is a weak link on the Phoenix defence.  Improvement from other players allowed it to be hidden for the most part last season, but his best days are behind him.

This group of players with the twenty poorest team adjusted Corsi ratings are not good puck possession players.  That doesn’t necessarily make them useless at the NHL level, but they all should be given less responsibility in the future (at least at even strength).  Those who were bit players in 2009/10 should probably drop out of the league and those who played large roles last year should probably be given smaller ones going forward.  The amount of the rating that is due to a tough defensive assignment, as opposed to individual failing, is still to be normalized out, but a player who failed with a tough defensive assignment is a player who should probably get an easier defensive job in the future.

NOTE:  Nate Thompson played with both Tampa Bay and the Islanders in 2009/10 and thus his team correction is not entirely clear.  For the purposes here I have assumed he played the entire season for the Tampa Bay Lightning - the Islanders had a similar team Corsi to the Lightning (teams were 24th Tampa and 25th Islanders in the league). 

Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
 

Comments

why isnt patrik o’sullivan on this list. the guy was the worst minus last year. agreed with the strudwick one. he was suppose to be a #7 or 8 d-men last year, due to the injuries he got to play more. he is good defensively but the dude cant make tape to tape pass to save his life plus he is terrible at puck possession

Posted by Oilers Rock from Edmonton, Alberta on 07/17/10 at 10:29 PM ET

Patrick O’Sullivan had the 4th worst Corsi on the Oilers at -207.  The Oilers were such a bad team that their team adjustment is -146.  Thus O’Sullivan’s team adjusted Corsi is -61

Posted by PuckStopsHere on 07/18/10 at 08:36 AM ET

Add a Comment

Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.

Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.

Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.

Most Recent Blog Posts

About The Puck Stops Here

The Puck Stops Here was founded during the 2004/05 lockout as a place to rant about hockey. The original site contains over 1000 posts, some of which were also published on FoxSports.com.

Who am I?
A diehard hockey fan.

Why am I blogging?
I want to.

Why are you reading it?
???

Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

When learning from experts it’s best to learn personally from them, or from their blog. We can provide that with poker lessons blog, your home to learn poker personally.

Do you get shocked from the luck in the game of poker? Stop getting shocked and start being a Poker Shoker

Donate to Kukla’s Korner