Funky stats

There's enough games under everyone's belt to take a deeper look on the statistics so far. Not looking at the obvious ones, everyone can see those, but trying to peek behind the scenes and point out some oddities. Somewhat random, but if you're in, strangely interesting.

Disappearance of Alex Ovechkin. The guy gets paid 100k a game, has proven to be one of the unique talents in the league, but now lingers somewhere in mediocrity. 14 points in 18 games is fine for most, but less than expected from Ovie. The troubling fact is his -6 rating. That's the worst in the whole team! And the team is way over .500 and +2 on goals. What has Alex been doing? Not shooting is one thing. In the previous seasons he's been blasting away on the top of the league stats. Now, barely in top20. Defending, like coach Boudreau claims? Half of the hits than the league's biggest bruisers, three blocked shots. Doesn't look like much. He's playing 3-5 minutes less than in the previous years, maybe due to less than expected production. The bottom line seems to be that mr. Ovechkin is either injured or just not motivated enough. Both are bad for Washington, but later might be harder to fix.

The curse of Eric Staal. Staal has been among the top forwards of this league for several years. He's proven to be a great captain and a hard worker. But now he and his team are in a slump to remember. Leading the league unchallenged in -18. Shooting second most in the league with 5% accuracy. 8 points in 20 games, half of them in powerplay. Talk about squeezing the stick. Big Eric must snap out of this and carry the Hurricanes on his back again, if they have any dreams of the playoffs.

Teen-aged and fearless. Have you noticed a kid called Gabriel Landeskog in Colorado Avalanche? Well, if not, please look for the number #92 in the future. This Swedish rookie is in top20 of the league in shots fired and hits delivered. And was just promoted to play in the top line. Must be hard to miss. It's great to see the rookies of today playing just like the big boys. No fear, no bowing, and ready to challenge. Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins just posted 5 assists the other day. Wonder how many rookies have had that many on a game in the history of this sport? Well a guy named Gretzky had 7 back in the day, but Nugent-Hopkins likely made it to the top 5. Coincidentally, that heroic effort also puts Ryan on par with slightly older, but yet ever promising forward from the Ducks, Teemu Selänne. It'll be a fun race between guys aged 18 and 41 for the rest of the season. Place your bets!

Grabbing the momentum in the circle. Chicago's Jonathan Toews leads the league in faceoffs taken and has the biggest win percentage of the active centers on the paint at whopping 62,4%. That sure brings an extra edge to the game when you can grab almost two out of three to your linemates. And the linemates in particular are called Kane and Hossa, which doesn't hurt either. On the other end of the spectrum we have the polite Czech, Patrik Elias, from the Devils, who takes only a modest share of 42,4% of the many faceoffs he faces. I wonder, could the wingers do much worse there?

The Suter-Weber wall. Among the Nashville Predators' hot topics is how to keep their top defencive pair of Ryan Suter and Shea Weber. That might prove to be a bit tricky, but that shouldn't keep the team from enjoying the ride these two defensive monsters bring. They have the biggest plus minus ratings in the league, they stand in the top5 in d-man scoring and just seem to do everything right at the moment. I'd hate to play as a visiting forward in Nashville when paired agains these two. Tough and frustrating in the offensive zone, outright scary in the defensive zone diving in front of Weber's cannon.

Speaking of defensemen, Colorado's ever promising Erik Johnson must be hating the stats charts. He just hit 50 shots, leading the league in attempts in vain. Zero goals, one assist on even strength (8 more on powerplay though) and a miserable -12 rating. Can't really say that he's fulfilled the expectations yet. Maybe he should call up Detroit's colleagues Lidström and Kronwall for some consulting. They've both let go about as many shots and are looking at 6 goals apiece. Not to mention the positive ratings in plus minus column.

Well, that was the take today. I'll be drilling more some other time. Hope you enjoy!