Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Well, the best argument in Russell's favor is that his GF% doesn't align with CF%.
We have 43.5% of the 5-on-5 possession with Russell on the ice yet we score 50% of the goals with Russell on the ice.
It's curious, to say the least. Is it luck? Do blocked shots lead to "leakout" opportunities that inflate on-ice shooting percentages? Is it the fact that Russell has been used extensively with the Gaudreau line the last two years, and also benefiting from Wideman's offensive wizardry especially last year? Are our goalies just sharper when they're getting shelled? Is it Hartley's wizardry with exploiting dumb/limited offensive players against Russell?
All the available metrics, like high-danger scoring chances, show we give up a lot of extremely dangerous chances with Russell on the ice. Yet they show our goalies' save percentages are through the ceiling with Russell on the ice. The last three seasons, we've had an on-ice save percentage of 91.91% with Russell on the ice, and an on-ice save percentage of 91.11% with Russell off the ice. Is that because of just how awful our bottom pairs (Smid-Engelland, Wideman-Engelland, Smid-Butler) have been? Or is there something more to it?
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That is super interesting and I'm wondering if this is the issue.
A spike in save percentage with him on the ice over a large sample size might suggest that he does keep the quality of the shots down. I know they measure high danger scoring chances, but that is by region and not by how good of a chance it actually was.
Thanks man, one to ponder.