[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Five-hole

There's an argument to be made that simply possessing the puck more will make up for the "lost offence" of not going for the stretch pass constantly.

I don't think so. Scoring on the rush is definitely more reliable than trying to score out of puck possession against a set defense.

Spoiler!

There were the top 10 Puck Possession teams by 5v5 CF% (SA)
L.A.
PIT
ANA
DAL
NSH
T.B.
STL
S.J.
DET
WSH

These were the top 10 teams by 5v5 Goals For:
DAL
WSH
NYR
PIT
FLA
BOS
NYI
CGY
OTT
T.B

So actually, only four of the best possession teams were the best goal scoring teams.

More possession doesn't ensure you score more goals.

However, don't get me wrong. Possession is important because it means you score more goals than the opponent, which I shall dub the Mikael Backlund Effect.

These were the top 10 teams by 5v5 GF%:
WSH
FLA
NYR
PIT
T.B
L.A
STL
S.J
MIN
DAL

Unsurprisingly, the other three teams left on this list were carried by excellent goalies.

TL;DR - If we improve possession, there may be a decrease in goal scoring. However it's okay, because puck possession is about defense, not offense.