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Columbus Blue Jackets 5 vs 5 Goals Data: Defense

August 22, 2014, 12:45 PM ET [2 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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With a few weeks remaining before training camp opens up, I decided to delve into 5 vs 5 goals data to see just how good (or bad) the Blue Jackets were with certain players on the ice last season.

The majority of every game is spent 5 vs 5, so over the course of an 82-game campaign quite a large sample size of data can be collected.

With that in mind, I tabled the goals for/against data to see how the Blue Jackets fared when each of their defensemen were on or off the ice.



Some notes:

- Naturally, I'm going to start with Jack Johnson. He played a lot of tough minutes, so his goals for data being slightly in the red isn't the end of the world. That said, every other defenseman on the team that played significant minutes had a positive differential including Fedor Tyutin, who, though he played one less 5 vs 5 minute per game, faced a similar level of competition when on the ice.

- Ryan Murray didn't face overly tough competition and Todd Richards spoon fed him offensive zone starts for the most part, but it's encouraging to see a rookie blue liner playing established NHL players and coming out in the positives. He's coming along nicely.

- Big fan of James Wisniewski. Positive goal differential at evens, very good in possession and an elite power play defenseman. When will he get the credit he deserves?

- I was quite surprised to see Nikita Nikitin fare so well at full strength in goal differential. Obviously he faced easier competition than Johnson, Tyutin, etc. but he certainly made the most of it. He may be a little overpaid, but he'll help Edmonton.

- Most of Schultz' work came on a poor Edmonton team, so I couldn't gauge exactly how the Blue Jackets did without him on the ice. They weren't very good with him, though.

- Dalton Prout kind of struggled against pretty soft competition. If he's not better next season, I think Tim Erixon will take his spot.

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