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The Manny Malhotra blog: Great person! + NHL is about puck possession

November 8, 2013, 11:25 AM ET [3 Comments]
Matt Karash
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Manny Malhotra's journey as a Carolina Hurricane started with a lowly 25-day AHL (not NHL) tryout contract. After being cut loose by Vancouver seemingly due to safety concerns because of his eye injury and still limited vision, it was questionable whether he would ever play in the NHL again.

So on October 3, Manny Malhotra signed a contract to play in Charlotte. His goal obviously was to make a return to the NHL as quickly as possible. As an NHL veteran, it would not have been completely out of the ordinary for him to act like a short-timer in Charlotte and stay on the periphery of the team of young kids most of whom would be there longer term. He did the exact opposite immersing himself in the team and humbly going about his business like he was just another guy trying to get to the NHL. In his short stay there, he dropped the gloves to defend a teammate who took a questionable hit. He spent what could have been his personal time helping teammates with face-offs after practice. And he spent hours hunting around a paint ball field to help a teammate find a medal with sentimental value that he lost during a team outing.

In his short time in the Carolina Hurricanes organization, Manny Malhotra has demonstrated that he is a consummate professional, a great teammate and just a good person. In June 2014, he will very likely win the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.

I am on record as loving great people stories within the game of hockey as much as anyone, and Manny Malhotra's journey back to the NHL in a Canes sweater is definitely one of those.

But in terms of the game-to-game business of Canes hockey and trying to get back to the playoffs after a 4-year drought, Manny Malhotra is also having a huge impact.

His ability to parachute into the NHL and completely change the dynamics of the Hurricanes game in terms of face-offs and therefore puck possession has significantly changed the Canes game in obvious but also more subtle ways.

Malhotra's basic stats through 4 games are thus:
--He has won 47 of 70 draws for a 67.1% rate which puts him 2nd only to Zenon Konopka amongst players who have taken a reasonable number of face-offs.
--He has won a whopping 11 of 14 draws shorthanded.
--He has taken 31% of the Canes draws in those 4 games.

But it becomes even more eye-opening when you understand how Canes Coach Kirk Muller is using Malhotra. Muller has basically been using Malhotra for the vast majority of the most important draws in the defensive zone oftentimes slotting him in the RW spot on the other lines and then having him come back over the boards after he wins the draw and the puck heads to the Canes offensive zone.

In the defensive zone, Malhotra's stats are:
--He has won 34 of 49 draws for a crazy good 69.4%.
--Equally importantly he has taken a whopping 68.1% of the Canes defensive zone draws since joining the team.

The NHL is very much about puck possession. You obviously cannot score without it. It is also very difficult to establish any kind of consistent offensive flow and pressure in games where you are losing in the circle because any burst of decent hockey inevitably gets interrupted by a shift or 2 where you mostly just have to chase the puck to try to get it back. And playing without the puck is also more taxing in terms of energy exerted which can have an impact late in games and also during busy stretches of schedule.

So what does Malhotra's proficiency in the face-off circle mean in terms of having versus not having the puck? When you net it out, through 4 games it basically means that the Canes have the puck at the start of a shift roughly 12 more times per game. How do I get that? Prior to Malhotra's arrival the Canes had won 404 face-off and lost 436. That comes to about minus 2 per game. In the 4 games since Malhotra arrived, he is a big plus 24 (47 wins/23 losses) at the dot for a net of about +6 per game. Interestingly, the rest of the Canes who were previously averaging minus 2 per game are plus 17 (86 wins/69 losses) for a net of about +4 per game. That raises the interesting question of how it is that the addition of Malhotra has actually made all the other players better. I think it actually makes sense. Especially on power play but also in general, teams often use their better players for offensive zone draws hoping to win the puck and convert it quickly to a scoring chance. These better players also tend to be better face-off players too. And with your own net right behind you, players are more limited in their options for how/where to they try to win a defensive zone draw. The subtle but important side effect of using Malhotra as a bit of a defensive zone face-off specialist is that the other Canes centers get a slightly easier mix of draws which has boosted their win percentages. It also just means fewer draws for the bottom Canes face-off men. If both Staal lines just played shifts, Muller now has the option of going with Nash's line if coming over the boards or Malhotra's line if there is a stoppage and ensuing face-off. Nash has averaged only 6.2 face-offs per game since Malhotra's arrival compared to about 12 per game prior to Malhotra's arrival. Adding Malhotra also subtracted Sutter's draws. Nash at 45.2% and Sutter at 46.8% were the bottom 2 on the team, so you can see where giving them less and giving Malhotra or even 1 of the Staals more improves the rate and therefore puck possession.

And past puck possession, having a solid face-off guy for the defensive zone now with a defensively solid line around him, has a chain reaction of subtle effects that help a little bit offensively. Previously Muller was sometimes inclined to use 1 of the Staals for defensive zone draws, so if Jordan just came off the ice, Eric had to take the defensive zone draw. Ideally one would rather get Eric more offensive zone starts. With Malhotra to play at the other end that is now possible.

So past the obvious basic numbers you get a chain reaction in terms of line utilization:
--Malhotra takes as many of the defensive zone draws as possible.
=>JStaal gets slightly easier face-off matchups/situations which makes him a little better.
=>Same goes for Estaal who should also get more offensive zone starts which gets him more scoring situations.
=>Nash who is low on the totem pole for face-offs gets more shifts coming over the boards and fewer face-offs.

The sample size through 4 games is small, and I would expect Malhotra's win % to come back to Earth a little, but if the Canes can hold to anything close to the plus 12 "starting with puck possession" shifts that they are getting now with the other side benefits, it makes for an easier game and can be a huge factor in keeping opponents from sustaining any pressure from 1 shift to the next with the puck possession interruptions.

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63

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