James Tanner: The Capitals Score a LOT + vs Hurricanes

- stowerkraut

Ouch

anytime. Just don't send back a Patriots ring

Skinner - Rask - Rattie
Aho - Staal - Lindholm
McGinn - Ryan - Stempniak
Nordstrom - Teravainen - Stalberg

Jay McClement FINALLY scratched.

The Pens can thank the Leafs?

Hopefully in a few years they do the same for us...but it's doubtful.

I really wish the league wouldn't allow portions of salary to be paid by other teams....what's the sense in having a salary cap.

On several occasions I recall you've used the same scenario where your work was somehow deleted. Either you're incredibly incompetent, or, you haven't figured out how to save your work as you go along....which is it?

Skinner - Rask - Rattie
Aho - Staal - Lindholm
McGinn - Ryan - Stempniak
Nordstrom - Teravainen - Stalberg

Jay McClement FINALLY scratched.
- BINGO!

He is getting up there in age...why has he not been scratched before this? Still playing well on the PK or good at the dot?

The way those banners are displayed is a complete embarrassment, why would they do that? Be proud of your accomplishments, display them individually. Sure they haven't won a Cup before but they've been a very very good team over the past ten years and in the past.

He is getting up there in age...why has he not been scratched before this? Still playing well on the PK or good at the dot?
- Garnie

Primarily PK. He's very good there. Basically useless at even strength, though. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Primarily PK. He's very good there. Basically useless at even strength, though. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
- BINGO!

He was good in Leafland too at that role....the more I watch this year the more I see the pk and pp are more important than 5v5 IMO ( not saying he doesn't need to be scratched and someone else can't take his spot on the pk )

On several occasions I recall you've used the same scenario where your work was somehow deleted. Either you're incredibly incompetent, or, you haven't figured out how to save your work as you go along....which is it?
- LeftCoaster

99% of the time I write my blogs up late at night and then I'm just copying and pasting an email, add a few things etc. With this one, and the one the other day where the same thing happened, my computer did a weird flash when I switched tabs - like I'd hit F5 and it was reloading the page - and when I came back to the one I was on, the entire blog was gone.

Don't write rough copy on something that is online, obviously, is the lesson here.

He was good in Leafland too at that role....the more I watch this year the more I see the pk and pp are more important than 5v5 IMO ( not saying he doesn't need to be scratched and someone else can't take his spot on the pk )
- Garnie

Our PK has been excellent, but in the end we haven't been generating enough 5 on 5. If you're giving up 4 or 5 goals per night 5 on 5, then what good is having a great PK?

Dropping Teravainen and balancing the lines will help boost production. It's not like the Canes take penalties anyway.

Our PK has been excellent, but in the end we haven't been generating enough 5 on 5. If you're giving up 4 or 5 goals per night 5 on 5, then what good is having a great PK?

Dropping Teravainen and balancing the lines will help boost production. It's not like the Canes take penalties anyway.
- BINGO!

That's because they're a bunch of marshmallows

He was good in Leafland too at that role....the more I watch this year the more I see the pk and pp are more important than 5v5 IMO ( not saying he doesn't need to be scratched and someone else can't take his spot on the pk )
- Garnie

The PK and the PP make up 20% or less, on average, of total ice time.

- With the constantly open player, having a power-play is an incredible advantage, strategically. 20% @5v4

20% more players, 20% of an advantage and roughly 20% success rates. At best a team is 25% and worst is 12% over a season .

Furthermore, NHL players are so good, and there is such slight different in the basic skills of their games, that virtually all players who can make the NHL are competent on special teams. Yes, certain players specialize, but it is at least as much about opportunity as it is skill - because once you get a chance, chances are you're decent because you're a professional hockey player.

On the special teams, I theorize it's mostly about coaching and strategy because all players are good enough shooters and passers - what separates great NHL players from decent ones is, in my opinion the ability to get open and get shots off in a real-game environment.

This skill gets rendered irrelevant on the special teams.

Therefore, I propose that personnel matters very little on the PP.

As proof I submit the following:
1. Ottawa and SJ do not consistantly lead the NHL in PP %, year after years. Neither do Pittsburgh or Washington.

2. There seems to be very little correlation between being above 20% on the PP and being among the best teams in the league.

3. The Capitals currently have the 14th ranked PP and the Lighting are 4th.

4. While there is extreme consistency in who are considered, year to year, as the "best players" there doesn't seem to be any team-wide year-to-year consistency in which teams lead the league in PP %.

5. We know shooting percentage varies wildly and is a luck-based statistic, and that PP% conversions are going to be wildly varying by consequence.

This leads me to believe that at the NHL level where 100% of the players are good, special teams scoring is almost purely random. If you get lucky and score a bunch of PP goals, you'll win a few extra games, but because PP%s don't vary greatly from each other (team to team) and because NHL refs almost always offset the penalties over the course of a game, you also end up giving up a bunch of PP goals that will probably offset your PP being strong.

In the case where teams are excellent at both special teams, I think this would give you an advantage (maybe up to 20% over other teams?) but that it's almost always luck because you can't be better than another team on special teams by an amount that would allow you to do this on purpose.

Anyways, power-plays aren't that important.

Our PK has been excellent, but in the end we haven't been generating enough 5 on 5. If you're giving up 4 or 5 goals per night 5 on 5, then what good is having a great PK?

Dropping Teravainen and balancing the lines will help boost production. It's not like the Canes take penalties anyway.
- BINGO!

More teams should take advantage of the fact that there is no rule against playing good players on the fourth line and having a really balanced attack.

More teams should take advantage of the fact that there is no rule against playing good players on the fourth line and having a really balanced attack.
- james_tanner1

It's always frustrated me that it's not done more often.

The Pens can thank the Leafs?

Hopefully in a few years they do the same for us...but it's doubtful.

I really wish the league wouldn't allow portions of salary to be paid by other teams....what's the sense in having a salary cap.
-Garnie

It's not like they were forced. It's just a trade chip/bargaining tool. Toronto wanted rid of Phil in exchange for picks/prospects. Once Toronto has re-built and it comes time for Marner, Matthews, etc. new deals I believe you will see it's advantages. Ask any Hawks, TB, etc. fan.

More teams should take advantage of the fact that there is no rule against playing good players on the fourth line and having a really balanced attack.
- james_tanner1

Unless you're taking away from the other lines and getting beat by line 2 or 3

These guys are professional athletes...pretty sure some teams could not even have a 4th line and do fine.

It's not like they were forced. It's just a trade chip/bargaining tool. Toronto wanted rid of Phil in exchange for picks/prospects. Once Toronto has re-built and it comes time for Marner, Matthews, etc. new deals I believe you will see it's advantages. Ask any Hawks, TB, etc. fan.
- stowerkraut

No their not being forced that's why I said the LEAGUE shouldn't allow it. Pens want him they should have to pay his full salary or at least have it count on the their cap. Salary cap circumvention.

It's always frustrated me that it's not done more often.
- BINGO!

it's such an obvious way to get an edge it just shows how ingrained certain portions of dogma about the game are. Plus there's at least a good chance players who play the most minutes would score more with less time on the ice.

No their not being forced that's why I said the LEAGUE shouldn't allow it. Pens want him they should have to pay his full salary or at least have it count on the their cap. Salary cap circumvention.
-Garnie

I get what your saying but don't knock it till you've tried it! You may need it sooner than you think with your young guns. Keeping that core together moving forward will be paramount to TOR success next 10 years. As a pretty good team from New England, who happened to hand our Steelers their asses, would surely say.. If your not circumventing, your not trying to win!

The PK and the PP make up 20% or less, on average, of total ice time.

- With the constantly open player, having a power-play is an incredible advantage, strategically. 20% @5v4

20% more players, 20% of an advantage and roughly 20% success rates. At best a team is 25% and worst is 12% over a season .

Furthermore, NHL players are so good, and there is such slight different in the basic skills of their games, that virtually all players who can make the NHL are competent on special teams. Yes, certain players specialize, but it is at least as much about opportunity as it is skill - because once you get a chance, chances are you're decent because you're a professional hockey player.

On the special teams, I theorize it's mostly about coaching and strategy because all players are good enough shooters and passers - what separates great NHL players from decent ones is, in my opinion the ability to get open and get shots off in a real-game environment.

This skill gets rendered irrelevant on the special teams.

Therefore, I propose that personnel matters very little on the PP.

As proof I submit the following:
1. Ottawa and SJ do not consistantly lead the NHL in PP %, year after years. Neither do Pittsburgh or Washington.

2. There seems to be very little correlation between being above 20% on the PP and being among the best teams in the league.

3. The Capitals currently have the 14th ranked PP and the Lighting are 4th.

4. While there is extreme consistency in who are considered, year to year, as the "best players" there doesn't seem to be any team-wide year-to-year consistency in which teams lead the league in PP %.

5. We know shooting percentage varies wildly and is a luck-based statistic, and that PP% conversions are going to be wildly varying by consequence.

This leads me to believe that at the NHL level where 100% of the players are good, special teams scoring is almost purely random. If you get lucky and score a bunch of PP goals, you'll win a few extra games, but because PP%s don't vary greatly from each other (team to team) and because NHL refs almost always offset the penalties over the course of a game, you also end up giving up a bunch of PP goals that will probably offset your PP being strong.

In the case where teams are excellent at both special teams, I think this would give you an advantage (maybe up to 20% over other teams?) but that it's almost always luck because you can't be better than another team on special teams by an amount that would allow you to do this on purpose.

Anyways, power-plays aren't that important.
- james_tanner1

More high scoring opportunities happen on the pp....Do you have a chart for this? For every 2 mins on the pp I'd bet there are more high end shots being taken then 5 mins on 5v5. So using mins/game on the pp isn't really proving anything?

I get what your saying but don't knock it till you've tried it! You may need it sooner than you think with your young guns. Keeping that core together moving forward will be paramount to TOR success next 10 years. As a pretty good team from New England, who happened to hand our Steelers their asses, would surely say.. If your not circumventing, your not trying to win!
- stowerkraut

I'd almost bet this doesn't happen for the Leafs over the next 10 year so

The Pens should stop using Malkin and Crosby on the PP and save them the wear and tear and start using Bonino and Cullen more. Since there is a slight difference in the basic skills of players, and all they need is more opportunity.