If you looked at the standings today, you would spy a familiar team atop the Pacific division standings: The Los Angeles Kings!
Surprise, surprise.
This six-game winning streak that the Kings are currently on has launched them from near bottom of the division (and league) up into first place in the division and sixth in the conference. Yea, that's right behind five Central teams, but that is another story altogether.
These games have not been easy though. The season started poor, and the Kings have had some poor games peppered in between that they have still managed to win.
Nevertheless, despite the struggles the Kings have remained a team that we are familiar with. They have great corsi, low scoring chances against, low goals for, pretty solid goaltending, good penalty killing, and a hit and miss powerplay.
There is one aspect of the game we have not really been tracking so far, and it is an exceptionally important part of the Kings team. I am, of course, talking about break-outs, and/or zone entries and exits.
The Kings thrive on structured breakouts and an importance on getting the puck out of their own zone. This is why the team has focused over the years on acquiring strong two-way centers who do not cheat much offensively, as well as acquiring mobile defensemen who can adeptly move the puck out of the zone. Purely out of curiousity and for an added bit of analysis on the team this year, an undertaking has been made to track zone entries and zone exits this season. Dump-ins, pressured clearances, pass-outs, and carry-outs, have all been tracked in each and every game this season in order to best understand who is, simply put, good at getting the puck out and getting the puck in the zone. Being finally caught up on replays, it is a project I expect to last the entirety of the year, and updated after each game.
Like most stats, these things need not to be taken in a standalone format. Considerations to go along with puck efficiency include zone starts, quality of competition, and the role in which each player plays on the team. Matt Greene, by nature is not going to log a lot of carry-ins to the offensive zone!
Why track this though? Well, it is simply another way to maybe appreciate a player and what they are capable of. Alec Martinez, for example, has always been a player whom I have noticed for making safe and smart plays in his own zone. That kind of thing does not always show up on a stat sheet. Nor does a player having a knack for gaining the zone, or a defenseman who carries the puck out of his own zone well. These are just some reasons to track this sort of stuff.
First, let's show you the team stuff. On top of tracking individuals, it has allowed us to track the entry and exit percentage of the team over the course of the game.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that the nights the Kings looked most out of synch or beat by an opponent, the results were not good.
Here are the team out and in percentages through the first nine games, straight from the numbers sheet itself:
And, because visual representations are always fun, here is a small bar graph of their performances.
(As always, click to enlarge)
You will probably notice right off the bat, wow, that Vancouver game was really really awful from an offensive standpoint. The Carolina game, also, was pretty rough from an offensive standpoint.
Defensively the Kings are pretty consistent, and the out numbers show that. They are almost always better at getting it out than getting it in. The Magic number for the Kings at this point seems to be about 77% and upwards. if the Kings are getting three out of four plays out of their zone roughly, that seems to be associated with wins. Again, early stages of this so that may change. That is the trend thus far.
Offensively it is much more of a mixed bag. Zone entries may not entirely mean wins. But, it does however seem to be related to a better scoring chances for spread.
For the most part, it looks like when the Kings gain the zone on a more regular and successful basis, it leads to a more favorable scoring chance spread. What a concept right?
These do not always go hand in hand of course. It may be opportunism that skews the graphs. It may not be about how many successful entries you have, but rather how effective you are when you get them. That is why it may not be conducive just yet to draw any conclusions. Still, it is interesting.
Defensively the Kings are as steady as can be, but in games where they have struggled getting the puck out of the zone, it generally falls on the forwards.
If you had to rank the Kings worst games this season, you could probably say, San Jose, Vancouver, Carolina for sure. Maybe Arizona simply because they lost. Not surprisingly, three of those games rank in the worst five forward exit games of the season so far.
And just who are the worst of the worst offenders of the forwards so far in getting the puck out? Let's look.
And as far as defensemen go:
These, through the first nine games, are the most responsible players and getting the puck out of their own zone via pass or carry.
And finally, to close the blog out, let's look at individuals getting the puck IN the zone. Forwards are basically the only relevant players right now because defenseman so infrequently carry and pass the puck in the zone that the numbers are not easy to draw anything from yet.
Here, however, are the forwards, who have had a ton of opportunities already in the early goings to buff up numbers.
There are some strange ones in the bottom, no question. Kopitar is, obviously, the most glaring. Again, however, when you think about matchups, quality of competition, and maybe zone spreads it can make a tiny bit more sense. However, Kopitar is right in the middle QoC so far this year, and his zone starts are also pretty equally spread. So, perhaps it has something to do with his rotating linemates and/or his slow offensive start. He is still a strong possession player but has not had the most outstanding offensive numbers. While Kopitar ranks 5th amongst Kings forwards in scoring chances for per 60, he has just five INDIVIDUAL scoring chance plays created. That is dead last on the team.
So, there are things to think about here. It is still a very nascent statistic that we are giving a try this year to maybe better appreciate a player like Jordan Nolan. Nolan, in his limited minutes, seems to be very good at gaining the zone! Now about those exits... maybe some more heavy offensive leaning zone starts or neutral zone starts should be on the docket...
Anyways, feedback is always appreciated, and when you see me on twitter or on the blog talking about efficiency, this is what I will mean. Simply put, how good a player is at moving the puck in and out of the zone!
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