Follow @james_tanner123 The Coyotes haven't played for a few days and are more or less must running out the schedule now, faced with the fact that their run at a Playoff spot will make them a worse team going forward because the NHL rewards losing in an almost masochistic fashion.
If you're here for the Coyotes, know that they play the Sharks at home, and Mike Smith will most likely be the goalie since he had an impressive 4-0 shutout on Saturday after missing about 40 games. As for the injured Oliver Eckman-Larsson, who knows? Not only does the NHL reward losing, but it doesn't do a very good job of letting its fans know if their favorite player will be in the lineup or not.
In honour of their being only so much you can write about after your team misses the Playoffs for the fourth straight year, here's some of the craziest stats from this year so far.
1. Jaromir Jagr
At age 44 he is among the league leaders in several offensive categories. (to put his age in perspective, guys from the draft held ten years after Jagr was drafted are "old" players like Hemsky, Hamhuis and Umburger).
Only seven players have more than his 18 5v5 goals, and he is technically tied for fourth most.
He is sixth in 5v5 total scoring, with 41 points. As much as everyone talks about Patrick Kane, Jagr has just seven less points, while skating over two minutes less per night and playing two less games.
Sure, his shooting percentage and PDO are sky-high, but come on! Jagr is ancient and sixth in 5v5 scoring.
Not quite as ancient as Jagr, Joe Thornton is two points behind him at 5v5 scoring. He also happens to be one of the NHL's best defensive forwards - an incredible 56% CF, he has a shots-against/60 that is over 3 shots less than his team's average (which he contributes to lowering).
I find it amazing that in a game that routinely writes off anyone north of 30 (and I'm guilty of that too) two of the best players are 37 and 44.
3.Nicholas Shore
Who? Getting paid just $600 K (makes me want to puke a bit putting the "just" in there, but context is a necessary evil) Nicholas Shore is your NHL leader in CF% with a 60.5% rating.
Sure, you can say "but everyone on LA has a good Corsi" and that would be basically true. However, of the 16 players who've played at least 90 minutes of ice-time with Shore, 15 of them have worse possession numbers when on the ice with anyone else. Gaborik, who goes from 56.7 to 57.0 is the sole exception.
Shore gets just 11 minutes of 5v5 time per game. Brown and Lewis are his most common linemates, and he kills penalties for about a minute per game. Sure, he's just a fourth liner, but all signs lead towards him needing more ice time.
He could quite easily be the best fourth line centre in the NHL. He's just 23.
Everyone is aware of the gaudy goal and point totals that Burns and Karlsson have. But did you know that Brodie has just four less points at 5v5 than Brent Burns in 11 less games?
The biggest snub to team Canada's most recent roster just can't get the recognition he deserves - which would be universal acknowledgment that he's among the best defensemen in NHL. Maybe as high as the being the best non-Swedish defenseman in the world.
The only thing stopping Brodie from posting numbers like Burns and Karlsson overall is that Giordano is the main PP option for Calgary. But at 5v5, where 80% of the game happens, T.J Brodie is the second most productive defenseman in the NHL on a PPG basis.
He also is an excellent possession player (+3% relative to his team) and has positive shot and scoring chance differentials.
Thanks for reading.