Sidney Crosby and Faceoffs: Part 1

Another look at numbers for a Friday in the middle of a lazy summer. This time, we're going to check out some of the specifics about Sid and the faceoff circle.

Everyone that watched even a few of the Pens' games this year knows that Sid improved greatly in the faceoff circle, mostly from Errey and Steigy telling you that every game. Here are a few facts:

• He took 88 more faceoffs than anyone in the league with 1791 (Paul Stasny was second).
• He won 55.9% of his faceoffs, putting him 7th among players who took more than 1000 draws (a pool of 57 players).
• He was amazingly consistent in all of the different scenarios (road, home, power play, penalty kill, even strength).

So I decided to take a deeper look at the numbers. The next two posts (both scheduled for this morning) will look at how Sid fared against specific players in the faceoff circle, as well as how he fared with specific linesman dropping the puck.

Doing time for a crime they didn't commit

There are a few circumstances in the NHL when the player in the penalty box isn't the player who committed the penalty. They are serving the penalty in lieu of someone else. These circumstances include:

• Bench penalties like too many men on the ice or abuse of officials
• A coincidental minor with one player getting a second penalty (usually called the "extra two")
• Penalties on the goalie, since he can't really go sit in the box

When I was looking at my stats database, I wondered who wound up in the box in these scenarios. Was it always the same guy or set of guys?

Obviously, this has no meaning whatsoever, other than maybe to tell us who should be named "Least Likely to Kill a Penalty", but hey, it's the middle of summer. What else are you going to read about?

Here are the players who have served the most penalties that they didn't commit - I'm listing everyone that has served 8 or more.

Team	Player	# of Times
Canucks	42 WELLWOOD	15
Islanders	26 MOULSON	12
Senators	71 FOLIGNO	11
Lightning	17 FEDORUK	11
Avalanche	16 TUCKER	11
Bruins	22 THORNTON	11
Flyers	45 ASHAM	10
Sharks	16 SETOGUCHI	8
Maple Leafs	81 KESSEL	8
Blues	7 TKACHUK	8
Penguins	13 GUERIN	8
Capitals	16 FEHR	8
Blue Jackets	14 TORRES	8
Lightning	9 DOWNIE	8
Sabres	21 STAFFORD	8
Rangers	20 PROSPAL	8
Stars	96 BRUNNSTROM	8

The other Penguins on the list include Tyler Kennedy and Geno Malkin, but they're further down.

Penguins sign D Paul Martin

Wow.

Ray Shero was completely serious when he talked about two big signings on the blue line.

The Pens have signed Paul Martin to a five year contract worth $25M. Martin has been a solid player on the blue line for several years for the Devils. He is 29, so the Pens have him under control for the prime years of his career.

Martin was hurt last year and only managed 22 games. His injury history isn't bad prior to that, playing over 70 games three straight years.

This was a bold move by Ray Shero. He clearly signaled that the blue line was the area most in need of help by the moves he made.

Penguns sign D Zbynek Michalek

Five years, $20M. Michalek is a stay-at-home kind of defenseman, but he's just 27 years old.

I'm a bit surprised at the amount, but not the term. You know Ray Shero likes to get long term stability for players under 30.

Not sure if this signals the end of the pursuit of Hamhuis. You'd think so, because they're very similar players. Both are more defensively oriented and both play on the penalty kill. On the other hand, the Pens are missing that #1 defenseman right now. They could sell Hamhuis on that spot.

Gonchar to the Senators

Per TSN, the Senators have signed Sergei Gonchar to a three year contract worth $5.5M per season.

He also has a no-trade clause.

It is a shame to see Sarge leave, but I think it was smart of Ray Shero not to offer the third year and also not to go above Gonchar's previous salary. It takes guts not to cave in and overpay a player of the caliber of Gonch.

I'll certainly miss watching him play.

Hopefully he'll get a nice ovation when he returns to Pittsburgh. He deserves it.

Drawing penalties while on the penalty kill

While yesterday's post looked at teams and players that take penalties on the power play, thus killing their momentum, today's post is a look into teams that get themselves out of trouble by drawing calls against the opposition while short-handed.

There is obviously some luck involved in this, but getting the other guy to do something stupid does require some amount of skill. You could also call it poor sportsmanship or cheating (which is what we all call it when we see the other team do it to our favorite).

Here are the top 10 teams at drawing the call to even things up:

Team	#
Lightning	36
Penguins	34
Blue Jackets	32
Canucks	31
Maple Leafs	28
Coyotes	28
Hurricanes	27
Rangers	27
Kings	27
Sharks	27

Here are the 9 players that have drawn 6 or more calls:

Player	#
Dustin Brown	12
Ryan Kesler	8
Brandon Backes	7
Chris Kelly	7
Vernon Fiddler	7
Mike Smith	6
Kyle Cumiskey	6
Jordan Staal	6
Marek Zidlicky	6

A few notes (again):

• Mike Smith was the top goalie, somehow drawing 6 calls, including a double-minor from Chris Neil. If I'm the goalie, I'm not sure I want to mess with Neil.
• Kyle Cumiskey pulled the trick twice in the same game (in the same period), against top penalty taker Aucoin (per yesterday's chart) and Lombardi in a game against Phoenix.
• Dustin Brown is pretty good at this.

Taking penalties while on the power play

There's nothing quite as deflating as going on the power play, only to have the advantage end because of a penalty. Special teams are a crucial part of the NHL regular season (not to mention the playoffs), and it is important to make the most of those chances. Losing them because of a preventable action is a recipe for losing points in the standings.

As a fan, there are few things that can happen during the game that are quite as depressing.

First, let me say that while I removed all fighting and misconduct penalties, I did not remove or coincidental minor penalties. My gut feeling (without checking) is that you normally don't see coincidental minors while on the power play.

Either way, the long and the short of it is that the data may not be perfect, but it gives us some grounds for discussion.

Some teams are far more guilty than others, and some players stand out above the rest. Here are the top 10 teams in the NHL in taking penalties while on the power play, thus negating their advantage:

Team	#
Coyotes	33
Sabres	33
Stars	33
Rangers	32
Canucks	30
Blues	29
Senators	28
Penguins	27
Sharks	27
Oilers	27

Here are the players that have taken a penalty while their team was on the power play 6 or more times this year:

Player	#
Steve Ott	9
Mikael Samuelsson	8
Joe Pavelski	7
Scott Hartnell	7
Corey Perry	6
Kristian Huselius	6
Todd Bertuzzi	6
Marek Zidlicky	6
Adrian Aucoin	6
Brendan Morrow	6
Rene Bourque	6
Dustin Byfuglien	6
Bill Guerin	6

A few quick notes:

• Some of these guys took double-minors, so while that officially lowers their count by one, I think it's still double-dumb.
• Hartnell did two of these in one game, with the second one being a double-minor. He just loses his head sometimes.
• Guerin leads the list of Penguins, but Geno had 5 and Sid had 4.

Fun with Numbers!

We're going to have some fun with numbers this summer at Igloo Dreams. If you're a longtime reader, you may remember several previous efforts along these lines.

I've just revamped my program for pulling and aggregating these stats, this time from a better source - NHL.com Play by Play pages. They're insane on the level of detail they provide.

I'm still kicking around some of the information I can pull together. I'm thinking in terms of answering questions like:

• What is average shooting distance for each player / team and can we tell anything from it (like finding D-men that actually jump into the play more often - they'd likely have a lower average shot distance, right?)
• Which players are the best at getting their shot on net? Who gets their shot blocked the most?
• Can we tell if teams are trying to go up on some goaltenders versus others in a systematic way?
• Are faceoff results influenced by the linesman? Does Sid, for instance, fare better with some linesman than with others?
• What about the refs? I'm keeping this one broad, because there are a million different directions we can go here.

I'll have a post up later tonight that should whet your appetite: Which players took the most penalties while they were on the power play during the 2009-2010 season? If I had to come up with a name for this (dubious) honor, it would be the DOH! Award, or maybe [head / desk].

Anyway, that will be up later, with (I hope) much, much more to follow.

You'll also be able to see some of the more generalized work in my writing over at hockeyindependent.com, though I'll usually cross-post the content over here.

2010 Draft - Sixth Round - D Reid Mcneill

The Pens added another blueliner with size with their second pick in the sixth round.

Reid played last year with the London Knights of the OHL.

This late in the draft, finding information about these guys (or strong opinions, even when you do find info) is tough. More depth for the blue line.

2010 Draft - Sixth Round - D Joe Rogalski

Joe Rogalski has played three years in the OHL with the Sarnia Sting. He contributed more offensively, but was also a -38 on the season this year, tied for worst on the team (though most of them were minus players).

Here's a video of a fight from two years ago against Andrew Yogan

He's a right-handed defenseman with decent size.

He'll likely have another year in the OHL before looking to join the AHL.

2010 Draft - Fifth Round - Kenneth Agostino

Agostino was a great high school player from New Jersey. He piled up tons of goals and points, and his team was ridiculously successful. His defense was highly praised.

So why is he just a fifth round pick? Because it's high school hockey in New Jersey.

Agostino is on the small side and plays wing. He'll go to Yale in the fall.

In Lou We Trust has a great article summarizing the information about Agostino that's available online here.

This is a long term project for the Pens. They'll need to see him perform at the next level first, much like Ben Hanowski, but not quite as promising.

2010 Draft - Fourth Round - RW Tom Kuehnhackl

Kuehnhackl was the fourth round selection by the Penguins. He is the son of Erich Kuehnhackl, who was voted German hockey player of the 20th century.

Kuehnhackl is the third straight winger the Pens have drafted, as they clearly appear to be addressing some organizational weakness at the forward spot.

Tom has some decent size and played as a teenager in a German men's league the past two seasons. Despite sporadic ice time, he still was able to produce points.

He'll play for the Windsor Spitfires next season.

He has to be happy coming to the Pens, since he states his most memorable game that he watched was Game 7 of the Pens Stanley Cup victory over the Red Wings.

2010 Draft - Third Round - RW Brian Rust

The Penguins selected Brian Rust in the third round with the 80th pick.

Rust is on the small side and has played for the US National Development Team. He also won a Gold Medal at the U18 World Championships, scoring 4 goals in 7 games.

He is a right-handed shot and has put the puck in the net in his time with the US team.

Rust will attend the University of Notre Dame in the fall.

Who writes these headlines?

From the Tennessean... here's a link to the original article, for when they change it...

Penguins acquire D Dan Hamhuis

The Pens acquired the rights to D Dan Hamhuis from the Flyers last night. They'll have exclusive negotiating rights with Hamhuis until Wednesday.

Obviously this has been noted as a hedge against losing Gonchar. My question is: Is there any way the Pens could sign them both?

I don't know if you sign Sarge long term, no matter what, but the Pens have about $12,000,000 in cap space. If they can get both for $8,000,000...

I'm not sure it is feasible, given that the Pens need help up front in their top 6, and those players are usually expensive. You don't want to go through the season with Max and Pascal in your top 6 for the season. Right now, your top 6 forwards are: Sid, Geno, Kunitz, Talbot, Dupuis and... Is Tangradi ready?

So, probably not going to happen, but interesting to think about. The cost for the hedge is probably a bit on the high side - a 3rd round pick next year. If it nets them either Sarge or Hamhuis, however, it will have been worth it.

2010 Draft - Beau Bennett

The Pens selected Beau Bennett in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft.

Beau is listed as a RW, but spent much of the later part of his season with Penicton playing center.

He has average size (6'1", 176 lbs) and will need to get bigger and stronger.

There's a good interview with Beau, done after he was picked, over here.

Here's a brief snippet from the interview, with Beau talking about his strengths and what he needs to work on:

Definitely bring some creativity to the game. I can create off the right side or the left side. Definitely need to work on some things, as well, with my defensive play and strength. I think going forward, I'll get better in some aspects.

Bennett will attend Denver University, so he's several years away from the NHL.

Nice pick for the future.

Canadiens 5, Penguins 2

So what happened?

First off, congratulations to the Canadiens. They played a great game and were the better team in the series.

Fleury just didn't have it last night, from the first goal he allowed to the last one, those pucks simply cannot go in the net.

Having said that, I really thought the Pens were going to make it back to at least tie the game. I haven't seen them play like they were playing late in the second period (and start of the third) in a long time. That begs the question: where was this desperation and level of play through the series?

The Pens cut the lead to 4-2 and were flying. They had a power play to start the third. It all looked set up for a comeback. Sid and Geno both had shots point blank on Halak, but the Montreal netminder was able to stonewall both of them. Sid tried to get the puck up, but Halak was on top of him, and Geno needed to get the puck up, but he couldn't because of the pass he was taking. That sealed the fate of the Pens.

Halak was the story of the series. When the Habs won, it was largely because of him. That was never more true than last night. He held the fort and kept the Pens from being able to come all the way back.

Ending the season this way certainly stings.

Who scored?
Kunitz (4), Staal (3)

Any surprises?
One goal each in the series from Sid and Geno.

Where do we go from here?
The Consol Energy Center will open next October!

Notes:

• It was a turbulent season and a turbulent post season. Probably best we put this one behind us and look ahead.

Playoff Game #13 - vs Montreal Canadiens

Playoff Game 13

Montreal Canadiens at Pittsburgh Penguins

Series tied 3-3

Why does it matter?

Win or go home. Pretty simple.

What has been happening lately?

• Pens - They were able to get to Halak on Monday, but they weren't able to keep the Habs away from Fleury.
• Canadiens - The Habs played a great home game when their playoff lives depended on it.

Questions to be answered

• Can the Pens protect Fleury, and can Flower make the big saves? He sure has in the past when the Pens needed it (think about the save on Ovechkin in Game 7 last year).
• Can the Pens keep the game simple when they're at home?
• Will the fans avoid yelling "SHOOT" when the Pens are on the power play?

Keys to the game

• Come out and establish the forecheck. Set the tone early to spend time in the offensive zone.
• Keep firing from the point. The Habs are packing it in when the puck goes down low. Work it out for a shot from Sarge or Letang and hope for a deflection or rebound.
• Protect the defensive zone. The urgency that was there in Game 5, matching up with the Habs at every step, was missing in Game 6 when players lost track of Habs in their own end.

Canadiens 4, Penguins 3

So what happened?

The Habs just don't quit. They showed remarkable resiliency in winning the game last night. The Pens had taken a 2-1 lead and were threatening to blow the game open. Halak held the fort, and Cammalleri tied the score.

The Cammalleri goal is worth talking about because it is a great example of how the Habs have stayed in this series. The Habs looked like they might have a 3-on-2, but Max Talbot hustled back to cover Cammalleri on the far side of the ice coming across the blue line. Unfortunately, Max lost track of Cammalleri briefly, and Mike used the chance to cut across the middle, taking the puck and getting off a perfectly placed backhand that went in because Flower was off his angle ever so slightly. Everything had to be perfect, and the Habs were able to execute. The Pens also were guilty of two small mental mistakes, and it cost them dearly.

The Habs added two more, and the fourth goal would prove especially costly, as the Pens would score with about 90 seconds left to pull to within one goal. They didn't seriously threaten after that, however.

Who scored?
Crosby (6), Letang (5), Guerin (4)

Any surprises?
More long shots on Halak, more goals. I think if the Pens can lock down the Habs defensively, they can get one or two past Halak.

Where do we go from here?
Wednesday night is Game 7 at the Igloo.

Notes:

• Not very often you see a shot from the point go along the ice and go in. Spacek's goal was a change of pace, for sure.

Playoff Game #12 - at Montreal Canadiens

Playoff Game 12

Pittsburgh Penguins at Montreal Canadiens

Penguins lead series 3-2

Why does it matter?

A third consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference Finals is available to the Pens with a win tonight in Montreal.

What has been happening lately?

• Pens - The Pens got some timely goal scoring and Marc-Andre Fleury made the lead stand up on Saturday.
• Canadiens - They couldn't get the big goal (or big save) when they needed it in the Game 5 loss.

Questions to be answered

• Where is Halak at, mentally, right now? Is he getting flustered or frustrated? Something is happening, because the Habs aren't doing a good job of keeping people out of his line of sight, and he is getting beat on long shots.
• Can the Pens show the killer instinct? Will it be easier to do since they're on the road?
• Can Sid and Geno take over the game and propel the Pens to the series victory?

Keys to the game (normally I'd write new ones, but these Keys from Game 4 are better than anything new I could write)

• Withstand the storm... again. You know the Habs need this game, and you know they're going to be desperate.
• Don't give the refs an excuse to make a call. You know the fans in Montreal are going to cry every time an Hab falls over. That will put pressure on the refs to blow the whistle. Don't give them a reason.
• Get someone in front of Halak as much as possible. The Pens have had the most success when someone is parked at the top of the crease (think about Sid on Geno's goal in Game 3).