garret9
AKA#VitoCorrelationi
Everyone wants Little to move to RW because "he scored 30 goals there!"
Even Strength and PP Production
YEAR
|
GP
|
ESTOI/60
|
ESP/60
|
ESG
|
ESA
|
PPTOI/60
|
PPP/60
|
PPG
|
PPA
|
SHTOI/60
|
SHG
|
SHA
|
SOG
|
SH%
2007| 48|11.83| 1.48| 04| 10| 3.07| 0.41| 03| 1|0.04|0|0 |076|07.9
2008| 79|12.18| 1.87| 19| 12| 3.78| 3.42| 12| 8|0.04|0|0 |172|18.0
2009| 79|12.38| 1.72| 10| 18| 2.97| 1.53| 03| 3|0.05|0|0 |165|07.9
2010| 76|13.56| 1.86| 16| 21| 2.36| 3.34| 02| 8|1.65|2|1 |158|11.4
2011| 74|15.33| 1.53| 16| 15| 2.61| 4.35| 06| 7|1.48|0|1 |162|14.8
"One of these years is not like the other..." Hint: 12PPG with 3.78 PPTOI/60
Similarly to Ladd, Little started working the PK for the first time in 2010 and 2011. Unlike Ladd though that TOI came with the reduction of other time... Power play.
You combine almost 4 minutes a game on the power play, a career high sh%, career high games played, and having Kovalchuk as a line-mate on the PP and you get 12 PP goals, about a 2:3 ratio to even strength. With the addition of Jokinen, I don't see Little's power play time jumping up very soon.
I do, however, think that Little would fit better on RW as more of a fit and observation reason than statistical. Little skills to me are best fit for a winger, and if we find two other top6 C I would love for him to be opposite wing on a line with Ladd. Little does have a sniper of a shot so I could see him staying in the high 20s for a while.
Even Strength Advance Stats
YEAR
|
RelQoC
|
OZS
|
RelCorsi
|
Corsi
|
G/60
|
A1/60
|
P/60
2007| 0.253| 51.2| 04.9|-09.19| 0.42| 0.95| 1.48
2008| 0.298| 42.4| 03.2|-04.99| 1.12| 0.50| 1.87
2009| -0.034| 43.0| 04.9| 01.66| 0.61| 0.92| 1.72
2010| 0.700| 54.5| 10.1| 05.59| 0.76| 0.58| 1.86
2011| 0.565| 56.4| 13.4| 10.42| 0.85| 0.53| 1.53
2007: Atlanta rushes their draft pick (surprise). He does ok relative to the team (RelCorsi) and posts decent rookie numbers, but loses a lot of man games, probably due to being rushed.
2008: Little improves his defensive Corsi numbers and offensively explodes (goal scoring wise... see above why) playing RW.
2009: Little moved back to centre and gets a tiny bit sheltered (RelQoC) although starting mostly in the defensive zone. He continues to improve his possession numbers and posts pretty nice assists production.
2010: Enter Ladd and eventually Wheeler. No longer being sheltered and playing a power vs. power type system, Little faces highest competition of his career yet still continues improving his possession numbers and ability to out-chance his opponent.
2012: Possession-wise Little posts a career best in Winnipeg. He's leaned on heavily to do all minutes, posting the highest RelQoC for the forwards not on GST. His goal scoring slightly rises to second highest in career and his primary assists stay stable. Due to poor luck, his secondary assists almost disappear (0.16 A2/60) to the lowest on the team not on GST, causing his worst even strength points rate in his career.
Summary
Fourteen centre's played 30+ games, played similar or tougher match-ups (>0.5 QoC), out-chanced their opponents 10:1 or greater (> 10 Corsi) and posted a more than a point and a half every 60 minutes:
O'Reilly, Little, Couture, Turris, Steen, Bergeron, JStaal, Thornton, Marleau, Toews, Kopitar, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Backes
Little did post the least amount of points/60 of the group although he was unlucky to have at most half the secondary assist production as any of the others.
Similar to Ladd, Little's greatest strength comes with being able to take on tough match-ups and consistently out-chance them. He's solid enough shooter and playmaker to be a complimentary piece as a secondary shooter with a mass shooter (ex: Ladd/Kane) and a pure playmaker.
Don't expect him to reach 30 goals again but I can totally see ~23-27-50 if the right usage comes around.
1-2 Years in the Future
As most of you here already agree, and probably noticed me hinting at before... Little would fit best as a RW on the tough match-ups offensive (ie: two-way line) on the RW, opposite to Ladd. I can see the two of them posting decent points there if placed between a similarly minded playmaker natural centre (Scheifele? Burmistrov? Zajac?). They would compliment each other very well.
1: x-x-x
2: Ladd-x-Little
3: x-x-x
Even Strength and PP Production
2007| 48|11.83| 1.48| 04| 10| 3.07| 0.41| 03| 1|0.04|0|0 |076|07.9
2008| 79|12.18| 1.87| 19| 12| 3.78| 3.42| 12| 8|0.04|0|0 |172|18.0
2009| 79|12.38| 1.72| 10| 18| 2.97| 1.53| 03| 3|0.05|0|0 |165|07.9
2010| 76|13.56| 1.86| 16| 21| 2.36| 3.34| 02| 8|1.65|2|1 |158|11.4
2011| 74|15.33| 1.53| 16| 15| 2.61| 4.35| 06| 7|1.48|0|1 |162|14.8
Similarly to Ladd, Little started working the PK for the first time in 2010 and 2011. Unlike Ladd though that TOI came with the reduction of other time... Power play.
You combine almost 4 minutes a game on the power play, a career high sh%, career high games played, and having Kovalchuk as a line-mate on the PP and you get 12 PP goals, about a 2:3 ratio to even strength. With the addition of Jokinen, I don't see Little's power play time jumping up very soon.
I do, however, think that Little would fit better on RW as more of a fit and observation reason than statistical. Little skills to me are best fit for a winger, and if we find two other top6 C I would love for him to be opposite wing on a line with Ladd. Little does have a sniper of a shot so I could see him staying in the high 20s for a while.
Even Strength Advance Stats
2007| 0.253| 51.2| 04.9|-09.19| 0.42| 0.95| 1.48
2008| 0.298| 42.4| 03.2|-04.99| 1.12| 0.50| 1.87
2009| -0.034| 43.0| 04.9| 01.66| 0.61| 0.92| 1.72
2010| 0.700| 54.5| 10.1| 05.59| 0.76| 0.58| 1.86
2011| 0.565| 56.4| 13.4| 10.42| 0.85| 0.53| 1.53
2008: Little improves his defensive Corsi numbers and offensively explodes (goal scoring wise... see above why) playing RW.
2009: Little moved back to centre and gets a tiny bit sheltered (RelQoC) although starting mostly in the defensive zone. He continues to improve his possession numbers and posts pretty nice assists production.
2010: Enter Ladd and eventually Wheeler. No longer being sheltered and playing a power vs. power type system, Little faces highest competition of his career yet still continues improving his possession numbers and ability to out-chance his opponent.
2012: Possession-wise Little posts a career best in Winnipeg. He's leaned on heavily to do all minutes, posting the highest RelQoC for the forwards not on GST. His goal scoring slightly rises to second highest in career and his primary assists stay stable. Due to poor luck, his secondary assists almost disappear (0.16 A2/60) to the lowest on the team not on GST, causing his worst even strength points rate in his career.
Summary
Fourteen centre's played 30+ games, played similar or tougher match-ups (>0.5 QoC), out-chanced their opponents 10:1 or greater (> 10 Corsi) and posted a more than a point and a half every 60 minutes:
O'Reilly, Little, Couture, Turris, Steen, Bergeron, JStaal, Thornton, Marleau, Toews, Kopitar, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Backes
Little did post the least amount of points/60 of the group although he was unlucky to have at most half the secondary assist production as any of the others.
Similar to Ladd, Little's greatest strength comes with being able to take on tough match-ups and consistently out-chance them. He's solid enough shooter and playmaker to be a complimentary piece as a secondary shooter with a mass shooter (ex: Ladd/Kane) and a pure playmaker.
Don't expect him to reach 30 goals again but I can totally see ~23-27-50 if the right usage comes around.
1-2 Years in the Future
As most of you here already agree, and probably noticed me hinting at before... Little would fit best as a RW on the tough match-ups offensive (ie: two-way line) on the RW, opposite to Ladd. I can see the two of them posting decent points there if placed between a similarly minded playmaker natural centre (Scheifele? Burmistrov? Zajac?). They would compliment each other very well.
1: x-x-x
2: Ladd-x-Little
3: x-x-x
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