Do Left wingers score more goals than Right Wingers ?

[HamiltonNHL]

Serious question.

Click to read more...

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Just go to NHL.com and add up goals for all LWers and RWers.

 

[Plural]

It varies. In the 90's and 80's RW dominated (Kurri, Bossy, Hull, Bure, Selanne, Jagr and more).

 

[K Fleur]

Ovechkin scores more goals than everybody else and he has played both wings!

 

[tarheelhockey]

Traditionally, no. But currently it does seem that there is a sudden uptick in talent at LW.

Teams where the top goal-scoring winger is LW:
Arizona, Calgary, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Toronto, Washington

Teams where the top goal-scoring winger is RW:
Anaheim, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Teams where it's a tough call:
Boston, Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, San Jose, Las Vegas


Of course there will be quibbles about certain players, but I think the list above shows that scoring talent is really quite balanced between the two wings, in defiance of historic trends.

 

[rent free]

Traditionally, no. But currently it does seem that there is a sudden uptick in talent at LW.

Teams where the top goal-scoring winger is LW:
Arizona, Calgary, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Toronto, Washington

Teams where the top goal-scoring winger is RW:
Anaheim, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Teams where it's a tough call:
Boston, Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, San Jose, Las Vegas


Of course there will be quibbles about certain players, but I think the list above shows that scoring talent is really quite balanced between the two wings, in defiance of historic trends.

how is it a tough call for Boston, Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, San Jose, Las Vegas? isnt it one or the other?

 

[Martin Skoula]

Traditionally, no. But currently it does seem that there is a sudden uptick in talent at LW.

Teams where the top goal-scoring winger is LW:
Arizona, Calgary, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Toronto, Washington

Teams where the top goal-scoring winger is RW:
Anaheim, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Teams where it's a tough call:
Boston, Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, San Jose, Las Vegas


Of course there will be quibbles about certain players, but I think the list above shows that scoring talent is really quite balanced between the two wings, in defiance of historic trends.

Some of those are a little misleading IMO. Toronto's depth at RW>>>>> their depth at LW, but JVR just happens to be the top goalscorer even though there's almost nothing behind him.

 

[NDiesel]

how is it a tough call for Boston, Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, San Jose, Las Vegas? isnt it one or the other?

Maybe it's so close that it may change by the end of the season.

 

[aufheben]

Just go to NHL.com and add up goals for all LWers and RWers.

Yeah, not exactly an obscure stat...

 

[Zuluss]

No.
Howe, Richard, Bure, Bossy, Brett Hull, Selanne, Iginla were all RW.
Who is the third-best goal-scorer at LW after Bobby Hull and Ovechkin? I don't even know. Lindsay, with one goal-scoring title?

Lately, though, LW was rather strong, both goals and overall.

 

[tarheelhockey]

how is it a tough call for Boston, Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, San Jose, Las Vegas? isnt it one or the other?

Depends on the team, but for example in Nashville you've got Forsberg who is listed at C but recently plays LW and has had a couple of ~30 goal seasons in the recent past; Arvidsson who is listed at LW but takes shifts at RW and is currently a 30 goal scorer; and Fiala who is a 2nd line LW behind Forsberg at the moment but has about as many goals as Forsberg currently.

It's not really worth the debate there. In a simple illustration about how scoring is balanced between the wings, it suffices to just say "it's complicated".

 

[tarheelhockey]

Some of those are a little misleading IMO. Toronto's depth at RW>>>>> their depth at LW, but JVR just happens to be the top goalscorer even though there's almost nothing behind him.

Current Leafs lines with goal scoring:

Right wing
Marner - 20
Nylander - 17
Brown - 14
Kapanen - 7
(total 58)

Left wing
JVR - 34
Marleau - 24
Hyman - 14
Johnsson - 1
(total 73)

I realize that this involves players swapping around the lineup for various reasons, but that could be said of any team.

 

[tom leafers]

Some of those are a little misleading IMO. Toronto's depth at RW>>>>> their depth at LW, but JVR just happens to be the top goalscorer even though there's almost nothing behind him.

hey now......Hyman

 

[SniperHF]

Teams where the top goal-scoring winger is LW:
Arizona,

One thing for Keller, He plays the right wing a lot. Possibly as much as half the time though I've never done the math on it.

Lately he's been on the left but his line for the first month and a half was Domi on the left and Keller right.
Mixed in throughout the year was the Perlini - Stepan - Keller combination as well.


Though Perlini would be the second highest goal scoring winger and he is basically a full time LW. But he has lined up on the right a bit recently with Domi - Dvorak.

 

[Plural]

How many of the top-scoring wingers play one side only on ES & PP?

 

[The Macho King]

How many of the top-scoring wingers play one side only on ES & PP?

Kucherov is always on the Right (plays on his off wing).