Good penalty kill makes up for bonehead plays

[BubbleGumPlant]

I absolutely hate individual players PIM stats. It takes into account coincidental penalties such as roughing or fighting for both teams and it also takes into account 10 minute misconducts. These type of penalties don't hurt the team anymore than an injury or equipment malfunction keeping the player from playing.

I couldn't find the perfect stay to illustrate my next point because it doesn't paint the whole picture, but should be to no one's surprise, PK Subban is always top 5 for defensemen with the most minor penalties, year after year. Dion Phaneuf, Radko Gudas and Dustin Byfuglien are also consistently up there. Now I get that PK is a high risk high reward type of player, but I was really hoping that with maturity his number of minor penalties would come down. All I can say is thank god the Habs have a great penalty kill. On a side note, what I am glad to see is that Therrien is starting to use PK in key defensive situations. This will give PK the experience needed to refine his defensive game more. So far this season, our defense looks weak so I'm hoping that by Playoffs time PK and his D partner whoever that may be will be going against the opposition's best players.

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on whether there has been any improvement for other players such as Eller, Bourque, Emelin, and yes even Gallagher. I did notice from the very small sample size that Eller and Bourque seem to have better body position to keep them from taking unnecessary penalties (although Bork took one yesterday), and same with Gallagher in positioning in front of the net, but I'm wondering if there are any stats out there that can actually back up what I'm observing.

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[Rapala]

I absolutely hate individual players PIM stats. It takes into account coincidental penalties such as roughing or fighting for both teams and it also takes into account 10 minute misconducts. These type of penalties don't hurt the team anymore than an injury or equipment malfunction keeping the player from playing.

I couldn't find the perfect stay to illustrate my next point because it doesn't paint the whole picture, but should be to no one's surprise, PK Subban is always top 5 for defensemen with the most minor penalties, year after year. Dion Phaneuf, Radko Gudas and Dustin Byfuglien are also consistently up there. Now I get that PK is a high risk high reward type of player, but I was really hoping that with maturity his number of minor penalties would come down. All I can say is thank god the Habs have a great penalty kill. On a side note, what I am glad to see is that Therrien is starting to use PK in key defensive situations. This will give PK the experience needed to refine his defensive game more. So far this season, our defense looks weak so I'm hoping that by Playoffs time PK and his D partner whoever that may be will be going against the opposition's best players.

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on whether there has been any improvement for other players such as Eller, Bourque, Emelin, and yes even Gallagher. I did notice from the very small sample size that Eller and Bourque seem to have better body position to keep them from taking unnecessary penalties (although Bork took one yesterday), and same with Gallagher in positioning in front of the net, but I'm wondering if there are any stats out there that can actually back up what I'm observing.

The in depth notes you are looking for may be charted by individual teams but i don't think i've ever heard of anyone else doing it. Most players just get a reputation over the years with regards to the types of penalties they take. Markov for example would be looked at as someone whose PIM were probably good PIM. Just like a Steve Downie's would be looked at as boneheaded for the most part.

 

[Kriss E]

I absolutely hate individual players PIM stats. It takes into account coincidental penalties such as roughing or fighting for both teams and it also takes into account 10 minute misconducts. These type of penalties don't hurt the team anymore than an injury or equipment malfunction keeping the player from playing.

I couldn't find the perfect stay to illustrate my next point because it doesn't paint the whole picture, but should be to no one's surprise, PK Subban is always top 5 for defensemen with the most minor penalties, year after year. Dion Phaneuf, Radko Gudas and Dustin Byfuglien are also consistently up there. Now I get that PK is a high risk high reward type of player, but I was really hoping that with maturity his number of minor penalties would come down. All I can say is thank god the Habs have a great penalty kill. On a side note, what I am glad to see is that Therrien is starting to use PK in key defensive situations. This will give PK the experience needed to refine his defensive game more. So far this season, our defense looks weak so I'm hoping that by Playoffs time PK and his D partner whoever that may be will be going against the opposition's best players.

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on whether there has been any improvement for other players such as Eller, Bourque, Emelin, and yes even Gallagher. I did notice from the very small sample size that Eller and Bourque seem to have better body position to keep them from taking unnecessary penalties (although Bork took one yesterday), and same with Gallagher in positioning in front of the net, but I'm wondering if there are any stats out there that can actually back up what I'm observing.

The coincidental minors or 10min misconducts happen so infrequently that they're not even worthy of mention. I mean, when you're talking about guys like PK, Eller, Emelin, Bourque, etc..
They are not the dirty pest types or fighters. Their PIM is pretty representative.

But if you want a better breakdown of penalties, you can get it there:
http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/player/_/stat/major-penalties/sort/penaltyMinutes

 

[thewall]

the 2 minute minor he got for embellishement was pure bs. Marchand speared him and got 2 for receiving a cheap shot from a rat. seems the refs are always looking to penalized Subban.