Is Nylander a Power Play specialist?

[Randy Randerson]

Among NHL forwards, he was 87th in 5v5 scoring (top 90, first line production by definition) while being 153rd in 5v5 TOI/GP and 101st in 5v5 cumulative TOI. So, as a rookie he was a 1st line forward in 5v5 situations despite not really being given the opportunity to do so.

He shot 10.7% for the season, which isn't crazy low but ties him for 178th among NHL forwards with 40 GP+, I think we would all agree that Nylander is far better than the 178th best shooter in the NHL

His 6.9 oiSH% is well below average for a player on a top line, and there's nothing that he can do to fix this but wait for the luck to change. Hyman (who shot 6.4% for the season), presumably coming off his line with the addition of Marleau (who shot 14.2% for the season) should help with that. When that normalizes, a larger percentage of the same number of pucks on net will go in and the whole line will get more points. Would think there's also a very good chance that Matthews and Nylander are better players this year, and put more pucks on net - larger percentage of larger number of pucks on net going in = big bump in points

judging Nylander by production he's good enough to be the 3rd best player on a 1st line (and probably more like a middle of the pack 1st liner with 1st line minutes) in 5v5 situations, unless he gets average luck and then he's much better. His advanced stats suggest that he is a very positive influence on an already good possession line. He's also already an elite powerplay producer

so if you need to apply labels to him today, "1st line NHL'er and elite powerplay producer with big upside" is more accurate than "powerplay specialist"

 

[billius]

Among NHL forwards, he was 87th in 5v5 scoring (top 90, first line production by definition) while being 153rd in 5v5 TOI/GP and 101st in 5v5 cumulative TOI. So, as a rookie he was a 1st line forward in 5v5 situations despite not really being given the opportunity to do so.

He shot 10.7% for the season, which isn't crazy low but ties him for 178th among NHL forwards with 40 GP+, I think we would all agree that Nylander is far better than the 178th best shooter in the NHL

His 6.9 oiSH% is well below average for a player on a top line, and there's nothing that he can do to fix this but wait for the luck to change. Hyman (who shot 6.4% for the season), presumably coming off his line with the addition of Marleau (who shot 14.2% for the season) should help with that. When that normalizes, a larger percentage of the same number of pucks on net will go in and the whole line will get more points. Would think there's also a very good chance that Matthews and Nylander are better players this year, and put more pucks on net - larger percentage of larger number of pucks on net going in = big bump in points

judging Nylander by production he's good enough to be the 3rd best player on a 1st line (and probably more like a middle of the pack 1st liner with 1st line minutes) in 5v5 situations, unless he gets average luck and then he's much better. His advanced stats suggest that he is a very positive influence on an already good possession line. He's also already an elite powerplay producer

so if you need to apply labels to him today, "1st line NHL'er and elite powerplay producer with big upside" is more accurate than "powerplay specialist"

All this as a **U21 rookie**.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Nylander is fantastic.

This thread sucks.

That is all.

 

[Leafidelity]

If we divide the pp rate by the even strength rate Nylander is the 3rd best power play specialist in the league which isn't really a good thing.

Still trying to figure out how this isn't a good thing. As usual, you make absolutely no sense.

 

[Joey Hoser]

This is like saying that Gretzky so much better at offense than he was at defense that it's a bad thing.

Guy, you literally took his greatest asset and tried to turn THAT into a bad thing... You aren't even good at this. Call him soft and weak defensively or something. You'd still be wrong but at least it's not completely ass-backwards.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Still trying to figure out how this isn't a good thing. As usual, you make absolutely no sense.

Why is this the case? Oh no he scored on the PP

I don't know why people attack this, if he scores the Cup winner on the PP, will you feel the same?

I don't know about you, but I like to win. Let Ehlers and Pasta, score more, Willy will just hoist the Cup.

 

[Pyrophorus]

This is like saying that Gretzky so much better at offense than he was at defense that it's a bad thing.

He sucked. Scored way too much on the PP.

 

[zeke]

no, he's one of the best even strength players on the team.

 

[Sundinisagod]

The **** is with this guy and his blind hatred of Nylander? He doesn't even get that he's presenting stats that harm his own pathetic agenda.

Can't wait for his next thread, "Why Nylander belongs in the AHL".

By now I'm sure Willy has stolen a lot of dude's girlfriends. There must be a few bitter guys out there.

 

[thewave]

By now I'm sure Willy has stolen a lot of dude's girlfriends. There must be a few bitter guys out there.

This is hilarious and probably accurate which makes it even more hilarious.

 

[Duke Silver]

Among NHL forwards, he was 87th in 5v5 scoring (top 90, first line production by definition) while being 153rd in 5v5 TOI/GP and 101st in 5v5 cumulative TOI. So, as a rookie he was a 1st line forward in 5v5 situations despite not really being given the opportunity to do so.

He shot 10.7% for the season, which isn't crazy low but ties him for 178th among NHL forwards with 40 GP+, I think we would all agree that Nylander is far better than the 178th best shooter in the NHL

His 6.9 oiSH% is well below average for a player on a top line, and there's nothing that he can do to fix this but wait for the luck to change. Hyman (who shot 6.4% for the season), presumably coming off his line with the addition of Marleau (who shot 14.2% for the season) should help with that. When that normalizes, a larger percentage of the same number of pucks on net will go in and the whole line will get more points. Would think there's also a very good chance that Matthews and Nylander are better players this year, and put more pucks on net - larger percentage of larger number of pucks on net going in = big bump in points

judging Nylander by production he's good enough to be the 3rd best player on a 1st line (and probably more like a middle of the pack 1st liner with 1st line minutes) in 5v5 situations, unless he gets average luck and then he's much better. His advanced stats suggest that he is a very positive influence on an already good possession line. He's also already an elite powerplay producer

so if you need to apply labels to him today, "1st line NHL'er and elite powerplay producer with big upside" is more accurate than "powerplay specialist"

I completely believe all these numbers are correct, but where did you get them? I'm lost without Stats.HockeyAnalysis.

 

[LoovTrain]

Oh Lawds!!! What are we going to do when they stop counting powerplay goals?

 

[Duke Silver]

Nylander is fantastic.

This thread sucks.

That is all.

Worst Threads Started by 666:

01. Is Babcock The Problem?
02. Matthews Should Not Play With Nylander
03. Is Nylander A Powerplay Specialist?
04. Marner or Nylander?

His last three threads have been designed to pick apart Nylander.

 

[slimbob8]

If you base all your hockey decisions on simple point totals, then yes he's a PP specialist. But I have no idea why people continue to do this with the metrics that are made available today. If you look any deeper into advanced stats, he was the best 5v5 possession player on the Leafs last season, including Matthews. That should be all you need to know to squash that ridiculous PP specialist label he's gotten on here from other fanbases. If that's not enough, try actually watching a game and it's clear he's a 5v5 beast

 

[Mugzy97]

Nylander is fantastic.

This thread sucks.

That is all.

Hockey specialist IMO

 

[Morbo]

Maybe we can give Nylander 2 full seasons in the league before chiselling anything into stone?

 

[Randy Randerson]

I completely believe all these numbers are correct, but where did you get them? I'm lost without Stats.HockeyAnalysis.

nhl.com and hockey reference (in the player profile is the easiest place, there's additional tables down the page with an assortment of stats). Agree though, it's a shame that hockeyanalysis and corsica are gone

 

[7even]

Being placed in a position to succeed and actually doing so are two different things. I fail to see how his power play production is anything other than something to be commended for.

 

[BreakingGood]

Nah, he had a pretty low on ice shooting percentage at even strength. Dude just rules overall. Though iirc, he also had an inflated oish% on the powerplay, so like, he'll probably do a bit worse on the powerplay next year, and a good chunk better at evens.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Nah, he had a pretty low on ice shooting percentage at even strength. Dude just rules overall. Though iirc, he also had an inflated oish% on the powerplay, so like, he'll probably do a bit worse on the powerplay next year, and a good chunk better at evens.

The thing is that PP shooting percentages varies much more due to shooting talent and system, so it's much harder to find a good baseline that he'll regress towards. But yeah, maybe a bit much to expect him to continue being absolute top tier.

 

[Kamiccolo]

He has the best vision on the team. Best playmaker easily and he may give a run to Matthews this for best player on the team. Mitch is below Nylander as an all situations player. The JVR Bozak Marner line was sheltered.

Strongly disagree, and this opinion I keep seeing is going to look foolish at the end of next season. Marner is the only player with potential to be better than Matthews in the Leafs organization.

 

[Kubus]

So people are upset that Nylander was one of the best PP players in the whole league? That is their issue. WOW. Some people...

 

[zeke]

unfortunately corsica is still down so I can't split the advanced stats, but during the year Willy's on-ice sh% did correct itself from around 4-5% in the 1st half to about 9% in the 2nd half. His PP sh% cooled off as expected too.


OCT-DEC: 34gms, 10espts, 14pppts (82gms, 24espts, 34pppts)
JAN-APR: 47gms, 25espts, 12pppts (82gms, 44espts, 21pppts)

Once the obviously outlier percentages normalized, Willy produced at a more traditional ratio, and was even more productive overall.

 

[LeafGrief]

Is he totally un-****ing-real on the PP? Hell yeah. That doesn't make him a specialist, he's also going to be an elite player 5on5.

 

[Walshy7]

So people are upset that Nylander was one of the best PP players in the whole league? That is their issue. WOW. Some people...

re bolded: Person, one guy who has created multiple threads with the intention of cutting Nylander down.