Is the slapshot obsolete?

[beowulf]

I don't think so, it all depends on how much time a player has to set up to take the shot.

 

[tarheelhockey]

What is the speed difference between a slapper and a wrist shot? 20mph?

At one time it was probably around that range, but I don't think it's quite that much in game situations today. Even in the hardest-shot competitions, the league's biggest slap-shooters struggle to get the puck moving over 100mph. For example, looking at the 2011 superskills results (the first one that came up on a search), there were four guys -- Fowler, Kopitar, Sharp and Nash -- who couldn't get a slap shot over 95mph. Backes and Seguin were around the 97mph mark. And that's with the puck sitting out on a plate, with time and space to take several strides and a full wind-up and just needing to get close to the net with no goalie.

I'm guessing, without proof, that in actual game situations we rarely see slap shots over 90mph. "Rarely" meaning maybe once or twice a game, among all 40 players participating. Much more often, the shot is compromised by time, space, angle, and the need to put it on net accurately and at a deflectable speed.

In terms of wrist shots, I've seen very little in terms of actual science but I gather that good NHL shooters have wrist/snap shots around 75 mph, and those actually get used with frequency in game situations like odd-man rushes.

All told, I'm thinking we're probably looking at ~10-15mph difference between the styles of shot under normal conditions.

I think the nature of a slap shot makes it hard to read off the stick.

This is true, but the nature of a wrist shot makes it even harder to read. The goaltender and defense have an extra split-second to read the angle and direction of a slap shot due to the windup -- hence the rate at which defenders are able to dive in front of them. Wrist shots don't explode off the stick quite so much, but they are more difficult to anticipate. In terms of reaction time, the suddenness of a wrist shot reduces the amount of information available for the goalie to apply to his muscle response.

I guess it is interesting because you can see thats all the separates good goalies and great goalies and a well placed slap shot has a great chance of going in.

That's the key, though -- placement. In your example of a slap shot from the faceoff dot, against an NHL-sized goalie it's extremely difficult to hit the exact angle necessary to get past the goalie but still inside the posts from so close-in. This is roughly what they're shooting at from the faceoff dot:

So the only way to get it in the net is to tuck it up under the post, which means an elevation of close to 4 feet in only 20 feet of distance -- that's really difficult to do accurately, let alone under pressure with defenders around. In order to get a do-able angle, you'd have to back away from the net... let's just say 50 feet. A 90mph shot will travel 50 feet to the goalie in about 0.38 seconds.

However, a wrist shot CAN be reliably used to pick corners in tight. So even if we assume that the shooter has to take some heat off his shot from the faceoff dot in order to place it accurately -- let's say the shot is accurate at 60mph -- he's going to get it on net at 0.23 seconds, not to mention the difference in release time.

Basically, this goes back to the point that the only time slapshots make sense is in the case of a long-distance one-timer where the idea is to catch the goalie moving across the crease. Anything else, and the compromise of accuracy isn't worth the extra few mph.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Another way to think about how angles influence shot selection:

Pretty much any heat map like the one above will confirm that the vast majority of goals are scored below the hash marks and in front of the net.

From that angle it is:

a) extremely difficult to hit the top of the net over a butterflied goalie stance

^ An NHL goalie would close up those holes under his arms, meaning the shot has to come off the ice at close to 45 degrees to get over him, but not go over the net.


b) almost impossible to find enough time for a proper windup.


25 years ago, that heat map would have been much more evenly distributed around the rink. It was nothing out of the ordinary to see a winger score from outside the slot on a rush, by just winding up and blasting it past the goalie. Today, goal scoring is highly concentrated in front of the net. To the extent that long-distance shots are successful at all, it's almost always because they are deflected or screened.

In that sense -- yes, the slapshot as a standalone weapon has become obsolete. There are a dwindling number of defensemen who have such hard and accurate slappers that just wind up and blast one past the goalie. With current trends toward short-distance shooting, and the prevalence of screens and deflections requiring softer shots from the point, it rarely makes sense for a player to take a full-on slapshot anymore.

 

[Diagonaali]

Stupid thread. Show me an NHL game in which nobody shoots a slapshot. There are plenty of slapshots executed in every period of any NHL game and any other level of a hockey game that does allow slapshot.

The percentage of scoring a goal using slapshot to whatever shot you compare it with probably has dropped significantly from 80's because of the GOALIE PROGRESS. You need to have goalie moved / surprised in today's game to score a goal so compared to wooden stick area much more goals nowadays are scored come from situations where deflections and other surprising circumstances for a goalie are created. Quickness of the shot is essential and the new stick materials aid with that, obviously by giving more force with less effort to the puck.

Still, slapshot will always have it's place in the game of ice hockey for several different purposes and will never be OBSOLETE.

 

[Lord Moriarty007]

No. The slap shots are important for success on the power play when the a teammate is screening the goalie. Look at Suban, Chara, Weber, Keith, Ovechkin.

 

[Snakepit]

Wideman is giving credit to his scoring this year on switching to a stiffer stick

 

[grenade]

one-timer slapshots will always be deadly.

 

[Ghost Face]

To say slapshots are obsolete is hyperbolic, but I see the point you are getting at.

I'm not sure it's already been mentioned, but many are underrating the damage a slapshot does to shot blockers that you don't quite get with a wrister or snapshot. Especially in a playoff series, a bomb of a slapshot isn't ever totally useless because it either a) gets on net or b) gets blocked and hurts like a mother ****er, possibly even injuring the shot blocker. The slapshot is a great tool in the war of attrition.

 

[solidmotion]

http://www.si.com/vault/2011/11/21/106132909/goodbye-to-the-slap-shot

"When I started in the league [in 1996], you could skate down the wing and sometimes see a hole," Iginla says. "Now we go down the wing and don't see anything. Even when we do slap it, it's just hoping. If I'm skating over the blue line, I'd rather carry it into the corner and try to work something out of there. Or maybe try a wrister."

 

[FloridaCap]

Pure slapshots are definitely being phased out.

However, slapshot one timers are definitely still relevant. Ovechkin scored a ridiculous amount of them last year, and Stamkos/Weber/etc score them every year too.

 

[FloridaCap]

No. The slap shots are important for success on the power play when the a teammate is screening the goalie. Look at Suban, Chara, Weber, Keith, Ovechkin.

Can't speak for the others because I don't really watch their games, but most of Ovi's slappers aren't screened.

 

[Bob b smith]

For forwards yes. The goalies are too big and the butterfly/hybrid style is too developped to use it much. You've got to surprise goalies. A slapshot isn't great for that.

Gretzky would have to adjust his game if he played today. His patented accurate slapshot when crossing the blue line just wouldn't go in today. The standup goalies with thin pads are extinct.

PS: Not talking about one-timer slaps which are still very relevant today.

 

[Insulin]

Goalies are too big now for slap shots to be used like they used to be. Go watch some John LeClair highlights, the guy would skate into the zone and wind up at the top of the circles and score all the time. Plays like that are just much harder to do now because of the goalies.

 

[Bob b smith]

I think there's a question of generations here. For people that were fans in the 70s and 80s a slap shot for a forward meant he would skate up the ice to score on an unscreened slap. In fact, players avoided a screen. Gretzky would make sure to get beyond the Ds stick to avoid his shot being tipped. Lots of those went in before 1990. They go in a minute fraction of the time today.

 

[Past Considerations]

I can't think of a more boring type of goal than some random wrister than ends up being deflected. I don't even really like more proper deflections on powerplay. I know it requires a certain kind of skill too but really, luck plays too great role in it..

 

[HanSolo]

Ask Vatanen

 

[Tarasenko]

i love a winger streaking down the side and letting a slapper go.

What is the speed difference between a slapper and a wrist shot? 20mph?

I think the nature of a slap shot makes it hard to read off the stick.

I would guess if the goalie was at the top of the crease and the shooter fires a slap shot from face off dot, thats about a 20ft.

a 100mph slap shot, which an average shooter should have, travels about 150 ft/sec. At 20 ft, its about .13 seconds to move a blocker or glove probably from your waist to your ear.

according to http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/statistics

I would people in the 90 percentile have a reaction time at about .14 seconds. Which is the time to see something, think about it, and react. An 80 MPH shot would hit the goalie from the dot in about .17-.18 seconds.

I guess it is interesting because you can see thats all the separates good goalies and great goalies and a well placed slap shot has a great chance of going in.

Interesting post, it was a great read

 

[BlakKy]

and I wish I could find the video of Datsyuk's slapper with 30 seconds to go in game seven against the sharks a few years back. It would was destined to kill Niemi...

 

[Mattb124]

Brent Burns still uses the slapper pretty effectively.