NHL analytics/drafting Right shot D and forwards who are southpaws

[SAM STEVENS]

A hockey friend and I were talking about a couple players and the topic of teams drafting based off need came up, Anyways he said to me one of the kids in our conversation is a right shot but a southpaw, I said so? He then explained its rare because of the control hand is at the top, I never thought of that before.

So I did some searching and found a interesting topic about the percentage of left shots to right shots in the NHL, it said in 2016 there was 186 left-handed shooting defensemen and 120 righties, a 1.55-to-1 ratio.

Now its said 90% of the population is right hand dominant so I am curious how rare are southpaws that shoot right compared to right shots who are right handed? So being a southpaw would mean your control hand is at the top giving you the advantage over a right handed person were your control hand is on the bottom. Like my friend explained.

With analytics being a huge thing now and teams always looking for the edge to get ahead, do you think this is something NHL teams look at? I would also be curious on these stats for forwards also especially since right shot D and right shot centers are at a premium with less being available.

Do you guys know if this data is available or is it not something taken into consideration?

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[Brownies]

There was a thread on that a few months ago, if anyone has the link. It was more about the number of righty sharpshooter and the same topic was discussed. I am a right handed righty myself, so the topic has alway interested me... I don’t think it matters one bit for teams though. A player is who he is.