Shot locations and the Pens' system

[Freeptop]

So there's a new hockey analysis site called war-on-ice, and they've got an interesting feature that tracks shot rates from different locations on the ice:
http://war-on-ice.com/hexteams.html
(You'll have to drag down the menu to bring up the Pens' data, there doesn't seem to be a direct link for that).

Interesting thing to note (just looking at last season's data):
The Penguins shot slightly below league average from the prime scoring areas (the slot out to the center point). They were far above the league average on sharp angle shots from the right wing. That's actually kind of nuts, and says bad things about their offensive systems. Man, I know I used to be a Bylsma supporter, but data like this certainly helps change my mind.

On the flip-side, however, their shots against show that they did mostly keep the shots away from the net (albeit allowing a fair amount from the center point). That said, they allowed an average shot rate from right in the crease, which would seem to be an area they should be working to reduce shots...

In the playoffs, it was really bad - they allowed a higher shot rate from the entire slot area, which speaks to poor defensive coverage.

It will be really interesting to see how these charts change under Johnston.

Click to read more...

 

[Shady Machine]

Interesting data, but certainly not surprising on the shots from terrible angles.

 

[mikethelegacy]

Great post, and great data. Coaches need to look at these analytics and adjust their systems to create opportunities in the high scoring areas.

 

[billybudd]

So there's a new hockey analysis site called war-on-ice, and they've got an interesting feature that tracks shot rates from different locations on the ice:
http://war-on-ice.com/hexteams.html
(You'll have to drag down the menu to bring up the Pens' data, there doesn't seem to be a direct link for that).

Interesting thing to note (just looking at last season's data):
The Penguins shot slightly below league average from the prime scoring areas (the slot out to the center point). They were far above the league average on sharp angle shots from the right wing. That's actually kind of nuts, and says bad things about their offensive systems. Man, I know I used to be a Bylsma supporter, but data like this certainly helps change my mind.

On the flip-side, however, their shots against show that they did mostly keep the shots away from the net (albeit allowing a fair amount from the center point). That said, they allowed an average shot rate from right in the crease, which would seem to be an area they should be working to reduce shots...

In the playoffs, it was really bad - they allowed a higher shot rate from the entire slot area, which speaks to poor defensive coverage.

It will be really interesting to see how these charts change under Johnston.

This isn't to be construed as a defense of DB, but so-called "bad angle" shots aren't as terrible of an idea as they might seem.

Justin Bourne of the Score (and, formerly, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers) had a long article about why that can work despite being counter-intuitive, but I can't find it.

The long and short of it is that taking shots from there forces D into a difficult choice and they generally will elect not to block them. Sometimes tenders will cheat off the post out of fear that a centering pass, instead of a shot, is coming. 66 probably scored 200 goals like this in his career.

That said, it's obviously preferable to be shooting from the slot or the paint.

Edit: what's more alarming is the cliff face drop between slot/crease shots vs league average in the last two seasons vs the three prior. Egad.

 

[Fordy]

this is really illuminating. glad it was posted

 

[Freeptop]

This isn't to be construed as a defense of DB, but so-called "bad angle" shots aren't as terrible of an idea as they might seem.

Justin Bourne of the Score (and, formerly, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers) had a long article about why that can work despite being counter-intuitive, but I can't find it.

The long and short of it is that taking shots from there forces D into a difficult choice and they generally will elect not to block them. Sometimes tenders will cheat off the post out of fear that a centering pass, instead of a shot, is coming. 66 probably scored 200 goals like this in his career.

That said, it's obviously preferable to be shooting from the slot or the paint.

Edit: what's more alarming is the cliff face drop between slot/crease shots vs league average in the last two seasons vs the three prior. Egad.

Chalk that up to poor sentence construction. I was more concerned about being below average in shot rates for the prime scoring areas. That's what I think is nuts!