Special teams roles - playoff data (1960-2017)

[Hockey Outsider]

I'm posting this as a follow-up to @overpass's outstanding work on special teams roles in the regular season.

Those familiar with overpass's thread will see that, in general, I'm posting less data than he did - a lot of the information that he included would need to be cobbled together from two or three sources. I may get around to doing that at some point - but I figured that some information is better than none.

Note that in all tables I'm using 50 games as a minimum sample size. Please keep in mind that this a really small amount of data, so odd or "flukey" results are going to be common.

An important note on consistency - unlike overpass who, I believe, takes injuries into account when calculating player utilization, I haven't.

Through the end of the 2017 playoffs, there 342 defensemen who reached the 50 game barrier, and 658 forwards.

Click to read more...

 

[Hockey Outsider]

1. Defensemen - powerplay usage - top 50

Player	GP	PP%
Bobby Orr	74	95.4%
Brian Leetch	95	90.7%
Denis Potvin	185	87.2%
Pat Stapleton	65	83.0%
Al MacInnis	177	78.9%
Paul Reinhart	83	78.3%
Drew Doughty	81	78.0%
Sergei Zubov	164	77.5%
Ian Turnbull	55	77.1%
Phil Housley	85	76.7%
Brad Park	161	76.5%
Sandis Ozolinsh	137	76.4%
Ray Bourque	214	75.9%
Mike Green	76	74.4%
P.K. Subban	77	73.9%
Sergei Gonchar	141	73.1%
Ryan Suter	78	73.0%
Dan Boyle	130	72.4%
Doug Wilson	95	71.7%
Dennis Wideman	55	70.6%
Paul Coffey	194	70.3%
Nicklas Lidstrom	263	69.7%
Bryan McCabe	56	68.8%
Borje Salming	81	67.9%
Chris Pronger	173	67.9%
Keith Yandle	51	67.6%
Kevin Shattenkirk	60	67.6%
Craig Hartsburg	61	67.5%
Joe Corvo	50	66.7%
Alexei Zhitnik	98	65.9%
Brian Rafalski	165	65.7%
Pierre Pilote	80	64.8%
Red Kelly	70	64.6%
Doug Crossman	97	64.5%
Steve Duchesne	121	64.0%
Tom Kurvers	57	63.0%
Jeff Brown	87	62.3%
Brent Burns	64	62.2%
Duncan Keith	126	61.9%
Reijo Ruotsalainen	86	60.5%
Larry Murphy	215	59.5%
J.C. Tremblay	108	59.3%
Bruce Driver	108	58.6%
Cam Fowler	62	58.0%
Brad Maxwell	79	56.9%
Kris Letang	116	56.7%
Bob Dailey	63	56.6%
Kimmo Timonen	105	56.5%
Guy Lapointe	123	56.4%
Kevin Hatcher	118	55.9%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Bobby Orr played 74 playoff games. The Bruins scored 62 PP goals while he was on the ice, and just 3 when he wasn't.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

2. Defensemen - powerplay usage - bottom 50

Player	GP	PP%
Bob Boughner	65	0.0%
Don Jackson	53	0.0%
Jay McKee	60	0.0%
Danny Markov	81	0.0%
Garth Butcher	50	0.0%
Adam McQuaid	56	0.0%
Cory Sarich	57	0.0%
Niclas Wallin	93	0.0%
Dallas Smith	86	0.0%
Matt Greene	79	0.0%
Kevin Klein	73	0.0%
Murray Baron	73	0.0%
Gary Doak	78	0.0%
Neil Sheehy	54	0.0%
Josh Gorges	68	0.0%
Aaron Ward	95	0.0%
Jason Smith	68	0.0%
Tim Watters	82	0.0%
Allen Pedersen	64	0.0%
Craig Ludwig	177	0.0%
Niklas Hjalmarsson	128	0.0%
Hal Gill	111	0.0%
Greg De Vries	111	0.0%
Larry Melnyk	66	0.0%
Brooks Orpik	125	0.0%
Andreas Lilja	66	0.0%
Roman Polak	51	0.0%
Dave Langevin	86	0.8%
Craig Muni	113	0.8%
Mike Lalor	92	1.0%
Brad Marsh	97	1.1%
Rob Scuderi	122	1.1%
Grant Jennings	54	1.1%
Colin White	114	1.2%
Pierre Bouchard	76	1.2%
Chris Therien	104	1.3%
Al Arbour	68	1.4%
Bill Hajt	80	1.5%
Dave Lewis	91	1.6%
Dana Murzyn	82	1.7%
Gord Lane	75	1.7%
Bob Baun	84	1.7%
Toni Lydman	55	1.8%
Curtis Leschyshyn	68	1.8%
Gerry Hart	78	1.8%
Justin Braun	54	1.9%
Marc Bergevin	80	1.9%
Gilbert Delorme	56	2.0%
Harold Snepsts	93	2.0%
Mike Commodore	53	2.0%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Craig Ludwig retired 21st all time in playoff games played. He had never set foot on the ice for a single powerplay goal his team scored.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

3. Defensemen - penalty kill usage - top 50

Player	GP	PK%
Alex Pietrangelo	57	67.7%
Scott Stevens	233	65.4%
Reg Fleming	50	63.6%
Roman Josi	52	63.0%
Serge Savard	130	62.0%
Jim Schoenfeld	75	61.8%
Jacques Laperriere	88	61.8%
Adam Foote	170	61.1%
Francois Beauchemin	97	61.0%
Bob Plager	74	60.7%
Bill White	91	60.0%
Barry Beck	51	59.2%
Ian Turnbull	55	58.5%
Bobby Orr	74	58.3%
Hal Gill	111	58.0%
Ray Bourque	214	57.9%
J.C. Tremblay	108	57.7%
Brian Leetch	95	57.4%
Borje Salming	81	57.0%
Guy Lapointe	123	57.0%
Bill Hajt	80	56.5%
Zdeno Chara	147	56.0%
Craig Ludwig	177	55.0%
Jimmy Roberts	153	55.0%
Marcel Pronovost	63	53.7%
Brad Marsh	97	53.6%
Tim Horton	106	53.3%
Tom Poti	51	53.2%
Pat Stapleton	65	53.1%
Dallas Smith	86	52.9%
Brent Seabrook	123	52.1%
Chris Chelios	266	51.8%
Nicklas Lidstrom	263	51.6%
Phil Russell	73	51.6%
Denis Potvin	185	51.1%
Chris Pronger	173	51.0%
John Carlson	76	50.0%
Derian Hatcher	133	50.0%
Mark Howe	101	49.5%
Marc-Edouard Vlasic	114	49.4%
Duncan Keith	126	49.3%
Marc Staal	104	49.3%
Willie Mitchell	89	49.2%
Ed Van Impe	66	49.1%
Chris Phillips	114	48.7%
Ken Morrow	127	48.6%
Brad Park	161	48.6%
Rob Scuderi	122	48.6%
Vladimir Malakhov	75	48.3%
Allan Stanley	73	48.1%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

A good mix of elite all-around blueliners, and defensive specialists.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

4. Defensemen - penalty kill usage - bottom 50

Player	GP	PK%
Keith Yandle	51	0.0%
Gaston Gingras	52	0.0%
Nick Leddy	72	0.0%
Jason Woolley	79	1.3%
Reijo Ruotsalainen	86	2.9%
Pierre Bouchard	76	3.3%
Jim Wiemer	62	4.0%
Red Kelly	70	4.1%
Phil Housley	85	4.2%
Brett Lebda	62	4.6%
Mike McEwen	78	4.7%
Alec Martinez	60	5.4%
Fredrik Olausson	71	5.6%
Marc-Andre Bergeron	57	5.8%
Rick Chartraw	75	8.3%
Francis Bouillon	55	8.5%
Dmitri Mironov	75	9.2%
Noel Picard	51	9.3%
Sandis Ozolinsh	137	9.3%
Viacheslav Fetisov	116	9.6%
Petr Svoboda	127	10.3%
Joe Corvo	50	10.3%
Norm MacIver	56	10.4%
Andrej Meszaros	50	10.5%
Tom Kurvers	57	10.6%
Ken Klee	51	10.9%
Todd Gill	103	12.9%
Larry Melnyk	66	13.0%
Gord Lane	75	13.8%
Niclas Wallin	93	13.9%
Brian Campbell	107	14.1%
Jay Wells	114	14.2%
Gord Murphy	53	14.3%
Grant Jennings	54	14.3%
Tommy Albelin	81	14.7%
Philippe Boucher	65	14.7%
Matt Niskanen	94	15.0%
Adam McQuaid	56	15.2%
Matt Carle	127	15.5%
Jon Klemm	105	15.9%
Jeff Brown	87	16.5%
Ron Greschner	84	16.7%
Brian Rafalski	165	16.8%
Jean-Jacques Daigneault	99	16.8%
Igor Kravchuk	51	17.0%
Pavel Kubina	51	17.0%
Ben Lovejoy	58	17.0%
Gary Suter	108	17.0%
Brian Glynn	57	17.3%
Jeff Norton	65	17.8%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Just as he did in the regular season, Phil Housley looks atrocious according to this metric.

Note - I just realized Red Kelly is classified here as a defensemen. From 1960 onwards he would have played most (if not all) of his time as a forward. I'll investigate some of these positional anomalies in more detail in the future.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

5. Defensemen - even strength usage - top 50

Player	GP	ES%
Pat Stapleton	65	56.8%
Bobby Orr	74	54.1%
Bill White	91	52.6%
Brian Leetch	95	52.5%
Brad Park	161	52.1%
Dallas Smith	86	50.1%
Ian Turnbull	55	49.9%
Barry Beck	51	49.2%
Tim Horton	106	49.0%
Roman Josi	52	48.7%
Pierre Pilote	80	47.6%
J.C. Tremblay	108	46.4%
Scott Stevens	233	45.7%
Borje Salming	81	45.2%
Marcel Pronovost	63	44.9%
Dale Rolfe	71	44.8%
Serge Savard	130	44.7%
Jim Schoenfeld	75	44.2%
Allan Stanley	73	43.7%
Ray Bourque	214	43.6%
Mattias Ohlund	70	42.8%
Larry Murphy	215	42.7%
Larry Robinson	227	42.6%
Ted Harris	100	42.1%
Denis Potvin	185	42.1%
Duncan Keith	126	42.0%
Chris Pronger	173	41.9%
Bert Marshall	72	41.6%
Francois Beauchemin	97	41.6%
Drew Doughty	81	41.6%
Zdeno Chara	147	41.6%
Moose Vasko	72	41.6%
Sandis Ozolinsh	137	41.5%
Nicklas Lidstrom	263	41.3%
Don Awrey	71	41.2%
Scott Niedermayer	202	41.1%
Mike O'Connell	82	41.1%
Dennis Wideman	55	41.0%
Phil Russell	73	40.8%
Paul Reinhart	83	40.7%
Jacques Laperriere	88	40.6%
Victor Hedman	65	40.6%
Adam Foote	170	40.4%
Alex Pietrangelo	57	40.1%
Dan Girardi	122	39.8%
Randy Carlyle	69	39.6%
Gerry Hart	78	39.4%
Bryan McCabe	56	39.3%
Kevin Hatcher	118	39.3%
Dave Babych	114	39.1%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

I'm not going to post the list of the defensemen with the lowest ES usage as I don't think it's particularly interesting. (The bottom ten consists of Grant Jennings, Don Jackson, Jim Wiemer, Sean Hill, Pierre Bouchard, Ken Klee, Gary Doak, Reg Fleming, Allen Pedersen and Adam McQuaid).

 

[Hockey Outsider]

6. Defensemen - even strength "R-ON/R-OFF" ratio - top 50

Player	GP	R-ON	R-OFF	Difference
Bob Boughner	65	2.67	0.84	1.82
Don Jackson	53	2.56	1.62	0.94
Carl Brewer	60	1.64	0.86	0.78
Jay McKee	60	1.80	1.04	0.76
Jimmy Watson	101	1.86	1.12	0.73
Danny Markov	81	1.66	0.96	0.70
Jim Johnson	51	1.48	0.79	0.69
Aaron Miller	80	1.63	0.95	0.67
Mark Howe	101	1.54	0.87	0.67
Bobby Orr	74	1.83	1.18	0.65
Janne Laukkanen	59	1.36	0.73	0.64
Garth Butcher	50	1.38	0.78	0.61
Tom Poti	51	1.27	0.72	0.55
Adam McQuaid	56	1.81	1.27	0.54
Pierre Bouchard	76	1.96	1.42	0.54
Ruslan Salei	62	1.43	0.91	0.52
Norm MacIver	56	1.28	0.79	0.48
Brad McCrimmon	116	1.47	1.00	0.47
Scott Hannan	100	1.26	0.80	0.47
Chris Pronger	173	1.33	0.88	0.45
J.C. Tremblay	108	1.45	0.99	0.45
Hampus Lindholm	51	1.44	0.99	0.45
Larry Robinson	227	1.51	1.07	0.44
Rhett Warrener	101	1.43	0.99	0.44
Randy Gregg	137	1.99	1.56	0.43
Jon Klemm	105	1.61	1.19	0.41
Cory Sarich	57	1.26	0.86	0.41
Kevin Bieksa	85	1.25	0.86	0.39
Charlie Huddy	183	1.74	1.36	0.38
Bryan McCabe	56	1.18	0.80	0.38
Brett Lebda	62	1.88	1.51	0.37
Peter Taglianetti	53	1.29	0.92	0.37
Paul Cavallini	69	1.12	0.75	0.37
Sean O'Donnell	106	1.33	0.96	0.37
Pierre Pilote	80	1.10	0.73	0.37
Kjell Samuelsson	123	1.37	1.01	0.36
Keith Yandle	51	1.06	0.71	0.35
Alexei Gusarov	68	1.48	1.13	0.35
Marcel Pronovost	63	0.98	0.65	0.33
Tomas Jonsson	80	1.49	1.16	0.33
Duncan Keith	126	1.30	0.96	0.33
Bob Dailey	63	1.31	0.99	0.32
Brad Lukowich	71	1.36	1.04	0.32
Steve Konroyd	97	1.11	0.80	0.31
Marc-Edouard Vlasic	114	1.19	0.88	0.31
Niclas Wallin	93	1.13	0.82	0.31
Randy Moller	78	1.13	0.82	0.31
Moose Vasko	72	1.21	0.91	0.30
Bob Baun	84	1.18	0.88	0.30
Carol Vadnais	106	1.46	1.16	0.30

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

This metric looks at the ratio of even strength goals for to goals against while each player is on the ice, compared to the ratio when they're off the ice.

I guess this settles it - Bob Boughner must be the greatest even-strength performer in playoff history! (Hopefully the sarcasm is obvious enough). I triple-checked his numbers and they appear to be accurate. He was on the ice for 40 goals for (all ES), and 25 goals against (15 of them were at even strength), for an R-ON ratio of 2.67. His teams in total scored 116 ES goals for, and allowed 105 ES goals against. Backing out his 40 & 15, his teams scored 76 ES goals, and allowed 90 ES goals, when he wasn't on the ice - for a ratio of 0.84. Thus his differential is 1.83 (off by 0.01 in the table above due to rounding).

Nicklas Lidstrom performs surprisingly poorly based on this metric. He only boosted his team's ratio by 0.05 (1.35 R-ON, 1.31 R-OFF). But we'd also need to take matchups into account - he was taking the majority of his team's toughest defensive assignments, which both lowers his R-ON ratio, and raises his team's R-OFF ratio. Still, contemporaries like Pronger and Bourque, in similar situations, fared much better.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

7. Defensemen - even strength "R-ON/R-OFF" ratio - bottom 50

Player	GP	R-ON	R-OFF	Difference
Gerald Diduck	114	0.74	1.25	- 0.50
Paul Coffey	194	1.29	1.64	- 0.36
Marc Staal	104	0.83	1.12	- 0.29
Stefan Persson	102	1.27	1.52	- 0.25
Rick Green	100	0.94	1.15	- 0.22
Sami Salo	102	0.69	0.90	- 0.21
Wade Redden	106	0.83	1.04	- 0.20
Matt Carle	127	0.87	1.07	- 0.20
Viacheslav Fetisov	116	1.04	1.24	- 0.20
Ted Harris	100	1.21	1.40	- 0.19
Marty McSorley	115	0.97	1.15	- 0.19
Scott Niedermayer	202	1.14	1.32	- 0.18
Dave Babych	114	0.83	0.99	- 0.16
Dave Ellett	116	0.73	0.89	- 0.16
Bob Murray	122	0.76	0.92	- 0.16
Lee Fogolin Jr.	108	1.33	1.48	- 0.15
Don Sweeney	108	0.71	0.85	- 0.14
Adam Foote	170	1.07	1.20	- 0.13
Andrew Ference	120	1.16	1.29	- 0.13
Mathieu Schneider	114	0.89	1.01	- 0.12
Sandis Ozolinsh	137	0.92	1.04	- 0.12
Braydon Coburn	115	0.91	1.02	- 0.11
Brooks Orpik	125	0.96	1.07	- 0.11
Gary Suter	108	0.96	1.07	- 0.11
Jimmy Roberts	153	1.19	1.30	- 0.10
Jay Wells	114	0.78	0.88	- 0.10
Colin White	114	1.12	1.22	- 0.10
Chris Therien	104	1.00	1.08	- 0.08
Derian Hatcher	133	0.98	1.06	- 0.08
Brad Stuart	142	1.15	1.23	- 0.07
Darryl Sydor	155	1.08	1.15	- 0.07
Guy Lapointe	123	1.32	1.39	- 0.07
Richard Matvichuk	123	1.04	1.11	- 0.07
Sylvain Cote	102	0.89	0.95	- 0.07
Brian Rafalski	165	1.47	1.52	- 0.05
Craig Muni	113	1.20	1.24	- 0.05
Brian Campbell	107	1.05	1.10	- 0.05
Dan Girardi	122	0.99	1.03	- 0.04
Kevin Lowe	214	1.34	1.38	- 0.04
Kris Letang	116	1.11	1.14	- 0.04
James Patrick	117	0.89	0.93	- 0.04
Steve Duchesne	121	0.86	0.89	- 0.03
Roman Hamrlik	113	0.71	0.74	- 0.03
Serge Savard	130	1.35	1.38	- 0.03
Curt Giles	103	0.81	0.82	- 0.01
Tim Horton	106	0.89	0.91	- 0.01
Brent Seabrook	123	1.09	1.10	- 0.01
Ken Morrow	127	1.36	1.36	0.00
Bob Rouse	136	1.18	1.17	0.01
Dan Boyle	130	0.90	0.88	0.01

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Let's state the obvious - Coffey looks awful according to this metric. His even-strength numbers are all over the place, but were negative (relative to his team) more often than not. But keep in mind this metric would entirely ignore his significant contributions on the powerplay.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

8. Forwards - powerplay usage - top 50

Player	GP	PP%
Bobby Hull	113	90.0%
Mario Lemieux	107	87.5%
Alex Ovechkin	97	86.9%
Gordie Howe	68	84.2%
Evgeni Malkin	149	84.0%
Rene Robert	50	83.9%
Wayne Gretzky	208	82.8%
Gilbert Perreault	90	81.9%
Phil Esposito	130	80.7%
Alex Delvecchio	65	80.7%
Bernie Federko	91	79.5%
Alexander Semin	51	78.1%
Sidney Crosby	148	77.6%
Phil Kessel	71	77.1%
Kevin Stevens	103	76.7%
Alexander Steen	61	76.7%
Daniel Alfredsson	124	76.5%
Bill Barber	129	75.5%
Joe Sakic	172	75.3%
Pavel Bure	64	72.2%
Mike Bossy	129	70.8%
Nicklas Backstrom	96	70.5%
Cam Neely	93	70.4%
Patrick Kane	127	70.2%
Rod Gilbert	79	70.0%
Patrik Elias	162	69.6%
Mats Naslund	102	69.5%
Jean Beliveau	107	68.8%
Joe Thornton	160	68.3%
Bobby Rousseau	128	67.9%
Ron Francis	171	67.8%
Stan Mikita	155	67.5%
Adam Oates	163	67.4%
Jarome Iginla	81	66.7%
Johnny Bucyk	90	66.7%
Ryan Smyth	93	66.7%
Ryan Getzlaf	121	66.3%
Martin St. Louis	107	66.2%
Doug Gilmour	182	66.1%
Jonathan Toews	128	65.5%
Guy Lafleur	128	65.5%
Vincent Lecavalier	75	65.0%
Rick MacLeish	114	64.8%
Vincent Damphousse	140	64.6%
Eric Staal	53	64.3%
Norm Ullman	87	64.2%
Mark Recchi	189	63.9%
Sergei Fedorov	183	63.5%
Mikko Koivu	50	62.5%
Keith Tkachuk	89	62.3%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Keep in mind my tables don't back out time lost due to injuries. Lemieux surely would have been first had I taken that into account.

Also keep in mind that these are career averages. From 1975 to 1979, Lafleur's PP usage was 82.5%. The rest of the way it was just 42.6%. Thus it can be misleading to only look at a career average when a player has a sharp, defined peak (or they significantly changed roles).

 

[Hockey Outsider]

9. Forwards - powerplay usage - bottom 50

Player	GP	PP%
Alain Cote	67	0.0%
Andrew Cogliano	60	0.0%
Andrew Desjardins	53	0.0%
Bill Berg	61	0.0%
Bill Clement	50	0.0%
Billy Carroll	71	0.0%
Boyd Gordon	52	0.0%
Brandon Prust	53	0.0%
Chris Dingman	52	0.0%
Craig Adams	106	0.0%
Craig Berube	89	0.0%
Dan Hinote	72	0.0%
Dave Brown	80	0.0%
Dave Tippett	62	0.0%
Derrick Smith	82	0.0%
Drew Miller	60	0.0%
Eric Fehr	60	0.0%
Eric Messier	72	0.0%
Erik Rasmussen	52	0.0%
Garry Valk	61	0.0%
Glen Sather	72	0.0%
Jamal Mayers	63	0.0%
Jan Erixon	58	0.0%
Jim McKenzie	51	0.0%
Jocelyn Lemieux	60	0.0%
Kelly Buchberger	97	0.0%
Ken Baumgartner	51	0.0%
Kevin McClelland	98	0.0%
Kris Draper	222	0.0%
Kris King	67	0.0%
Kyle Brodziak	57	0.0%
Kyle Clifford	51	0.0%
Marc Bureau	50	0.0%
Marcus Kruger	87	0.0%
Maxim Lapierre	80	0.0%
Mike Peluso	62	0.0%
Mike Rupp	67	0.0%
Nick Spaling	57	0.0%
P.J. Axelsson	54	0.0%
Rich Sutter	78	0.0%
Rick Meagher	62	0.0%
Shaun Van Allen	61	0.0%
Shawn Thornton	105	0.0%
Shjon Podein	127	0.0%
Tanner Glass	67	0.0%
Tom Chorske	50	0.0%
Tom Fitzgerald	78	0.0%
Troy Loney	67	0.0%
Viktor Stalberg	60	0.0%
Joey Kocur	118	0.7%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Which forwards don't play on the powerplay during the playoffs? A mix of defensive specialists and pure goons. There were 49 forwards (minimum 50 games) who never played on the powerplay - Kris Draper is by far the leader in games played.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

10. Forwards - penalty kill usage - top 50

Player	GP	PK%
Ed Westfall	95	70.8%
Gregg Sheppard	82	68.1%
Jordan Staal	73	66.7%
Don Luce	71	66.0%
Samuel Pahlsson	86	60.3%
Rick Paterson	61	59.2%
Craig Ramsay	89	59.1%
Lorne Henning	81	58.5%
Guy Carbonneau	231	56.9%
Gregory Campbell	59	55.6%
Derek Sanderson	56	55.3%
Marc Bureau	50	51.0%
John Madden	141	50.6%
Daniel Winnik	58	48.8%
Craig Conroy	81	48.5%
Steve Kasper	94	48.0%
Ryan Kesler	97	47.7%
Blair Betts	62	47.2%
Doug Jarvis	105	47.1%
Butch Goring	134	46.8%
Peter Mahovlich	88	46.6%
Todd Marchant	95	46.5%
Bob Nevin	84	46.4%
Brooks Laich	65	46.3%
Claude Provost	85	46.2%
Mark Messier	236	45.8%
Trevor Linden	124	44.9%
P.J. Axelsson	54	44.8%
Bob Gainey	182	44.3%
Jan Erixon	58	44.2%
Bob Pulford	77	43.9%
Kelly Miller	119	42.4%
Kevyn Adams	67	41.8%
Rick Meagher	62	41.7%
Dave Tippett	62	41.2%
George Ferguson	86	41.1%
Marcus Kruger	87	40.9%
Stew Gavin	66	40.8%
Jay Pandolfo	131	40.5%
Brian Boyle	106	40.3%
Eric Nesterenko	109	40.2%
Brian Holzinger	52	40.0%
Don Marcotte	132	39.8%
Neal Broten	135	39.8%
Mario Lemieux	107	39.6%
Boyd Gordon	52	39.5%
Joel Otto	122	39.4%
Bill Clement	50	39.3%
Alexandre Burrows	85	39.2%
Sergei Fedorov	183	39.2%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Generally what one would expect, with a few surprises.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

11. Forwards - penalty kill usage - bottom 87

Player	GP	PK%
Phil Kessel	71	0.0%
Patrick Kane	127	0.0%
Jean Beliveau	107	0.0%
Johnny Bucyk	90	0.0%
Rick Vaive	54	0.0%
Richard Martin	63	0.0%
Mike Ribeiro	67	0.0%
Anton Stastny	66	0.0%
Derick Brassard	78	0.0%
Andrew Shaw	72	0.0%
Donald Audette	73	0.0%
Jude Drouin	72	0.0%
Frank St. Marseille	88	0.0%
Ab McDonald	71	0.0%
Martin Havlat	75	0.0%
Ray Sheppard	81	0.0%
Wendel Clark	95	0.0%
John LeClair	154	0.0%
Chris Kreider	77	0.0%
Jiri Hudler	83	0.0%
Patric Hornqvist	72	0.0%
Steve Payne	71	0.0%
Devin Setoguchi	53	0.0%
Pierre Larouche	64	0.0%
James Neal	80	0.0%
Michael Ryder	75	0.0%
Steve Shutt	99	0.0%
Bob Probert	81	0.0%
Todd Elik	52	0.0%
Jonas Hoglund	59	0.0%
Willi Plett	83	0.0%
Vinny Prospal	65	0.0%
Gerard Gallant	58	0.0%
Sergei Samsonov	76	0.0%
Phil Goyette	64	0.0%
Parker MacDonald	64	0.0%
Eddie Joyal	50	0.0%
Milan Lucic	114	0.0%
Ryane Clowe	70	0.0%
Rob Brown	54	0.0%
J-P Dumont	51	0.0%
Jimmy Carson	55	0.0%
Dustin Penner	78	0.0%
Keith Crowder	85	0.0%
David Desharnais	51	0.0%
Gary Sabourin	62	0.0%
John Cullen	53	0.0%
John Ferguson	85	0.0%
Henri Richard	140	0.0%
Pat Falloon	66	0.0%
Curt Fraser	65	0.0%
Marc Tardif	62	0.0%
Bryan Bickell	75	0.0%
Grant Marshall	90	0.0%
Mario Tremblay	101	0.0%
Raffi Torres	68	0.0%
Bobby Nystrom	157	0.0%
Matthew Barnaby	62	0.0%
Chris Neil	95	0.0%
Chris Nilan	111	0.0%
Murray Wilson	53	0.0%
Todd Harvey	68	0.0%
Dave Schultz	73	0.0%
Bob Kelly	124	0.0%
Basil McRae	78	0.0%
Rene Corbet	53	0.0%
Eddie Shack	74	0.0%
Garry Howatt	87	0.0%
Shane Churla	78	0.0%
Tyler Kennedy	79	0.0%
Donald Brashear	60	0.0%
Turner Stevenson	67	0.0%
Georges Laraque	57	0.0%
Wayne Merrick	102	0.0%
Arron Asham	72	0.0%
Dave Semenko	73	0.0%
Rob Ray	55	0.0%
Brad May	88	0.0%
Joey Kocur	118	0.0%
Chris Dingman	52	0.0%
Craig Berube	89	0.0%
Dave Brown	80	0.0%
Jim McKenzie	51	0.0%
Kris King	67	0.0%
Kyle Clifford	51	0.0%
Mike Rupp	67	0.0%
Shawn Thornton	105	0.0%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Why 87? Because there have been 87 forwards who have played 50+ playoff games without ever being on the ice for a PP goal against.

Some of the actual/potential/borderline HOFers include Beliveau, H. Richard, Bucyk, R. Martin, LeClair, Kane and Kessel.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

12. Forwards - even strength usage - top 50

Player	GP	ES%
Wayne Gretzky	208	47.4%
Pavel Bure	64	42.5%
Joe Sakic	172	41.3%
Mario Lemieux	107	40.8%
Zach Parise	94	40.6%
Doug Gilmour	182	40.3%
Adam Oates	163	40.1%
Nicklas Backstrom	96	39.5%
Bernie Federko	91	39.1%
Bobby Hull	113	39.1%
Eric Staal	53	38.7%
Ryan Getzlaf	121	38.5%
Mark Messier	236	38.4%
Paul Stastny	55	37.9%
Kevin Stevens	103	37.9%
Gilbert Perreault	90	37.9%
Alex Ovechkin	97	37.8%
Jarome Iginla	81	37.6%
Frank Mahovlich	125	37.5%
Norm Ullman	87	37.5%
Sidney Crosby	148	37.3%
Gordie Howe	68	36.9%
Joe Thornton	160	36.8%
Cam Neely	93	36.7%
Corey Perry	114	36.3%
Peter Stastny	93	36.3%
Phil Esposito	130	36.1%
Henrik Sedin	105	35.8%
Jari Kurri	200	35.8%
Peter Forsberg	151	35.7%
Stan Mikita	155	35.6%
Keith Tkachuk	89	35.5%
Gregg Sheppard	82	35.5%
Thomas Steen	56	35.5%
Bernie Nicholls	118	35.5%
Patrick Kane	127	35.3%
Brian Bellows	143	35.3%
Tom Lysiak	76	34.9%
Daniel Sedin	102	34.9%
Henrik Zetterberg	137	34.9%
Ryan Kesler	97	34.8%
T.J. Oshie	55	34.8%
Ryan Smyth	93	34.6%
Jude Drouin	72	34.6%
Jaromir Jagr	208	34.6%
Martin St. Louis	107	34.5%
Rene Robert	50	34.4%
Craig Janney	120	34.4%
Alex Kovalev	123	34.4%
Mike Ridley	104	34.3%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Another even-strength statistic that Gretzky dominates - yawn.

Again I'm not going to post the full bottom fifty - but the ones in the bottom ten are Jim McKenzie, Craig Berube, Ken Baumgartner, Tanner Glass, Dave Brown, Craig Adams, Rob Ray, Mike Rupp, Shawn Thornton, Billy Carroll. (Rupp did well getting a Cup winning goal with so little ice time).

 

[Hockey Outsider]

13. Forwards - even strength "R-ON/R-OFF" ratio - top 50

Player	GP	R-ON	R-OFF	Difference
Billy Carroll	71	2.82	1.71	1.11
Dixon Ward	62	2.06	0.96	1.10
John McKenzie	67	2.24	1.30	0.94
Phil Kessel	71	1.88	0.97	0.90
Benoit Brunet	54	1.89	1.04	0.85
Mike Foligno	57	1.50	0.68	0.82
Milan Michalek	63	1.57	0.77	0.79
Pierre Mondou	68	2.00	1.27	0.73
Nick Spaling	57	1.82	1.10	0.72
Stew Gavin	66	1.44	0.73	0.71
Chris Dingman	52	1.83	1.12	0.71
Anze Kopitar	75	1.69	0.99	0.70
Darcy Rota	60	1.33	0.66	0.68
Peter Forsberg	151	1.59	0.94	0.65
Nate Thompson	58	1.65	1.03	0.62
Claude Giroux	63	1.34	0.73	0.61
David Desharnais	51	1.47	0.87	0.60
Jannik Hansen	70	1.42	0.84	0.58
Steve Shutt	99	1.87	1.29	0.58
Jason Chimera	69	1.37	0.79	0.58
Patrice Bergeron	101	1.71	1.14	0.57
Ab McDonald	71	1.58	1.01	0.57
Jussi Jokinen	54	1.40	0.86	0.54
George Armstrong	80	1.41	0.88	0.53
Pat Conacher	67	1.62	1.09	0.53
Brian Skrudland	164	1.59	1.06	0.53
Henrik Zetterberg	137	1.60	1.08	0.53
Ric Seiling	62	1.38	0.86	0.52
Gaetan Duchesne	84	1.31	0.80	0.51
Justin Williams	140	1.45	0.94	0.50
Dave Keon	92	1.24	0.74	0.50
Dustin Penner	78	1.73	1.24	0.49
Valeri Zelepukin	85	1.52	1.03	0.49
Daymond Langkow	75	1.21	0.72	0.49
Jonathan Cheechoo	59	1.31	0.83	0.48
Dick Duff	97	1.63	1.16	0.48
Bill Fairbairn	53	1.37	0.90	0.47
Doug Brown	109	1.51	1.04	0.47
Dean Evason	55	1.27	0.80	0.47
Johnny Bucyk	90	1.76	1.31	0.46
Nick Bonino	75	1.45	1.01	0.45
Milan Lucic	114	1.53	1.09	0.44
Max Talbot	84	1.37	0.93	0.44
Phil Goyette	64	1.29	0.85	0.44
Bobby Schmautz	84	1.52	1.09	0.43
Bryan Bickell	75	1.54	1.12	0.42
Don Saleski	82	1.67	1.25	0.41
Anders Hedberg	58	1.43	1.02	0.41
Alexei Ponikarovsky	62	1.42	1.01	0.41
Niklas Sundstrom	59	1.27	0.86	0.41

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Gordie Howe barely misses the top fifty (he's +0.40).

Fun fact- Patrice Bergeron has the best R-ON ratio of any forward in playoff history who appeared in 100+ games.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

14. Forwards - even strength "R-ON/R-OFF" ratio - bottom 50

Player	GP	R-ON	R-OFF	Difference
Dave Lumley	61	0.86	1.88	- 1.02
Darren Helm	82	0.79	1.60	- 0.80
Blair Betts	62	0.29	1.09	- 0.80
Brad Richardson	50	0.41	1.21	- 0.80
Stan Jonathan	62	0.65	1.43	- 0.78
Dave Brown	80	0.50	1.27	- 0.77
Kevyn Adams	67	0.40	1.16	- 0.76
Craig Berube	89	0.41	1.16	- 0.75
Shawn Thornton	105	0.67	1.38	- 0.72
Chris Simon	75	0.57	1.28	- 0.71
Ville Nieminen	58	0.91	1.62	- 0.71
Thomas Vanek	63	0.62	1.30	- 0.68
Murray Wilson	53	0.96	1.63	- 0.67
Rich Peverley	59	0.92	1.58	- 0.66
Jiri Hudler	83	0.91	1.58	- 0.66
Jim McKenzie	51	0.38	1.02	- 0.64
P.J. Axelsson	54	0.47	1.11	- 0.64
Mark Hunter	79	0.63	1.25	- 0.63
Magnus Arvedson	52	0.42	1.05	- 0.63
Mike Peluso	62	0.81	1.44	- 0.63
Gerard Gallant	58	0.66	1.25	- 0.59
Frank Mahovlich	125	0.79	1.38	- 0.59
Ross Lonsberry	100	0.83	1.41	- 0.59
Lucien DeBlois	52	0.31	0.89	- 0.58
Daniel Winnik	58	0.36	0.94	- 0.58
Wayne Merrick	102	1.01	1.58	- 0.57
Tanner Glass	67	0.50	1.06	- 0.56
Garry Unger	52	0.52	1.07	- 0.55
Jim Lorentz	55	0.77	1.32	- 0.55
Viktor Stalberg	60	0.67	1.21	- 0.54
Kyle Clifford	51	0.79	1.33	- 0.54
Derek Sanderson	56	1.09	1.62	- 0.53
Taylor Pyatt	69	0.60	1.12	- 0.52
Pat Verbeek	117	0.64	1.15	- 0.51
Adam Creighton	61	0.81	1.33	- 0.51
Marcus Kruger	87	0.73	1.23	- 0.51
Tim Taylor	89	0.70	1.20	- 0.50
Justin Abdelkader	64	0.81	1.31	- 0.50
Jordan Staal	73	0.74	1.24	- 0.50
Troy Murray	113	0.64	1.14	- 0.50
Eric Messier	72	0.78	1.27	- 0.49
Curt Fraser	65	0.62	1.10	- 0.48
Doug Jarvis	105	1.00	1.48	- 0.48
Vernon Fiddler	51	0.50	0.97	- 0.47
Garry Valk	61	0.67	1.13	- 0.46
Rene Corbet	53	0.80	1.26	- 0.46
Bill Clement	50	0.65	1.11	- 0.45
Boyd Gordon	52	0.69	1.15	- 0.45
Wayne Primeau	90	0.66	1.11	- 0.45
Dino Ciccarelli	141	0.69	1.14	- 0.45

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Two Hall of Famers in the bottom fifty - Mahovlich and Ciccarelli. Yzerman and Gainey are in the bottom hundred (which shows the inherent limitations in this statistic).

Guess which forward (100+ games) had to endure playing on teams with the worst R-OFF ratio? The much-maligned Pierre Turgeon.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

That's all I have for now. Here are four areas for further improvement:

• Getting data prior to 1960
• Adjusting ES/PP/PK usage to account for time missed to injury
• Adding weighted-average team PP% and PK% so we can see not just who played on the PP & PK, but how good their teams were overall
• Adding normalized ES, PP and SH scoring

Basically the last three points will make this project identical to @overpass's regular season analysis - which is the gold standard as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Canadiens1958]

8. Forwards - powerplay usage - top 50

Player	GP	PP%
Bobby Hull	113	90.0%
Mario Lemieux	107	87.5%
Alex Ovechkin	97	86.9%
Gordie Howe	68	84.2%
Evgeni Malkin	149	84.0%
Rene Robert	50	83.9%
Wayne Gretzky	208	82.8%
Gilbert Perreault	90	81.9%
Phil Esposito	130	80.7%
Alex Delvecchio	65	80.7%
Bernie Federko	91	79.5%
Alexander Semin	51	78.1%
Sidney Crosby	148	77.6%
Phil Kessel	71	77.1%
Kevin Stevens	103	76.7%
Alexander Steen	61	76.7%
Daniel Alfredsson	124	76.5%
Bill Barber	129	75.5%
Joe Sakic	172	75.3%
Pavel Bure	64	72.2%
Mike Bossy	129	70.8%
Nicklas Backstrom	96	70.5%
Cam Neely	93	70.4%
Patrick Kane	127	70.2%
Rod Gilbert	79	70.0%
Patrik Elias	162	69.6%
Mats Naslund	102	69.5%
Jean Beliveau	107	68.8%
Joe Thornton	160	68.3%
Bobby Rousseau	128	67.9%
Ron Francis	171	67.8%
Stan Mikita	155	67.5%
Adam Oates	163	67.4%
Jarome Iginla	81	66.7%
Johnny Bucyk	90	66.7%
Ryan Smyth	93	66.7%
Ryan Getzlaf	121	66.3%
Martin St. Louis	107	66.2%
Doug Gilmour	182	66.1%
Jonathan Toews	128	65.5%
Guy Lafleur	128	65.5%
Vincent Lecavalier	75	65.0%
Rick MacLeish	114	64.8%
Vincent Damphousse	140	64.6%
Eric Staal	53	64.3%
Norm Ullman	87	64.2%
Mark Recchi	189	63.9%
Sergei Fedorov	183	63.5%
Mikko Koivu	50	62.5%
Keith Tkachuk	89	62.3%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Keep in mind my tables don't back out time lost due to injuries. Lemieux surely would have been first had I taken that into account.

Also keep in mind that these are career averages. From 1975 to 1979, Lafleur's PP usage was 82.5%. The rest of the way it was just 42.6%. Thus it can be misleading to only look at a career average when a player has a sharp, defined peak (or they significantly changed roles).

Great work, though 50 games requires at least 8 series which works against players on efficient teams, especially when 3 and 5 game series are considered.

With Toronto in the playoffs Kelly hardly played defence. Not enough to make a statistical difference. Also if you calculate in actual minutes you may have a result where the Toronto sum exceeds the total of possible d-man minutes.

Not clear about Lafleur. The rest of the way meaning post 1979? Pre 1975 he had much less PP time so if the interpretation is correct you probably have close to a Bell curve effect for his career.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Great work, though 50 games requires at least 8 series which works against players on efficient teams, especially when 3 and 5 game series are considered.

With Toronto in the playoffs Kelly hardly played defence. Not enough to make a statistical difference. Also if you calculate in actual minutes you may have a result where the Toronto sum exceeds the total of possible d-man minutes.

Not clear about Lafleur. The rest of the way meaning post 1979? Pre 1975 he had much less PP time so if the interpretation is correct you probably have close to a Bell curve effect for his career.

Thanks, that was my understanding of Kelly's time in Toronto. Just be to be clear, ice time wasn't tracked prior to around 1998 (give or take a year). So it's not possible to add up TOI by position to ensure it's reasonable.

My comment on Lafleur was poorly phrased. I was showing his results first from 1975 to 1979 (inclusive), than the remainder of his career (before and after) second.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Thanks, that was my understanding of Kelly's time in Toronto. Just be to be clear, ice time wasn't tracked prior to around 1998 (give or take a year). So it's not possible to add up TOI by position to ensure it's reasonable.

My comment on Lafleur was poorly phrased. I was showing his results first from 1975 to 1979 (inclusive), than the remainder of his career (before and after) second.

TOI was tracked at least in Toronto and Montreal, dating back to at least the early fifties with photo evidence of individual timers for each players. Probably earlier, newspaper evidence from 1936.

Whether it was done league wide and is scheduled for release is another issue.