That's actually kind of insane. Im assuming the Canucks tend to use other players at the end of games?
I've always thought they should show empty net points in a separate category instead of counting them into overall points. People like to compare players with points and in the long run this can make a pretty sizable difference.
For example in the same timeframe Scheifele has 19, Aho 17 and Kopitar 10.
Someone might say look, Scheifele is clearly the superior offensive player, he has 185 pts in 174 games since 18-19, that's 1.06 PPG! Pettersson only has 152 pts in 164 games!
Well take away EN's and Scheifele has 166 pts in 174 games and Petey 153 in 164, making the PPG's 0.95 and 0.93 respectively.
And im not arguing who is the better player, but you get what i mean. A lot of context gets lost in points, not even just empty nets.
Yeah empty net goals are important but it's a game of defending and sealing the deal at that point, instead of creating offense and trying to score on a goalie which is what points is used to measure. I'd much prefer if we valued a players ability to put the puck in the empty net separately.