Breaking down defensive-zone passing success-rates and completion totals per-60 can help us define players, as well as determine their strengths and weaknesses. It can also give us a clear idea of which players move the puck successfully out of the defensive-zone without turning the puck over, while also helping to explain why some players have higher overall completion-rates than others.
In this post breaking defensive-zone passes by Montreal Canadiens players into sub-categories showed us that Josh Gorges defensive-zone passing success-rate is carried by his high-tendency for d-to-d passes. It also quantifies Subban and Markov's ability to create offense when moving the puck out of the defensive-zone through solid outlet and stretch passes. In addition it demonstrates both Douglas Murray's and Jarred Tinordi's struggles when attempting to move the puck up-ice in the defensive-zone.
This post will focus on defensive-zone passing. It will communicate both the number of successful passes within each sub-category each Montreal Canadiens player completed per-60 minutes of even-strength ice-time, as well as their success-rate within each category.
Defensive-zone passes are broken down into three sub-categories. They include d-to-d passes, stretch passes, and outlet passes. I've also included the number of controllable passes they were not able to control per-60 (missed passes).
A list of all events tracked within my system can be found here.
OVERALL SUCCESSFUL DEFENSIVE-ZONE PASSES PER-60
This graph communicates the combined total of all defensive-zone passing sub-categories included below.
Among all Canadiens players, PK Subban completed the most successful passes in the defensive-zone per-60 minutes of even-strength ice-time; followed by Mike Weaver, Josh Gorges, and Nathan Beaulieu. Among defensemen, Douglas Murray was successful with the fewest defensive-zone pass-attempts per-60.
Lars Eller led all Habs forwards in successful d-zone passes per-60, while Rene Bourque completed the fewest.
OVERALL DEFENSIVE-ZONE PASSING SUCCESS-RATE
Among Habs defensemen, Josh Gorges actually had the top overall defensive-zone passing success-rate, while Jarred Tinordi had the lowest. The lowest defensive-zone passing success-rate among forwards was produced by Ryan White, while Dale Weise and George Parros (both with small sample sizes) had the highest. Among forwards with substantial ice-time, the top defensive-zone passing success-rates were earned by David Desharnais and Lars Eller.
SUCCESSFUL D-TO-D PASSES IN THE DEFENSIVE-ZONE PER-60
D-to-d passes are tracked separately in order to categorize players' defensive-zone passing strengths and tendencies. Players who make more d-to-d passes are generally players who recover more loose-pucks off of dump-ins. A d-to-d pass in the defensive-zone is defined as any cross-ice pass made in the defensive-zone when there are no opposing forecheckers positioned either between the two player or closer to the net than the two players. D-to-d passes are used to either regroup for a zone exit, or to reverse the flow versus the opposing team's forecheck.
Gorges led all Habs when it came to successful d-to-d passes per-60, while Tinordi, Murray and Andrei Markov produced the fewest. Tinordi and Murray's low totals were the result of low success-rates, while Markov's total was the result of a tendency to attempt outlet and stretch passes, rather than d-to-d passes.
Eller produced the most successful d-to-d passes among forwards, as he also led all Montreal forwards in defensive-zone loose-puck recoveries.
DEFENSIVE-ZONE D-TO-D PASSING SUCCESS-RATE
Gorges and Weaver had the top d-to-d passing success-rates among Habs defensemen, while Tinordi had the lowest success-rate. Among forwards with substantial ice-time, it was actually Travis Moen who had the top d-to-d passing success-rate, while Ryan White, Brendan Gallagher, and Brian Gionta had the lowest.
SUCCESSFUL STRETCH-PASSES FROM THE DEFENSIVE-ZONE PER-60
Defensive-zone stretch passes are tracked separately in order to categorize players' defensive-zone passing strengths and tendencies. Players who attempt and contribute more successful stretch passes tend to be players with an ability to make strong zone-exits with an emphasis on creating offense off of the rush.
A stretch pass is defined as any pass made from below the hash-marks in the defensive-zone to teammate positioned in the neutral-zone, or as any pass made from the defensive-zone to a teammate positioned on the offensive-side of the red line.
Subban and Markov completed susubstantially more stretch-passes from the defensive-zone per-60 than any of their teammates. Among defensemen, Francis Bouillon and Douglas Murray completed the fewest stretch-passes per-60. Among forwards, Alex Galchenyuk and Tomas Plekanec completed the most successful stretch passes from the defensive-zone.
DEFENSIVE-ZONE STRETCH PASSING SUCCESS-RATE
Among defensemen, Gorges had the best success-rate when attempting a stretch pass from the defensive-zone, while Beaulieu had the lowest. Dale Weise's high success-rate is the product of a small sample size.
SUCCESSFUL OUTLET PASSES FROM THE DEFENSIVE-ZONE PER-60
Outlet passes from the defensive-zone include all passes that are attempts to move the puck up-ice (north/south), but do not qualify as stretch-passes.
Beaulieu (SSS) led all Montreal players in successful defensive-zone outlet passes per-60. He was followed closely by Weaver, Subban and Markov. Murray and Tinordi completed the fewest outlet passes per-60.
Among forwards, Lars Eller and Brandon Prust completed the most d-zone outlet passes per-60, while Rene Bourque completed the fewest.
DEFENSIVE-ZONE OUTLET PASS SUCCESS-RATE
In terms of success-rates among defensemen, Subban had the top success-rate when attempting an outlet pass in the defensive-zone; followed closely by Gorges. Murray and Tinordi had the lowest success-rates, while Beaulieu and Bouillon also struggled.
Among centres the top success-rate was earned by David Desharnais, while White had the lowest success-rate. The top success-rate among wingers with a substantial ice-time was earned by Gallagher, while the lowest success-rates belonged to Bourque, Galchenyuk and Briere.
MISSED PASSES IN THE DEFENSIVE-ZONE
This graph shows us how many controllable passes in the defensive-zone each Montreal Canadiens player failed to control per-60 minutes of even-strength ice-time. A missed pass reception is credited when a player is unable to control a pass that touches his stick without being deflected by an opposition player. Failure to control passes into skates are not credited as failed pass-receptions.
Tinordi failed to control substantially more passes in the defensive-zone per-60 than any other Canadiens defensemen. Among centres, Eller missed the most passes per-60, while Parros, Prust and Bourque failed to control the most passes in the d-zone per-60 among Habs wingers.
