An offensive-event is defined as any attempted play at even-strength a player engaged in while in possession of the puck. These include passes, dekes, dump-ins, dump-outs, and shots. A defensive-events is defined as any event a player engaged in while attempting to remove puck-possession from the opposition. These include blocked shots, blocked passes, stick-checks, and body checks.
A list of all events tracked (including sub-categories of the events described) can be found here.
The only events not included in this calculation are loose-puck recoveries, as they can be considered both offensive and defensive (depending on the zone and situation).
As a team, the Montreal Canadiens engaged in 71.2% of the events tracked while in possession of the puck. The other 27.9% of the events tracked were attempts to remove puck-possession from the opposition.
Almost to a man, the players with the highest offensive percentages would also be considered the Habs most offensive-players, while the players who engaged in the higher percentage of defensive-events would be classified as defensive-players.
PK Subban engaged in the highest percentage of events with possession of the puck, while Douglas Murray engaged in the highest percentage of events without possession. This is a strong representation of how often Subban actually has possession of the puck, and an equally acurate portrayal of how often Murray is defending.
Among forwards, Max Pacioretty engaged in the highest percentage of his even-strength events with possession, while George Parros engaged in the highest percentage without possession. Surprisingly, David Desharnais and Ryan White produced similar possession and defensive-percentages. Less surprisingly, Thomas Vanek had the second highest possession percentage behind Pacioretty.
