There is no doubting the fact that Alex Galchenyuk has been among the Montreal Canadiens best players this season. There were times this season where an argument could even be made that he was the player carrying the line he shares with Lars Eller and Brendan Gallagher.
This season, Galchenyuk is helping to produce more scoring chances per-minute of ice-time than he did last season. He's also been involved in fewer scoring chances-against. That said, He's averaging slightly fewer assists per-minute, and substantially fewer goals per-minute.
The issue regarding the lower goal total revolves around the number of shots Galchenyuk is getting through to the net. last season he was able to get 57.3% of his attempted shots through. This helped him produce a "true-shooting-percentage" (goals /attempted shots) of 8.1%; substantially better than the average TSP produced by the rest of the Habs wingers (4.9%).
This year Galchenyuk has been able to get only 52% of his attempted shots through to the net. This has made it obviously more difficult to score, as his TSP has dropped to a below-average 4%.
Galchenyuk's low goal total has not been the product of missing the net, as he's missed the net with only 12% of his attempted shots; the average among wingers has been 23.9%. The issue with number 27 has been the number of shots that are getting blocked, as 36% of Galchenyuk's shots have been blocked by opposition players; well above the average for wingers of 22%.
A higher percentage of blocked shots generally reflect a player who is taking shots from the perimeter, rather than the slot. This is only partially true for Galchenyuk, as he likes to take shots using defenders as screens; many of his shots have been blocked by the last defender between him and the net.
Galchenyuk's goal total will rise as fewer of his attempted shots are blocked.
27-GALCHENYUK
SCORING CHANCES FOR / MP0.1200.1540.1330.168
SCORING CHANCES AGAINST/MP0.0430.0480.0540.040
OFFENSIVE-ZONE (EVEN-STRENGTH)WINGERS2012-13WINGERS2013-14GALCHENYUK 2012-13GALCHENYUK 2013-14
ATTEMPTED SHOTS /MP0.2590.2890.2460.200
ATTEMPTED SHOTS BLOCKED BY OPPOSITION / MPN/A0.064N/A0.072
PERCENTAGE OF ATTEMPTED SHOTS BLOCKED BY OPPOSITIONN/A22.0%N/A36.0%
ATTEMPTED SHOTS THAT MISS THE NET / MPN/A0.069N/A0.024
PERCENTAGE OF ATTEMPTED SHOTS THAT MISS THE NETN/A23.9%N/A12.0%
SHOTS THROUGH TO THE NET /MP0.1410.1560.1410.104
SHOTS THROUGH SUCCESS-RATE54.4%54.1%57.3%52.0%
TRUE SHOOTING-PERCENTAGE (GOALS / ATTEMPTED SHOTS)4.9%4.2%8.1%4.0%
GOALS / MP0.0130.0120.0200.008
ASSISTS / MP0.0190.0160.0340.032
POINTS / MP0.0320.0280.0540.040
