Sports Magazine

HABS: Offensive-zone Stick and Body-checks

By Kicks @Chrisboucher73
This post will focus on stick and body-checks in the offensive-zone. A stick or body-check is credited as successful when the player attempting the check is able to remove puck-possession from the opposition. It is important to note that the checking player does not have to acquire possession to be credited with a successful attempt, he simply has to break the opposing player's cycle of possession; creating a loose-puck.
The data displayed was tracked over the course of the regular season and playoffs. A list of all the events tracked within my system can be found here.
STICK-CHECKS PER-60 MINUTES PLAYED
Among centremen, Lars Eller contributed the most successful offensive-zone stick-checks per-60, while Max Pacioretty led all wingers in this category. Other forwards who produced a substantial amount of successful stick-checks per-60 include Brendan Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, and Michael Bournival.
Thomas Vanek produced the fewest successful stick-checks in the o-zone per-60, while Ryan White has contributed the fewest among centres.
Andrei Markov produced the most successful offensive-zone stick-checks per-60 than any other Canadiens defenseman, while PK Subban actually had the fewest.
BODY-CHECKS PER-60 MINUTES PLAYED
Among forwards, Brandon Prust contributed the most successful body-checks in the offensive-zone per-60. In fact, Prust was the only Habs player to produce more successful o-zone body-checks per-60 than stick-checks. Outside of George Parros, it was the Habs smaller forwards such as Brian Gionta, Brendan Gallagher, Daniel Briere, Tomas Plekanec, and David Desharnais who contributed the fewest successful body-checks in the offensive-zone per-60.
Douglas Murray led all Habs defensemen in successful body-checks in the offensive-zone per-60, while Markov, PK Subban, and Francis Bouillon had the fewest successful body-checks in the o-zone per-60.

DEFENSIVE-ZONE STICK AND BODY-CHECK SUCCESS-RATE
This graph communicates how successful each Habs player was when attempting to remove puck-possession from the opposition in the offensive-zone by way of a stick or body-check. It's important to remember sample-size (particularly among defensemen) when looking at success-rates.
Among forwards, Lars Eller and Ryan White had the top success-rate when attempting a body-check in the offensive-zone, while Plekanec, Eller, White, Desharnais, Gallagher, Pacioretty, and Galchenyuk had the top offensive-zone stick-check success-rates. The lowest o-zone body and stick-check success-rates were earned by Parros.
Among defensemen with adequate sample sizes, Alexei Emelin was the most successful when attempting both stick and body-checks in the offensive-zone. Bouillon had the lowest stick-check success-rate, while Tinordi (SSS) had the lowest o-zone body-checks success-rate.


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