Quantifying the lack of d-zone involvement among most wingers.
Wingers contribute substantially less in the defensive-zone than other position-players. That said, no player should be judged without looking at their zone-starts. Where a player begins each shift determines where the bulk of their puck-possession and defensive-events take place. A player who starts a high-percentage of his shifts in the defensive-zone is less likely to contribute a positive Fenwick, Corsi or a high offensive-zone risk/reward rating.
This post will look at the impact a player's defensive-zone start percentage has on the number of defensive-zone events they engage in per-20 seconds of ice-time. I broke the event totals down to 20 second time bands so the graph to would be easier to read.
The goal of this post is two-fold. Firstly, it is to determine whether my system is tracking the correct events. secondly, I'm looking to see any anomalies, and attempting to determine the reasons behind them.
Only those players with at least 150 even-strength minutes played are included
I've broken the graph down into 3 groups. The first group contains defensemen, the second has centres, while the group on the far-right shows wingers. Defensemen naturally engage in the most defensive-zone events among skaters, while centres generally engage in the second-most.
DEFENSEMEN
The four Montreal defensemen with the highest defensive-zone start percentage engaged in the most defensive-zone events per-20 seconds. Rapael Diaz had a higher defensive-zone start percentage than PK Subban, yet Subban engaged in more defensive-zone events/ 20 seconds. This is because Subban recovered substantially more defensive-zone loose-pucks (0.728/mp) than Diaz (0.673/mp).
Alexei Emelin had the lowest d-zone start percentage, and engaged in the fewest defensive-zone events of any Habs d-man. Emelin also recovered fewer defensive-zone loose-pucks PMP than any d-man.
CENTRES
The three centres with the highest defensive-zone start percentage were involved in the most defensive-zone events / 20 seconds. Lars Eller produced the third-highest defensive-zone start-percentage, but engaged in the most defensive-zone events. Eller recovered the second-most loose-pucks PMP among centres, while contributing the second-most successful defensive-zone puck-possession plays PMP.
David Desharnais had the lowest defensive-zone start-percentage among Habs centres, and also engaged in the fewest d-zone events. He recovering the fewest loose-pucks, and produced the fewest successful defensive-zone puck-possession plays per-minute played.
WINGERS
Colby Armstrong had the highest defensive-zone start percentage among Montreal wingers, but it was Alex Galchenyuk who engaged in the most defensive-zone events / 20 seconds. Galchenyuk recovered the second-most loose-pucks, but produced the second-lowest defensive-zone risk/reward rating.
Among wingers, there seems to be a higher correlation between defensive-zone loose-puck recoveries and defensive-zone events than there is between d-zone-starts and d-zone events. The bulk of these loose-puck recoveries were produced from scrambled d-zone face-offs, and puck-support situations along the boards.
The absence of a direct link between defensive-zone starts and defensive-zone events for wingers stresses the lack of d-zone involvement among most wingers; reiterating the already obvious need for strong defensive-players among teams' centres and defensemen.