Sports Magazine
Josh Gorges may be traded before I finish writing this piece. At 29 years-old, the player who may have been the Habs next captain is easily among the Montreal Canadiens most-important players. His numbers in the defensive-zone place him behind only PK Subban among the current group of defensemen, while his short-handed performance continuously inspires teammates.
Combining both playoff and regular season numbers, Gorges was directly involved in the production of only the seventh-most even-strength scoring-chances for per-60 among Habs defenseman. Gorges was however, directly-responsible for the absolute fewest even-strength scoring-chances against per-60.
In terms of points, number 26 contributed the seventh-most even-strength points per-60 among Habs defensemen, while every other Habs defenseman produced more scoring-chances per-possession play. His even-strength possession rating placed him 9th out of the 9 d-men used in this post.
Gorges produced the seventh-most even-strength scoring-plays per-60 among Habs defensemen. He also contributed the sixth-highest percentage of overall events with possession of the puck in the offensive-zone. Expressed simply, this shows that among Habs d-men, Gorges spent the sixth-most "time" with possession of the puck in the offensive-zone. Similarly, Gorges spent the fifth-lowest percentage of his overall events defending in the defensive-zone. Once again, expressed more simply, this tells us that Gorges spent the fifth-lowest amount of his overall events stuck without possession in the defensive-zone.
Gorges produced the second best even-strength ratio (number of successful plays for every 1 failed play) among Canadiens defensmen; behind only PK Subban. He also had the fourth best rating (how many more successful plays than failed plays produced per-minute of ice-time). When ratings were adjusted for quality of competition, Gorges' qualcom-adjusted rating of 2.25 moved him up to third among Habs d-men.
At even-strength, Gorges was successful with 64% of his attempts to remove puck-possession from the opposition, and 73% of his attempted plays with possession. His defensive success-rate was good enough for fifth among Habs d-men, while his possession success-rate was the best success-rate of any Habs defensemen. Expressed simply, Gorges turned the puck over at even-strength less often than any other Montreal defenseman; including Subban.
In the offensive-zone, Gorges had an offensive-zone ratio of 1.76 (fifth-best), while his offensive-zone rating of 0.18 was fourth among Montreal defensemen. His offensive-zone puck-possession success-rate was fifth, as Gorges was successful with 51% of his attempted offensive-zone puck-possession plays. His passing success-rate in the offensive-zone was sixth-best, and he attempted a cycle pass a defensemen-leading 34.1% of the time he made a play with possession of the puck in the offensive-zone.
Gorges play in the defensive-zone is where his value is found. He produced a defensive-zone ratio of 3.38, to go along with a d-zone rating of 1.55. His ratio was second-best among Habs d-men, while his rating was also second-best. Gorges produced a defensive-zone puck-possession success-rate of 80% this season, while his defensive success-rate was 64%. His possession number placed him first among Habs d-men, while his defensive number placed him sixth. Gorges defensive-zone possession number tells us that he had the lowest defensive-zone turnover-rate of any Habs defensemen; this is the main ingredient in the limited number of scoring-chances Gorges is responsible for giving up.
Gorges was more likely to make a d-to-d pass in the defensive-zone than any other Habs defensemen, while only Bouillon attempted to dump the puck out less-often than Gorges.
Gorges' neutral-zone numbers show us that he produced the third best neutral-zone ratio among Habs d-men at 4.35, and the sixth-best rating (0.35). His neutral-zone puck-possession success-rate of 73% was only fourth-best, while his neutral-zone defensive success-rate of 78% was fifth-best. Gorges lower rating in the neutral-zone was a product of his defensive-passivity, as he attempted the fewest blocked passes in the neutral-zone per-60 among Habs d-men. Consequently, this n-zone passiveness is a big reason why Gorges is responsible for the fewest scoring-chances against per-60.
Gorges' performance killing penalties is a huge part of his value. He produced the third-best defensive-zone rating among Habs defensemen while playing short-handed, and the fourth-best ratio. That said, Gorges had the top short-handed success-rate when attempting to remove puck-possession from the opposition, and was more successful than any other d-man when attempting to clear the puck out of the defensive-zone. In other words, Gorges was the Habs best defensive-defenseman short-handed, while also turning the puck over in the defensive-zone less-often than anyone else.
There's no denying that Gorges is a defensive-defensemen. His defensive-zone numbers pigeon-hole him as such. Cap-issues aside, the quality of competition Gorges faces, combined with a team-best ability to safely move the puck out of the defensive-zone tells us that there is simply no other defenseman currently on the team able to fill any hole left by a Gorges trade.
