Boyd Gordon leads in scoring chance percentage. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Another week in the books, and I have three questions:
- Is there a hidden value to having Sloan on the ice?
- Will we see more Uno Seis in our face or on the bench?
- Who’s with me on a”Vote for Boyd” campaign?
Luckily, these questions are easily answered because I log scoring chances every game. I use a specific definition of what I consider a scoring chance based on shot quality data and log everyone who is on the ice at the time using the script from Vic Ferrari. As always, you can find the spreadsheet online.
When Tyler Sloan is on the ice, the Caps see more quality scoring chances as a percentage of shots directed at net (goals + shots saved + missed shots) than any other blueliner. In fact, Sloan’s rate is so high (41.8%) that it is actually third best overall behind Tomas Fleischmann (44.2%) and Brooks Laich (42.9%). Wth?
Eric Fehr got benched for a lack of production against Calgary and responded with back-to-back +5 scoring chance differential games before a -3 clunker (which included a goal scored) versus the Flyers on Sunday night. Considering he had only one game with a positive differential before the benching, I say another one is coming. Prior to the season I had predicted Fehr would score between 15 and 20 goals this year. He’s on pace for 19.
“Vote for Boyd.” Seriously. I am running out of things to write about Boyd Gordon and his play, but here is another nugget: He starts in the offensive zone only 43% of the time, yet the scoring chance percentage (scoring chances for divided by total of chances for and against) when he is on the ice during 5v5 play is 63.6%, second best on the team to Brooks Laich (65.1%). That means for every 10 scoring chances Boyd Gordon is on the ice, more than 6 go in the Caps favor – and that’s with 4th liners as teammates. Because he starts so often in the defensive zone we should expect it to be 47%, or less than half. No one else on the Caps comes close to this type of positive swing.
| Player | 5v5 TOI | SC +/- Per 15min | PP TOI | PP SCF/2min | PK TOI | PK SCA/2min |
| Brooks Laich | 153.9 | 2.4 | 44.9 | 1.8 | 29.7 | 0.9 |
| Boyd Gordon | 83.5 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 22.7 | 0.5 |
| Mike Knuble | 180.7 | 1.3 | 35.6 | 0.9 | 13.6 | 0.3 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 200.2 | 1.0 | 52.4 | 1.7 | 19.0 | 0.6 |
| Jeff Schultz | 226.5 | 0.9 | 3.4 | 0.0 | 46.8 | 0.5 |
| Karl Alzner | 199.1 | 0.8 | 5.4 | 0.0 | 23.6 | 0.5 |
| Tomas Fleischmann | 152.0 | 0.7 | 33.9 | 0.9 | 7.2 | 0.6 |
| Alex Ovechkin | 217.1 | 0.6 | 71.2 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Alexander Semin | 179.1 | 0.4 | 45.1 | 2.1 | 21.7 | 0.6 |
| Tyler Sloan | 110.3 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.2 | 1.3 |
| Mike Green | 169.2 | 0.4 | 52.2 | 1.5 | 31.1 | 0.6 |
| Eric Fehr | 130.2 | 0.3 | 26.4 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| John Carlson | 223.7 | 0.3 | 23.8 | 1.5 | 33.7 | 0.7 |
| Tom Poti | 62.5 | (0.2) | 9.8 | 1.0 | 10.6 | 0.8 |
| Matt Hendricks | 96.9 | (0.3) | 3.4 | 1.8 | 21.8 | 0.7 |
| John Erskine | 184.8 | (0.4) | 2.6 | 0.8 | 34.2 | 0.8 |
| Jason Chimera | 148.1 | (0.6) | 5.4 | 0.4 | 18.4 | 0.5 |
| Marcus Johansson | 62.8 | (0.7) | 2.7 | 0.7 | 6.0 | 0.7 |
| Matt Bradley | 71.9 | (1.7) | 0.4 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 0.0 |
| David Steckel | 88.9 | (1.9) | 0.9 | 0.0 | 26.3 | 0.9 |
| DJ King | 29.4 | (2.6) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Share On