Why Caps Fans Should Be Excited About The TJ Oshie Trade

July 2, 2015 7:10 pm

Have you finished running around the block and telling your neighbors that the Caps traded for T.J. Oshie? Now that you’re back inside, let’s talk about this. I’m sure we’ll have plenty more on Oshie and Justin Williams in the coming days, but here’s a wide-angle look at the newest member of the Caps.

Fun Facts

Oshie has 310 points (110 goals, 200 assists) in 443 career games.
In 2014-15, Oshie posted 2.27 points per 60 minutes of 5v5 play, good for 23rd among the 362 forwards who skated 500-plus minutes. This would rank first among all Caps forward last season, with Nick Backstrom’s 1.91 in second.
Oshie posted a 51.7 shot attempt percentage in 2014-15. The Blues did +0.1 percent better in shot attempts when Oshie was on the ice.
During Oshie’s career, the Blues get 1.53 percent more of the total shot attempts and see 2.06 percent more of the total scoring chances when he’s is on the ice.

Charts

The x-axis here is the Blues shot attempt percentage when Oshie is on the ice. The y-axis is the Blues share of scoring chances when Oshie is on the ice. The color shade is by points per 60 minutes of 5v5 play. Simply put, dark blue is great, red is not so great.

The key here is that neither axis goes below 50%. The Blues have seen over 50 percent of shot attempts and scoring chances when Oshie has been on the ice in every season of his career. While the Blues being a good team factors in, Oshie is part of what has made them a good team.

Here’s a looks a Oshie’s WOWY numbers since the start of the 2013-14 season. These are the six teammates he’s skated the most minutes with during that time.

Four of the six player saw an improvement in shot attempt percentage when on the ice with Oshie.
Alex Steen, one of the two who did better without Oshie, was still over 54% when on the ice with him.
All six had a shot attempt percentage of 51.8 percent or better with Oshie.

Like I said, I’m sure we’ll have more on this trade and the Williams signing in the coming days. But for now, let’s enjoy this. The Caps are the offseason champs of the past 24 hours.