Hometown hero Joe Snively could have a future with the big club.
By the Numbers
| 12 | games played |
| 12.6 | time on ice per game |
| 2 | goals |
| 2 | assists |
| 46.6 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage |
| 49.4 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage |
| +2 | 5-on-5 goal differential |
For on-ice percentages, 50 percent means even: both teams possess the puck evenly. Higher is better, lower is worse.
Isolated Impact by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows how the player has impacted play when on the ice. At the top of the image is the team’s offense (even strength at left, power play at right) and at bottom is the team’s defense (with penalty kill at bottom right). In each case, red/orange blobs mean teams shoot for more from that location on the ice, and blue/purple means less. In general, a good player should have red/orange blobs near the opponent’s net at top, and blue/purple bobs near their own team’s net at bottom. The distributions in middle show how the player compares to league average at individual finishing, setting up teammates to score, and taking and drawing penalties.
Player Card by Evolving Hockey
About this player card: This image from Evolving Hockey shows an overview of the player across different parts of their game. At top right are the players percentile rank (1 is worst; 100 best), overall and on offense and defense separately. Higher numbers are in blue. Below are the player’s contributions in different compartments of the game using the goals-above-replacement or GAR metric. Higher numbers (again in blue) mean the player adds value compared to an average AHL call-up player.
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season, RMNB shared an open survey with fans, asking the following question for each player:
On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?
1 means VERY UNHAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
2 means UNHAPPY
3 means NEITHER HAPPY NOR UNHAPPY
4 means HAPPY
5 means VERY HAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.
Peter’s Take
Some behind-the-scenes stuff: in a normal summer I’d be colluding with Japers Rink on which players we’d review and when we’d publish them. I don’t think we’d have included Joe Snively, who scored two goals in 12 games. This review is a bit of an indulgence, but I think he’s an interesting player, and I want to talk about him.
He’s not a shooter. He attempted 9.3 shots per hour, above only Backstrom and Johansson among Caps forwards, though he went to the net better – closer to the middle of the pack. Instead, what stuck out to me was Washington’s ability to muster rush attacks when he was on the ice. I know I’ve hit on this a lot, but getting chances in transition was something Washington was very bad at last season, except not when Snively was helping out. And opponents got to the Caps’ net much less often during his shifts (3.6 high-danger chances less than when he was on the bench).
Snively managed that impact in spare time with the big club, playing a stretch of more than two consecutive games precisely once. Two games in October, three games in two stretches in November, one in December, two in February, one in March, and three – all at once – in Washington’s low-point of April. Meanwhile in Hershey he leads the Bears with 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in the postseason. In the regular season, he trailed only Sgarbossa and Frank in assists-per-game.
Now I’m not saying Snively is a future NHL superstar, but I am saying it might be worth giving him a sincere opportunity to prove himself.
Snively on RMNB
- Last summer, Snively signed a two-year extension.
- In recovery from a wrist surgery, the team assigned him to Hershey on a long-term conditioning loan.
- He first played for the big club on October 20. He got more ice in November as the injuries started mounting up.
- In February, Snively stepped up when Ovechkin left the team to go home to Russia. He was great in that callup, but returned to Hershey a few days later. That happened two more times later in the season.
Your Turn
What are the chances Snively plays 20 games with the Caps next season? If he does, would you think that’s a good sign for the club or a bad one?
This article would not be possible without HockeyViz, Evolving Hockey, Natural Stat Trick, and All Three Zones. Please consider joining us in supporting them. For people interested in learning more from those resources, we recently published video walkthroughs.
