All hail Washington’s short* king.
*Note: Maybe 5’8″ isn’t really short, but NHL hockey is a tall boys’ game.
By the Numbers
| 53 | games played |
| 13.7 | time on ice per game |
| 14 | goals |
| 8 | assists |
| 54.5 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage, adjusted |
| 56.0 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage, adjusted |
| 49.7 | 5-on-5 goal percentage, adjusted |
Visualization by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows lots of information for the player over the season. A short description of each chart:
- Most common teammates during 5-on-5
- Ice time per game, split up by game state
- 5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- 5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- Individual scoring events by the player
- 5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season (end of January, end of March, and end of May), 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
We really didn’t get to see enough of Conor Sheary. Like, he played 48 minutes more than Evgeny Kuznetsov, despite playing 12 more games. But good things come — oh god I know where this sentence is going and I can’t stop it — in small packages.
Sheary’s a pistol out there. He goes to the net, driving more high-danger shots than any Caps forward Ovi, Eller, and Hagelin. And those high-danger shots represented a bigger share of his offense than anyone else — no Caps player had a higher “danger” per shot attempt than Sheary. In that respect, actually he’s in elite company across the whole NHL.
Obviously I’m not saying Conor Sheary is Connor McDavid. That would be absurd. They don’t even spell their first names the same!
But I am saying that Conor Sheary has a good shot and even better shot selection. That’s kind of uncommon on this roster (at least uncommon in the manner that it’s well understood by our available metrics), and I like that. Sheary doesn’t take penalties, he doesn’t lose the puck, he just shoots it and puts in the net. The Caps need that, and they need to make sure he’s got a stable, coherent role in the top nine for next season.
Sheary on RMNB
- The Caps signed Sheary late, in December, for a one-year deal.
- But by April they liked what they saw, extending him for two more years.
- Ovechkin celebrated the new deal at practice.
- From Laviolette: “I think he’s been one of our most effective forwards. He’s a guy for me that has done a really good job.”
- One of those really good jobs came in late January, in which Sheary came oh so close to a natty hatty.
- Finally, from Elizabeth:
Your Turn
Who are we kidding with 5’8″? But for real, where do we want Sheary in the lineup next season?
Read more: Japers Rink
