What is Glenn Healy talking about?

by Hawerchuk on Dec 10, 2009 9:00 AM EST Comment 14 comments

I rarely watch the Hockey Night in Canada intermission panels, but I was too lazy to change the channel during the Flames-Sharks game on Saturday. What drew Glenn Healy's ire? The Flames didn't use Jarome Iginla in their last shootout. Healy reminded us that Iginla was the "hottest" NHL player in the month of November. Iginla did indeed shoot 27.6% over 14 games, and presumably Healy believes this indicates Iginla's shooting ability has gone way over his career figure of 13.4%. Like the old NBA Jam arcade game, Iginla's temporarily "on fire" and Calgary can't afford to let this ephemeral talent of his slip away.

Let's take the longer view: Iginla is 7-for-25 on shootouts in his career. (The other shooter Healy suggested was indispensable was Stephen Weiss, who's 3-for-18 in his career.) Assuming he saw a set of goaltenders who were, on the whole, league-average, here is the distribution of Iginla's true talent in the shootout:

Not only is Iginla not a lock to score in the shootout, it's fairly unlikely that he's even a better-than-average shooter: the probability of Iginla's true shootout talent exceeding the league average is just 31%. And the probability of Iginla being one of the best dozen or so shooters in the league, at 41% or more? Barely 10%.

So is that a guy who absolutely has to be one of your top three shooters? No chance. Is it likely that Flames coach Brent Sutter picked his shooters based on how successful they were in hundreds of shootouts in practice? Very. Are we better off trusting lots of reps than looking at last month's shooting percentage? I think you know the answer.

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"I think you know the answer."

Nice Pronger reference!

by PuckInEh? on Dec 10, 2009 10:55 AM EST reply actions

Too bad he hasn’t sent a message…

by Hawerchuk on Dec 10, 2009 11:05 AM EST up reply actions

message may never get sent now...

I think the likelihood of that declined recently: "I have a very strict no-fighting policy for our team," Laviolette says. "Last year in the playoffs (defenseman) Mike Commodore got into a fight and I said, ‘OK, that’s it. No more fighting.’ I simply cannot afford to lose a player like Mike Commodore to an injury he may sustain in a fight."

by PuckInEh? on Dec 10, 2009 3:22 PM EST up reply actions

Do you plan on doing a league analysis for goals by shot type? I was hoping to use the results if you did.

by ThrashersRecaps on Dec 10, 2009 11:21 AM EST reply actions

In the SO?

by Hawerchuk on Dec 10, 2009 12:28 PM EST up reply actions

No, shot type (slapshot, etc.) of all goals scored in regulation and OT.

by ThrashersRecaps on Dec 10, 2009 3:35 PM EST up reply actions

http://www.behindthenet.ca/2008/5_on_5_shots.php?sort=6&mingp=&mintoi=10

by Hawerchuk on Dec 10, 2009 3:41 PM EST up reply actions

Also, Ryder and Krywicki (sp?) have done a ton of work on this over at Ryder’s site.

by Hawerchuk on Dec 10, 2009 3:42 PM EST up reply actions

It’s been said that goaltenders tend to be better “hockey-minds” or analysts, on average, than the typical player at any other position. Healy does not do a good job of furthering this argument.

by Vent on Dec 10, 2009 2:06 PM EST reply actions

And Kelly Hrudey agreed with every word he said. It was so moronic.

by Hawerchuk on Dec 10, 2009 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

I like to tell myself Hrudey only does it because Healy’s a goalie, because Hrudey is so much smarter than that. I usually like the things he says. He just tends to get dumber when around a greater number of people (hm – there’s an equation in there somewhere, I know it).

by Vent on Dec 11, 2009 6:53 AM EST up reply actions