Pokecheque wrote:
But here's a prime example--I believe the Canucks are first in the league in scoring off the rush, yet they're LAST in the league in generating chances off the rush. Basically it's been explained to me that Tocchet's system doesn't really encourage guys jumping early, but the few chances they DO go for it, it's going straight in the net every time.
That doesn't seem right. Although the Nucks are so statistically abnormal, so maybe?
I hope CanucksArmy does a deep dive into stat analysis of Hughes compared to the rest of the team, and Hughes compared to other top dmen in the league. The other night vs Carolina they were out shot 23-19, but out shot the Canes 11-5 when Hughes was on the ice. I still believe Hughes is part of the weird PDO factor but not subscribing to a stats site to figure it out. I just think Hughes on the ice generates a very high percentage of high danger shots as a percentage of total shots, and that is flummoxing PDO, pushing it a few and maybe even several points higher than normal.
And I'm coming around to this defensive corps in the playoffs. Cole/Scoucy/Meyers/Zadorov are biggggg. The high number of penalties they get in the regular season won't matter so much. They would take a very heavy toll on any team facing them over 7 games. Last time the Canucks were in the playoffs Meyers was actually very good. Really used his size in the way we'd all hope. I still think they should have gone after a #3 RHD with term instead of Lindholm but I also know Rutherford and Alvin deserve my confidence, they've executed as close to perfect as any managers could have.
Its so weird to be talking about the Canucks as a playoff bound team as a given and we're 30 games out.