No wonder Jeff Skinner drew a penalty; have you seen how evil Tomas Kopecky looks? (Phil Ellsworth, Getty Images)

Early in the season, I wrote a post about Penalty Plus/Minus, which is the difference between the number of penalties drawn and taken by a single player. Midway through the season, I ran an update on the leaders in penalty plus/minus, with Jeff Skinner and Rick Nash leading the way. With just a week and a half remaining in the NHL regular season, it seemed an appropriate time to run an end-of-season update.

Okay, so it’s slightly inappropriate to run it now since it’s not actually the end of the season, but the numbers won’t change too much in the few games remaining. I’ll likely tally the final numbers after the playoffs are over and have some fun with team totals and such then.

For now, here are the top and bottom 20 in penalty plus/minus for forwards and defencemen, along with some observations.

As a refresher, please note that these numbers only include minor penalties taken at even-strength. In addition, only non-coincidental penalties were included, so each of these penalties should have resulted in a powerplay. I went with a minimum of 40 games played.

Top 20 Forwards

Once again, Jeff Skinner leads the way, though John Tavares managed to match him. Each drew 26 more minor penalties than they committed, though it should be noted that Skinner did so in 17 fewer games than Tavares. Also of note for Skinner is his Penalties Drawn/60 Minutes of ice time: at 2.7, he is far and away the leader in that category.

It is undoubtedly Skinner’s skating ability that leads to so many drawn penalties. Young hockey players looking to increase their shiftiness on their skates should look into figure skating lessons. It worked with NFL running back Herschel Walker and ballet.

Leading the league in total penalties drawn is Dustin Brown, whose physical style of play also leads to a fair share of penalties taken, with the majority being interference penalties. Brown is second in the NHL in hits, with 276, so mis-timed hits would explain those minor penalties.

Evgeni Malkin was at plus-8 and was tied for 15th in the league at mid-season and continued climbing his way up the list. He clearly takes a lot of penalties, but draws a bundle with his strong work in the offensive zone. With his size and hands, he’s difficult to contain, but he has a tendency towards lazy hooking penalties on the backcheck. He has 7 hooking penalties this season, which is tied for 7th most in the NHL.

It’s impressive to see Adam Henrique on this list. The Devils rookie hasn’t taken a single non-coincidental minor penalty at even strength this season and has just 7 penalty minutes total while posting 47 points in 68 games.

Bottom 20 Forwards

Jarret Stoll was the worst of the forwards halfway through the season and held strong through the end. The odd thing is that Stoll doesn’t get a lot of penalty minutes overall. He has just 56 penalty minutes this season, all of them from minor penalties, with all but 4 of those minor penalties being non-coincidental minors at even-strength. Stoll has put the Kings on the penalty kill 18 times this season, more than any other forward. Fortunately, the Kings have one of the best penalty kills in the league.

The same can’t be said for the Ottawa Senators, whose penalty kill is ranked 19th in the league. Chris Neil takes the most minor penalties at even-strength of any forward in the NHL. In their recent three-game losing streak that threatened to take them out of playoff position, the Senators gave up 5 powerplay goals on 15 attempts. Neil was responsible for 3 of those powerplays, with a game misconduct in the third game preventing him from getting into any further mischief.

Alexander Semin is tied for 4th in the league for the most hooking penalties, with 8. He also has 6 tripping minors. Derek Roy is 2nd with 10 hooking minors and also has 9 tripping minors. Those kinds of penalties are generally the result of lazy backchecking. Both draw a decent number of penalties with their offensive prowess, but hurt their team with stick infractions.

Top 20 Defencemen

It is very difficult for a defenceman to draw more penalties than he takes as penalties are frequently the result of trying to contain talented offensive players. Brian Campbell’s plus-9 is quite impressive, likely created with his strong skating and willingness to jump into the rush.

The real eye-catching numbers, however, come from Alexei Yemelin and Jared Spurgeon, both plus-8. They attract attention for different reasons, however. Yemelin has drawn the most minor penalties at even-strength, with 20. Some of them are likely reactions from opposition players after one of his devastating – but legal – open-ice checks. I absolutely adore the way this kid hits, but I suspect his opponents don’t share that sentiment.

Spurgeon, on the other hand, is impressive because of how few penalties he’s taken. Kevin Klein is the only defenceman with no minor penalties taken at even-strength, but he has only drawn 4 himself. Spurgeon, on the other hand, has only taken 1 minor penalty at even-strength, but has drawn 9. Spurgeon has just 6 penalty minutes in his sophomore season in the NHL and has been one of the Wild’s most effective defenders.

Bottom 20 Defencemen

Bryan Allen isn’t doing Carolina any favours: the Hurricanes have one of the worst penalty kills in the league and Allen has forced them to use it 22 times this season. Kyle Quincey isn’t much better in Detroit and, surprisingly, the Red Wings’ penalty kill isn’t much better than that of the Hurricanes. Keep in mind, of course, that Quincey was traded to the Wings from the Avalanche, who have a slightly better kill.

The big surprise on the list is Nicklas Lidstrom. It’s not that he takes a lot of penalties; he just doesn’t draw any. The majority of his penalties have been hooking minors: he has 7 on the season, so is tied with Malkin and others for 7th in the NHL.

One Final Note

Only four players in the NHL have played at least 40 games this season without drawing a single penalty at even-strength: forward Matthew Lombardi and defencemen Mark Eaton, Tomas Kaberle, and Sean O’Donnell.

It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that Lombardi is having the worst season of his career offensively: if you’re not working hard enough or getting to the areas where penalties are drawn, you’re not going to have success. In 2009-10, Lombardi scored 53 points in 78 games; he also drew 12 penalties. If any Maple Leafs fans are noticing any hesitance in Lombardi’s game after his devastating concussion completely erased his previous season, the numbers back it up.

Data courtesy Behindthenet.ca.