Archive for the ‘Features’ Category

Major strength of Beagle's: puck protection

A lot of people watching the playoffs these days may be tuning in to see the Washington Capitals play, and finding themselves curious about who this guy Jay Beagle is. Well, he’s the center who logged more minutes than another Caps forward last game, and I’m here to fill you in on the way he plays.

Beagle and I were teammates for two seasons during our time at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and I got to know him pretty well. I’m proud of where he’s at (y’know, the whole “getting more ice time for the Washington Capitals in playoff games than Alex Ovechkin” thing), so I thought I’d share a little bit about his game then and now for those of you who are unfamiliar with him.

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Ilya Kovalchuk leads the NHL in a bizarre penalty killing stat category

This weekend, a select group of players converge in Ottawa to take part in a bizarre annual ritual that involves an exhibition game with no defense or goaltending in an effort to bring together all the best players in the world and have them compete against one another.

That’s all well and good, but while I frequently hear the argument “the game isn’t played on paper” I will retort with the argument “the game isn’t played on a highlight film”. Many players do things that we don’t notice night-after-night that help their team win, whether that’s shutting down a star forward, slowing down the pace of the game in the neutral zone, or dominating possession by repeatedly setting up shots on goal.

Here at the Backhand Shelf’s Research & Development department (one guy in his underwear in his basement) we have put together a list of six players who have one odd statistical trait about them, which you may find interesting. I will call this the Statistical Oddity All-Star Team, and, like the actual All-Star game, is a fun way of dissecting some of the numbers I use quite often around here.

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