When this new data was applied to last season's blockbuster deadline acquisition Keith Yandle, the results were startling: his puck-moving metrics are almost identical to the league's undisputed best offensive defenseman Erik Karlsson.
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All credit goes to Spencer Mann for the chart: http://public.tableau.com/profile/spencer.mann#!/vizhome/PassingDataDefense/Compare |
Now don't get me wrong. Am I saying that Yandle is the best offensive defenseman in the league? Well not quite if we're talking about offense as a whole. Again, a distinction must be made between offensive ability and puck-moving ability. In terms of offensive ability, raw production is still king. Karlsson, since joining the league in 2009-10, has a 0.77 points-per-game, about 62 in a full season. This mark is superior to Yandle's 0.60 points-per-game (about 50 per season) during the same time frame. While their rate of assists is similar [42 a year for Yandle over the last five seasons versus 43 for Karlsson] Karlsson is a much better goal scorer, hitting 19 goals three times, while Yandle's career high is twelve. Factoring in goal-scoring ability and raw point production Karlsson is without question better offensively than Yandle and the best offensive defenseman in the league.
However, that's not the issue here. Again, raw production, especially goals, is different from puck-moving, i.e. going from defense to offense. In terms of pure puck-moving ability, based on the metrics, Yandle is every bit as good as Karlsson, and Karlsson is the ultimate benchmark. I'm confident in saying there is no better puck-moving defenseman right now than Keith Yandle.
Glossary
CC - Corsi contribution: individual shot attempt (taken by the player himself) or a primary or secondary pass leading to a shot attempt by another player (just like assists)
CC% - percentage of a team's shot attempts resulting from that player's corsi contributions.
SAG - shot attempts generated: primary pass leading to a shot attempt
SG - shot generation: primary pass leading to a shot on goal
SC SAG - shot attempt generated from a scoring chance area
SCC - scoring chance generated: primary pass leading to a scoring chance
Composite SAG - all attempts generated from passes
Entry assist - shot attempt generated from a pass before the offensive blueline.
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