2011-2012 Season In Review: Final Scoring Chances Totals

After tracking scoring chances for the Jackets all season, it’s time to look at where things shook out for the club in all three modes of play (Even Strength, Power Play, and Penalty Kill), including the performances by those who are…no longer with us.

Where previous editions did not consider players with less than 10 GP, I figured I’d list anyone and everyone who wore a Blue Jackets‘ uniform this season for the sake of argument.

Even Strength:

Best Forward: Vinny Prospal (+37)

One of only two players to dress for all 82 games, Prospal ended the season with 358 chances for and 321 against at even strength, by far the largest margin on the club. Among forwards, Antoine Vermette was a +13 as a Jacket, Alexandre Giroux had a +10, Derek Dorsett a +9, and Cam Atkinson a +8 rating.

Best Defenseman: Aaron Johnson (+18)

Believe it or not, at even strength, Number FIve was Alive. Recording 219 chances for versus 201 against, some of this was a consequence of matchups, but it still was an impressive showing. Kris Russell had a +17 rating in 12 games with the club, while Nikita Nikitin was a +12 over his 51 game run. David Savard recorded a +7 rating over 31 games, and Dalton Prout ended up a +1 in his five game run to close out the year.

Worst Forward: Jared Boll (-31)

Admittedly, Boll is not a guy who you consider a major offensive dynamo, especially at even strength, but with 56 chances for and 87 against, our goaltenders saw a lot of rubber flying their way when #40 was skating. Perhaps not surprisingly, Colton Gillies was close behind at -28, while Derek MacKenzie had -21. Interestingly, Derick Brassard was a -19 on the year, but his numbers were improving dramatically as the year went on – I would attribute a lot of the early deficit to his mishandling by Scott Arniel.

Worst Defenseman: John Moore (-58)

Moore made some big strides in his first real taste of the NHL, but it’s worth observing that his learning curve did come at a cost. Frequently pushed into a middle pairing role that he may not have been 100% ready for, he did still have 194 chances for compared to the 252 against in 67 games.

James Wisniewski was involved with 213 chances for and 256 against at even strength for a -43 rating, Marc Methot had a -26 (172/198), and Jack Johnson was a -23 over his 21 game run in Columbus. Grant Clitsome was a -16 before heading to Winnipeg, and Fedor Tyutin finished as a -10 (269/279) after his hand injury.

Power Play:

Best Forward: Vinny Prospal (+149)

Recording 166 chances on the man advantage to just 17 against, Vinny was a leader for the team in this category as well, though the standings are a bit closer in this category. Rick Nash recorded 165/19 for a +146 rating, R.J. Umberger was a +112, Brassard a +105, and Jeff Carter a +88 before departing for L.A. Mark Letestu ended the year as a +75 on the power play, Ryan Johansen a +58, Derek Dorsett a +33, and Cam Atkinson a +32.

Best Defenseman: Fedor Tyutin (+122)

The Russian Machine was incredible on the power play, driving 134 chances for to just 12 against, leading the team’s blueliners by a good margin. James Wisniewski was next on the list with a +86 rating (95/9), Nikitin recorded a +82, Clitsome a +47, and Jack Johnson a +40 rating. David Savard produced a +38, and Aaron Johnson an even 20.

It’s really hard to judge a “worst” forward or defenseman when PP time is a fairly limited commodity, but of players who drew more than a small handful of PP shifts, Brett Lebda had a relatively meager +7 rating (9/2), and Alexandre Giroux a +6 (7/1).

Saying a player like Ryan Russell or Dane Byers had a 0 rating isn’t terribly surprising – they logged less than ten seconds of PP time a game, if that.

Penalty Kill:

Another area as much the domain of specialists and monitored assignments as the power play, PK is a tricky area to judge.

Given his role, the -4 for Cody Bass is actually pretty decent, as was the -13 for Colton Gillies. On the other hand, consider that despite fairly limited use in the penalty killing rolle, Rick Nash was a -22 – almost as low a rating as Ryan Russell’s -29, who was a dedicated PKer for his entire time in Columbus.

Fedor Tyutin had the worst overall PK rating at a -70 (13/83), followed closely by Derek Dorsett with a -66. Samuel Pahlsson ended his Columbus career as a -61, Derek MacKenzie a -58, Nikitin a -51, Vermette a -47, and John Moore a -40.

The Battle of #7

Since I figured people would be interested in this statline, here’s a look at Jeff Carter vs. Jack Johnson:

J. CARTER
38GP ES: 162/179 (-17) PP: 96/8 +88 PK: 4/9 (-5)

J. JOHNSON
21GP ES: 102/125 (-23) PP: 47/7 (40) PK: 3/37 (-34)

Obviously there are some differences with Johnson being a much heavier PKer than Carter was for much of his time in Columbus, but the stat lines aren’t as different as you might expect – and I find it interesting that Johnson was on pace to produce more offensive scoring chances at both even strength and on the power play if he’d been able to play an equal number of games. There are a lot of other factors in this trade that will be debated for “who won”, but it seems like as a player generating offense, the Jackets may have gotten the better side of the deal.

The Big List:

Here’s the complete list of compiled chances. Feel free to ask questions!