clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Statistical review of the Canadiens' forwards through 14 games

The Canadiens are off to a great start, and here's how the forwards have been performing to date

By Marc Dumont
Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Before anyone asks, yes, it's only been 14 games. Which means we're working with an incredibly small sample size, although it does give us a good idea of how the forwards have performed so far.

Here's how the forwards stack up. Note that the columns can be sorted by clicking on the titles.

Player G/60 A/60 P/60 CF% CF% Rel PDO ZSO% Rel PSh% iHSC SCF% TOI GM
Byron 0 1.56 1.56 40.98 -11.05 107.24 -7.42 0 0 27.59 9.64
Desharnais 0.74 2.96 3.70 50.53 0.47 109.24 10.79 13.33 10 51.95 11.58
Eller 1.09 0.36 1.45 50.81 0.86 99.56 19.92 13.04 11 45.77 11.80
Fleischmann 1.34 2.01 3.35 47.44 -3.67 107.50 2.51 19.05 7 48.47 12.80
Flynn 0 0.43 .43 40.91 -11.56 100.96 -25.84 0 8 37.39 10.07
Galchenyuk 0.72 1.45 2.17 52.43 3.03 99.30 20.49 10.53 11 48.63 11.85
Gallagher 0.32 1.27 1.59 55.46 7.59 105.34 0.68 3.03 23 52.94 13.52
Mitchell 2.27 0.45 2.72 44.26 -7.33 105.33 -23.24 29.41 8 39.29 9.46
Pacioretty 1.24 0.31 1.56 55.56 7.74 104.11 -2.58 10.81 9 52.27 13.78
Plekanec 0.62 0.93 1.55 52.69 3.64 102.69 -1.62 10.53 4 48.57 13.80
Semin 0.54 1.07 1.61 52.91 3.60 99.29 23.24 7.69 2 48.57 11.20
Smith-Pelly 0.41 1.24 1.66 47.53 -3.37 104.66 -15.00 5.56 8 48.80 10.34
Weise 2.12 1.06 3.18 48.44 -2.26 108.82 7.14 19.35 13 46.26 12.12

(All stats 5 vs 5 only, via war-on-ice.com, G/60 = goals per 60 minutes TOI, A/60 assists per 60, P/60 points per 60, CF% = Corsi For percentage, CF% Rel = Corsi For percentage relative to the team, PDO = sum of a team's even strength shooting percentage and even strength save percentage, ZSO% Rel = Fraction of offensive vs defensive zone starts relative to the team, PSh% = Personal shooting percentage, iHSC = individual high danger scoring chances, SCF% = scoring chance for %, TOI GM = time on ice per game)

  • Even though Paul Byron doesn't have any even-strength goals, he's contributed two shorthanded markers in just four games.
  • Torrey Mitchell is leading the Habs in G/60, which is exactly what everyone predicted. Right? His personal shooting percentage will eventually come back down to earth.
  • Through 14 games David Desharnais is showing that he can definitely provide offense to the team without being glued to Max Pacioretty.
  • Tomas Fleischmann may be overachieving at the moment, but his offensive production is incredibly encouraging, especially if you consider his cap hit of $750,000.
  • Alexander Semin and Tomas Plekanec's numbers are eerily similar. The main difference being that Semin received very favourable zone starts.
  • Semin's numbers are very solid, although it has to be said that he only has two individual high-danger scoring chances to his name this season. During Semin's 10-game audition, it was Lars Eller who ended up being the trigger man on that line.
  • The only forwards with a PDO under 100 are Alex Galchenyuk, Semin, and Eller.

Line CF/60 CA/60 CF% SCF/60 SCA/60 GF/60 GA/60 OZS% TOI
Pacioretty-Plekanec-Gallagher 64.23 59.12 56.67 28.17 24.04 2.40 0 47.73 174.68
Fleischmann-Desharnais-Weise 51.35 47.65 51.87 28.75 24.65 4.93 1.64 58.54 146.07
Eller-Galchenyuk-Semin 66.02 51.48 56.19 27.86 23.62 3.03 3.03 66.13 99.06
Flynn-Mitchell-Smith-Pelly 49.25 54.24 47.59 23.55 23.55 2.85 0.71 27.69 84.07

(All stats 5 vs 5, via Emmanuel Perry, CF/60 = Shot attempts for per 60, CA/60 = Shot attempts against per 60, CF% = shot attempts percentage, SCF/60 = Scoring Chances for per 60, SCA/60 = Scoring chances against per 60, GF/60 = goals for per 60, GA/60 = goals against per 60, OZS% = offensive zone start percentage, TOI = time on ice total.)

  • The Galchenyuk line created the most shooting attempts
  • Even if they haven't created as many shot attempts as the Plekanec or Galchenyuk line, Desharnais' line leads when it comes to shooting attempts against.
  • Plekanec and Galchenyuk's line are miles ahead when it comes to CF%.
  • Galchenyuk's line was given the easiest zone starts.
As you can see, the combination of Eller, Galchenyuk and Semin was doing very well. Of course, you simply can't ignore a lack of production in terms of points, but 10 games is a very small sample size to start worrying about that. In their case, patience was needed. The process is very important to keep in mind here, and that line was playing well despite the lack of goals.

Devante Smith-Pelly's addition to that line was an interesting choice, but to be perfectly fair the line played incredibly versus the Senators .

Pacioretty, Plekanec and Gallagher haven't been scoring much lately, but their statistics indicate that the process is quite encouraging, similar to the Galchenyuk line before it was dismantled. Essentially, there's no need to worry about Montreal's first line at the moment.

The Desharnais line is scoring at will, taking advantage of every scoring chance they create. It won't last forever, but in the meantime it's providing essential scoring.

Mitchell's line is the only one that's been out shot on a regular basis, albeit not by an alarming amount, especially when you factor in their tough zone starts.

We'll take a look at how the defensive pairings have been faring after the 15th game.

More From Eyes On The Prize