I’ll start off to say, it’s good to see Jo this high up the list with a mark of 58.1%. His tenure in Montreal has been tumultuous to say the least. I think it’s fair to say that most of the fanbase has come to accept what he is: a highly skilled, high-offence player that does not contribute much elsewhere.
My favourite line commonly muttered by hockey fans and media alike is “all he does is put up points.” Oh no, not that!
Last year, Drouin’s stats showed us exactly what we all know about him. He had the second-worst shot-attempt share and expected-goals-for percentage on the team. But, who needs advanced metrics when you have the second-best goals-for-percentage and points per 60 on the team?
To throw an even bigger wrench into the enigma machine that is Drouin, he had the ninth-most defensive-zone starts per 60. So he wasn’t overly sheltered, making his advanced stats that much more terrible and his counting stats more impressive.
So, as it’s the time of year to say this, I think this will be Drouin’s year.
For more info on the model I used, check out the introduction to this series.
#7: Jonathan Drouin
#8: Cole Caufield
#9: Michael Pezzetta
#10: Josh Anderson
#11: Rem Pitlick
#12: Mike Hoffman
#13: Joel Armia
#14: Ryan Poehling
#15: Laurent Dauphin
#16: Paul Byron
