The Habs were the team that got hit the fifth-most often in the entire league last year, but fear not, they’re in good company.
In first place there’s the Stanley Cup Champions, the Blackhawks, who absorbed 3,063 even-strength hits, while only handing out 1,913 of their own. The Capitals finished second, the Canadiens were third, the Ducks were fourth, and Lightning finished fifth.
The fact of the matter is that hitting generally has very little to do with winning games, but it’s interesting to take a look at the results nonetheless.
Here’s how the forwards stacked up in the attrition war.
| Player | Hits | Hits taken | Difference | 5 vs 5 TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brendan Gallagher | 44 | 130 | -86 | 1102 |
| Max Pacioretty | 101 | 133 | -32 | 1123 |
| David Desharnais | 37 | 80 | -43 | 1134 |
| Alex Galchenyuk | 89 | 108 | -19 | 1074 |
| P.A. Parenteau | 32 | 51 | -19 | 694 |
| Michael Bournival | 26 | 59 | -33 | 220 |
| Devante Smith-Pelly | 56 | 40 | +16 | 237 |
| Tomas Plekanec | 39 | 61 | -22 | 1153 |
| Jiri Sekac | 45 | 86 | -41 | 621 |
| Jacob de la Rose | 68 | 35 | +33 | 392 |
| Lars Eller | 70 | 123 | -53 | 998 |
| Dale Weise | 140 | 95 | +45 | 895 |
| Brandon Prust | 110 | 97 | +13 | 886 |
(All numbers are 5 vs 5 only, sourced from War on Ice, 200 minutes +)
- The players who got hit the most generally carried the puck more often
- Max Pacioretty ended up as the player who absorbed the most hits
- Brendan Gallagher wasn’t too far behind him, but it should be noted that he doled out 57 fewer hits than Pacioretty, and ended up with the worst differential among all forwards
- Alex Galchenyuk threw a surprising amount of hits, up from 46 in 2013-14
- Sekac got hit a lot, despite his relatively low time on ice. Again, this is probably due to his affinity for carrying the puck
- Lars Eller finished behind only Gallagher for the worst differential among forwards
- Only four players finished with a positive hit differential; Devante Smith-Pelly, Brandon Prust, Jacob de la Rose, and Dale Weise. This is somewhat predictable considering those players spent the majority of the season in the bottom trios, with the exception of Weise, who finished with an impressive team-leading +45 differential/
| Player | Hits | Hits taken | Difference | 5 vs 5 TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.K. Subban | 80 | 141 | -61 | 1522 |
| Andrei Markov | 40 | 53 | -13 | 1407 |
| Greg Pateryn | 43 | 44 | -1 | 209 |
| Nathan Beaulieu | 50 | 123 | -73 | 913 |
| Mike Weaver | 29 | 66 | -37 | 335 |
| Jeff Petry | 39 | 39 | 0 | 336 |
| Alexei Emelin | 182 | 134 | 48 | 1135 |
| Tom Gilbert | 52 | 142 | -90 | 1142 |
- Like the forwards, the defenders who got hit the most are the puck movers, with the exception of Emelin, who’s the only defender that finished with a positive differential
- Jeff Petry, with his limited minutes, managed to break even
- Andrei Markov did a fantastic job avoiding getting hit. He took 18 fewer hits than the previous season
- Tom Gilbert ended up with the worst hit differential on the entire team/
