Midseason NY Rangers Stats: Scoring Chance Types

The midpoint in the season is always a good time to start reviewing what has happened and start looking towards the last half and the season the playoff push. We'll start that review looking at the types of chances each player has been on ice for, as we've looked at in the previous individual chance update . As I do with the regular summaries, I'll start with the goaltenders, which serves as a team summary.

Data (which does not include this past weekend) after the jump.

Chances For

Chances Against

*Legend: B = Breakaway, E = Even Man Rush/Transition, F = Faceoff, O = Odd Man Rush, T = Def. Zone Turnover, Z= Zone Pressure/Forecheck.

This data is for even strength only, excluding empty nets (5v5 and 4v4). The first chart in each group shows the number of chances with each goalie on the ice, while the second chart shows the percentage of those chances that resulted in goals. Now obviously, the goaltenders only have an effect on the bottom chart here, so that's where we'll concentrate. As Martin Biron noted in an interview with Craig Custance, he and Henrik Lundqvist expect to stop one out of six or seven scoring chances against. Here, it shows there's only 1 goal per 7.75 chances with Biron on ice, and Lundqvist 1 in 9.82.

This data includes missed nets of course, which goalies don't stop. Looking at just the chances on goal, we have 55 goals on 378 chances, or 1 goal every 6.87 chances, which is right where Biron says they should be. Biron himself is 14 goal on 80 chances (1 goal / 5.71 chances), while Lundqvist is at 1 in 7.27. No matter how you slice it, both players have been tremendous thus far, especially when you compare it to what the offense has done.

Tables are sortable by clicking the column headers.

Among the forwards, you can a pretty clear trend down the 'Transition%' column. Casting aside the low event players at the top, you see Marian Gaborik and Derek Stepan at the top. The dynamic duo gets almost half their chances from transition play, including 8 of the 9 breakaways that the team has had. Continuing from there, you see that as transition play goes down, so does the typical line number that guys have been on. The exception to that trend, perhaps unexpectedly, is that the fourth line guys are also more apt to get their chances in transition. This seems counterintuitive, as these are your 'get your hands dirty' type guys who are often known more for their ability to grind than to get out in space. Explanations for that are up for discussion.

On defense, the biggest standout would have to be Michael Del Zotto. Well known for his ice-length passing and all around offensive upside, he actually lags behind in transition chances compared to most of the defense. What is more surprising, when we check MDZ's most common teammates, you see it is Gaborik and Stepan. The most likely explanation for that is he is generating chances only for that line and no one else, but it is something worth monitoring.

Aside from him and Marc Staal, there's not much separation among the current regular defensemen. They are all around 43-46%, an indication that offensively, the forwards are mostly the driving force.

Staying on the subject of defense, here are the chances against:

Among the forwards, there really isn't much to gather. Similar to the defense's contributions on offense, it does not seem like the forwards have much say as to the type of chances allowed. Yes, Callahan has somehow been on ice for every breakaway against thus far, and the fourth liners are generally less apt to give up transition chances, but overall, the spread is pretty small.

On defense, however, there's a clear separation of the pairs. Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh see nearly 60% of their chances against happen via zone pressure. The various installments of the 2nd pairing, some in at around 53%, and the bottom pair guys are closer to 47%. What is more interesting about that is it runs counter to what we saw with our own forwards. The top line guys, who Girardi and McDonagh most often face, are the one's that are supposed to generate transition chances. Yet defensively, the opposite has been true. While there may be other factors there, this seems to highlight the defensive abilities of our 1st pair.

So there you have it. If you have any other insights or conclusions you have based on this, go ahead and include them in the comments.