Chicago Blackhawks: Analyzing Offseason Losses

Johnny Oduya | 33-year-old defenseman, drafted 221st overall in the 2001 NHL draft. Two Stanley Cups, Swedish Olympian.

(This chart was edited to include colored lines from individual players without Oduya versus with him for easier readability. No figures were altered in this change). 

This chart includes players who were on the ice for a minimum of 100 even-strength minutes with Oduya, and that includes: Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Michal Rozsival,  Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Kris Versteeg, Patrick Kane, Bryan Bickell, Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad, Joakim Nordstrom, Ben Smith, Marcus Kruger and Brad Richards.

Da Windy City

What we lost and what we won’t miss

This past season, Oduya was on the ice for 32.3 percent of Chicago’s total ice time (fourth among defensemen) and ranked fifth in goals scored with 0.692 percent of Chicago’s blue-line goals (2).

The good part about the above chart is that very few players saw an increase in shots against with Oduya (Kane and Smith are most notable). The interesting part is that for many, their apart-from-Oduya numbers don’t really differ much in the shots-against category. The positive here is that almost everyone (Smith excluded) saw his shots-for numbers spike with Oduya.

Oduya hits the ice with the Dallas Stars, who Chicago will face for the first time Tuesday, Dec. 22.

Antti Raanta | 26-year-old goaltender, undrafted. Part of two Stanley Cup teams, has yet to make a playoff appearance.

What we lost and what we won’t miss

During his time with the Blackhawks, Raanta posted a 91.19 save percentage in 39 games. We had kind of gotten the impression that Raanta might be traded this offseason when Scott Darling started getting more of the back-up starts and Raanta was reassigned to the Rockford IceHogs in February.

Raanta, although arguably a suitable back-up goaltender, boasts stats in each of the danger zones (high, medium and low) similar to those of Corey Crawford. Raanta is much less apt at rebound control, and this shows in his slightly larger percentage of shots that come from high-yield areas (29.2 percent versus Darling’s 27.5 percent). You can see how this takes a toll below in the comparison chart between the two (red is worst, blue is best).

charts courtesy war-on-ice

The area in front of the net is of most concern and harder to defend against (this includes rebound shots).

Raanta hits the ice with the New York Rangers, who Chicago will face for the first time Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Resources

• Corsi: For those that are unsure of what Corsi is, it is measured as Corsi for and Corsi against. Corsi is the total number of on-ice shot attempts (on goal, missed or blocked) taken during a game/series/season. A player’s Corsi for tracks the total on-ice shot attempts a player is on the ice for. Corsi against tracks how many shot attempts the opposition records while a player is on the ice.
• CA%, Corsi against percentage (of total): What this means is they’ve totaled up the Corsi events that took place for both teams, and divided the individual team’s total by that number and multiplied it by 100 to get a percentage.
• CP60, Corsi per 60: What this means is they’ve totaled up the Corsi events that took place for both teams and divided it by 60 to get an average Corsi events per 60 minutes.
• CC: Corsi Contributions; player’s total offensive contributions; adds individual shot attempts and primary and secondary passes that lead to shot attempts.
• G+/-, goal differential: The total number of goals for (GF) minus the total number of goals against (GA). If it is a positive number, the team is outscoring its opponents.
• FO%: The percentage of faceoffs won.
• OFOn%: On-ice unblocked shot attempts on goal
• OSh%: On-ice shooting percentage
• OSv%: On-ice save percentage
• PDO: On-ice save percentage + on-ice shooting percentage
• SAG: Shot Attempts Generated; refers to the player who generates the final pass before a shot attempt is made (Similar to an Assist on a Goal, but an Assist on a shot attempt)
• SCC: Scoring Chance Contribution; Individual Scoring Chance (ISC) from war-on-ice plus SC SAG
• SC SAG: Scoring Chance Shot Attempt Generated: Passes sent into the Scoring Chance area (Home plate shaped area in front of the net) leading to a Shot Attempt
• ZSO%, the amount of offensive zone starts: The larger the number, the more often a team or player starts (with a faceoff) in their offensive zone

Sources

Stats courtesy of Ryan Stimson, war-on-ice.com puckalytics.com and stats.hockeyanalysis.com

Next: Oduya Signs With Dallas Stars

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