Chicago Blackhawks: Duncan Keith In Review

We had previously taken a look at the Chicago Blackhawks’ defense, so we were going to switch gears a bit and focus on one particular defensemen. This week’s focus is on 32-year-old Duncan Keith.

He was drafted 54th overall in 2002, joined the Chicago Blackhawks on the ice for the 2005-06 season and has not disappointed since. He has won three Stanley Cups (2010, 2013 and 2015), a James Norris Memorial Trophy (awarded to the league’s top defenseman) and a Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP), has won Olympic gold with Team Canada and has been named an All-Star three times, among other honors.

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Currently signed to a $5.5 million contract through the 2022-23 season, let’s look at what he achieved this past season.

Keith was on the ice for 103 of the 105 games played by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2014-15 season (including playoffs). Of that time, he spent 42.18 percent of it deployed under any given style of play, ranking highest in skater deployment on the team.

During this time, Keith scored 13 goals (4.5 percent of Chicago’s total goals), ranking second in goal productivity amongst defensemen behind Brent Seabrook (15 goals at 5.19 percent) and eleventh on the team.

He’s easily the most entrusted defensemen, as shown by both his time and deployment.

WoWY Impact

(This chart was edited to include colored lines from individual players with and without Keith 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 Keith, and that includes: Niklas Hjalmarsson, Brent Seabrook, Michal Rozsival, Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg, Jonathan Toews, Brandon Saad, Joakim Nordstrom, Marcus Kruger, Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw, Bryan Bickell, Brad Richards, Ben Smith, Patrick Kane, Teuvo Teravainen and David Rundblad.

The effect on other players:

• Pairings that didn’t see a drop in shots against: Keith and Smith, Keith and Nordstrom, Keith and Versteeg, Keith and Kruger, Keith and Shaw, Keith and Bickell, Keith and Saad and Keith and Rozsival. Rozsival is the only one that saw both an increase in shots against and a decrease in shots for, however. Everyone else who saw an increase in shots against also saw an increase in shots for.
• Conversely, other than Rozsival, Rundblad is the only player who did not see an increase in shots for when paired with Keith. This suggests that Keith is incredibly skilled at generating play with a wide variety of his linemates.

What this tells us is that, out of 17 pairings last season, 16 saw a betterment in one or more categories, with eight seeing better shot numbers in both categories.

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 andstats.hockeyanalysis.com\

Next: Patrick Kane Investigation Update

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