Who is the NHL's best penalty killer?
http://mirtle.blogspot.com/2007/03/who-is-nhls-best-penalty-killer.html
Vancouver's top PK unit dominates the list, and their second PK unit is right near the top too. Of course, Vancouver also has good goaltending, and it's difficult to separate out which individual player is responsible.
[You might have also noticed that James limited his list to 140 minutes of PK time. That leaves off Martin St. Louis, with 133 minutes, and at -2, arguably the best PK stats in the NHL.]
I'm still not convinced that we can draw much of a conclusion from one year's worth of PK numbers, given how low the minutes are (
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I also question the validity of factoring in short-handed goals when the ultimate goal, really, of a penalty-killing situation is simply to not get scored on. SH goals often simply result from a botched play by the opposition.
by James Mirtle on Mar 20, 2007 2:49 AM EDT reply actions
If they bring a SH goal scoring threat to the table that's non-existent on other units, then that's extremely valuable.
It's clear that their job isn't as tough as guys like Pandolfo, Madden, Barnes, Draper, Brind'Amour, Pahlsson and Niedermayer.
But it looks like Tampa gives LeCavalier and St. Louis a fair share of the tough PK minutes, so though they might not kill every penalty, they're pretty valuable. If you make them play PP and ES and kill all the penalties, they'd be at 32 minutes a game and completely dead-tired.
by Hawerchuk on Mar 20, 2007 4:59 PM EDT reply actions

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