Offensive Dominance: Goal Scored Percentage

by Hawerchuk on Mar 10, 2010 9:00 AM EST

This post came out of a neat idea from the guys at Copper n Blue who, like me, have no team to cheer for anymore, and have turned their energy to the entire league. They wondered which players were involved in the highest percentage of their team's goals. I'm going to go through a series of these tables over the next little while, and I wanted to start with players who recorded points on the highest percentage of their team's goals when they were on the ice:

Player	Season	TEAM	GP	Pts	TGF	PCT
Stan Mikita	1972-73	CBH	57	83	90	92.2
Nils Ekman	2003-04	SJS	82	55	61	90.2
Wayne Gretzky	1979-80	EDM	79	137	155	88.4
Sidney Crosby	2006-07	PIT	79	120	137	87.6
Mario Lemieux	2002-03	PIT	67	91	104	87.5
Bill Hicke	1968-69	OAK	67	61	70	87.1
Rick Nash	2008-09	CBJ	78	79	91	86.8
Wayne Gretzky	1987-88	EDM	64	149	172	86.6
Patrick Elias	2003-04	NJD	82	81	94	86.2
Ivan Boldirev	1976-77	CBH	80	62	72	86.1
Scott Gomez	2002-03	NJD	80	55	64	85.9
Gerry Meehan	1972-73	BUF	77	60	70	85.7
Peter McNab	1976-77	BOS	80	86	101	85.1
Don Luce	1973-74	BUF	75	57	67	85.1
Glen Sharples	1976-77	MNS	80	57	67	85.1
Alex Mogilny	2000-01	NJD	75	83	98	84.7
Kelly Buchberger	1991-92	EDM	79	44	52	84.6
Danny Grant	1968-69	MNS	75	65	77	84.4
Ken Linseman	1981-82	PHI	79	92	109	84.4
Don Luce	1972-73	BUF	78	43	51	84.3
Ivan Boldirev	1977-78	CBH	80	80	95	84.2
Rick Nash	2007-08	CBJ	80	69	82	84.1
Alexei Yashin	1993-94	OTT	83	79	94	84.0
Hilliard Graves	1972-73	CGS	75	52	62	83.9
Joe Thornton	2006-07	SJS	82	114	136	83.8

That's right, people. The offense runs through Nils Ekman. Overall, it's an interesting mix: great offensive players on a mix of good and bad teams, as well as unheralded players on some very bad expansion teams.

Those totals can be heavily-influenced by power-play time, so I thought it would be interesting to look at players who scored the highest percentage of even-strength and short-handed goals recorded when they were on the ice. Reggie Leach really stands out:

Player	Season	TEAM	GP	ES/SH G	TGF/A	PCT
Reggie Leach	1975-76	PHI	80	51	139	36.7
Reggie Leach	1979-80	PHI	76	45	99	34.6
Reggie Leach	1974-75	PHI	80	33	113	34.0
Bobby Hull	1971-72	CBH	78	42	126	33.9
Petr Bondra	1995-96	WSH	67	41	102	33.6
Stephane Richer	1989-90	MTL	75	42	111	33.6
Petr Bondra	1997-98	WSH	76	41	103	33.1
Derek Sanderson	1968-69	BOS	61	25	62	32.5
Marian Hossa	2002-03	OTT	80	31	97	32.3
Pavel Bure	1992-93	VAN	83	47	140	31.5
Simon Gagne	2005-06	PHI	72	35	115	31.5
Phil Kessel	2008-09	BOS	70	28	80	31.5
Jarome Iginla	2003-04	CGY	81	33	92	31.4
Steve Shutt	1976-77	MTL	80	52	159	31.3
Stephane Richer	1987-88	MTL	72	34	103	30.9
Danny Gare	1975-76	BUF	79	42	113	30.9
Pavel Bure	1999-00	FLA	74	47	118	30.7
Mark Napier	1982-83	MTL	73	37	82	30.3
Eric Vail	1974-75	ATF	72	33	79	30.3
Bobby Schmautz	1977-78	BOS	54	23	73	30.3
Steve Vickers	1972-73	NYR	61	28	74	30.1
Petr Klima	1990-91	EDM	70	33	97	30.0
Joe Nieuwendyck	1997-98	DAL	73	25	88	29.8
Brett Hull	1990-91	STL	78	57	170	29.5
John Madden	2000-01	NJD	80	23	51	29.5

And finally, players who simply scored the highest percentage of their own team's even-strength and short-handed goals:

Player	Season	TEAM	GP	ES/SH G	ES/SH GF	PCT
Wendel Clark	1985-86	TOR	66	30	50	60.0
Eric Vail	1974-75	ATF	72	33	55	60.0
Marian Hossa	2002-03	OTT	80	31	52	59.6
Petr Bondra	1997-98	WSH	76	41	69	59.4
Petr Bondra	1995-96	WSH	67	41	70	58.6
Mike Bossy	1986-87	NYI	63	30	52	57.7
Bobby Crawford	1983-84	HAR	80	31	55	56.4
Nelson Emerson	1993-94	WPG	83	29	52	55.8
Stephane Richer	1987-88	MTL	72	34	61	55.7
Mike Modano	1993-94	DAL	76	32	58	55.2
Richard Martin	1973-74	BUF	78	44	80	55.0
Mike Donnelley	1991-92	LAK	80	29	53	54.7
Pat Lafontaine	1989-90	NYI	74	41	75	54.7
Lanny Mcdonald	1982-83	CGY	80	49	90	54.4
Bill Guerin	2001-02	BOS	78	31	57	54.4
Teemu Selanne	1997-98	MDA	73	42	78	53.8
Ilya Kovalchuk	2007-08	ATL	79	36	67	53.7
Brett Hull	1991-92	STL	73	50	94	53.2
Teemu Selanne	1992-93	WPG	84	52	98	53.1
Reggie Leach	1979-80	PHI	76	45	85	52.9
Rick Nash	2007-08	CBJ	80	28	53	52.8
Pavel Bure	1999-00	FLA	74	47	89	52.8
Brett Hull	1990-91	STL	78	57	108	52.8
Stephane Richer	1989-90	MTL	75	42	80	52.5
Brad Boyes	2007-08	STL	82	32	61	52.5

Some of the same names come up here.

There's more to come in the weeks ahead...

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Comments

That 03-04 Sharks team really was a treat to watch— so damn scrappy.

Nice post.

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by Mr. Plank on Mar 10, 2010 9:27 AM EST reply actions

Very interesting — I was in DC during the 90’s and Bondra was certainly a big part of the team — didn’t realize he was that dominant, though.

And Bobby Schmautz was always one of my faves . .

by craigtyle on Mar 10, 2010 10:05 AM EST reply actions

I’m assuming that you mean 1981-82 for Dionne instead of 1991-92.

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by Bettman's Nightmare on Mar 10, 2010 10:18 AM EST reply actions

It was Mike Donnelly, actually. That third table was all screwed up.

by Hawerchuk on Mar 10, 2010 12:16 PM EST up reply actions

Donnelly? That was unexpected. But so was Nils Ekman.

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by Bettman's Nightmare on Mar 10, 2010 3:26 PM EST up reply actions

Nils Ekman? That must have been a brutal team. I am surprised Gretzky is only on there once, especially when he was putting up close to 200 point seasons.

The highest occuring decade is the 70’s so I guess there were a few players who dominated on each team, or they just ate up all the ice time!

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by HowToHockey.com on Mar 10, 2010 11:39 AM EST reply actions

Funnily enough, that team was the farthest the Sharks ever went in the playoffs. They bowed out to Calgary in the WCF’s in six games.

It really was a case of scoring by committee, a general team-first mentality defensively, and great goaltending that got them there. Nabokov was lights out that entire year (above a .930 SV% in the postseason), and Toskala was excellent during the regular season as well. Doesn’t hurt when you have two goaltenders who could come in and provide well above league average play between the pipes.

by Mr. Plank on Mar 10, 2010 11:53 AM EST up reply actions