Comments / New

Top Guns: Winnipeg Jets Best Goalscorers

Over the past three seasons, underlying numbers have increased greatly in understanding for the general public. At the same time, Winnipeg has enjoyed three seasons of the Jets second edition as a NHL franchise.

In this mini-series, Arctic Ice Hockey takes a look at how the Jets’ roster has performed in these metrics relative to each other in finding the best of the best. We also look at how new Jets Mathieu Perreault and T.J. Galiardi have performed in these numbers over the same time period.

We start off with most fans favourite: goal scoring.

Top End Players

First let's look at the players most likely to fill the top end of the roster.

Player G/60 iFen/60
Evander Kane 1.03 16.89
Andrew Ladd 0.99 12.11
Blake Wheeler 0.75 12.15
Michael Frolik* 0.75 12.51
Bryan Little 0.63 7.92
Mark Scheifele 0.62 7.97
Mathieu Perreault 1.01 8.18

iFen/60 is the individuals non-blocked shot volume per an hour of 5v5 time
*Frolik and Halischuk's numbers are only for their 2013-14 season, due to being new additions to the Jets

Thoughts:

* If you compartmentalize Jets forwards by position, you get a very interesting pattern.

* Evander Kane reigns supreme despite "struggling" the last two seasons. He is still the Jets best for burying the puck in 5v5 situations. While he does it predominately through shot volume, it works… which is what matters.

* While Blake Wheeler is a player more known for his passing and set-up plays, Wheeler still likes to shoot the puck a lot

* Mathieu Perreault looks to be an awesome addition here.

* There is no Dustin Byfuglien for this series, as his results are 90% minutes as a defenseman.

Post Publish Addition:

* Here are how some of the top Jets performed in this time period relative to those with 1000+ 5v5 minutes: 24th Kane, 29th Perreault, and 34th Ladd

Bottom End Players

Now let's look at the players most likely not to fill the top end of the roster.

Player G/60 iFen/60
Matt Halischuk*
0.64 9.33
Jim Slater 0.52 8.36
Eric O`Dell 0.44 5.91
Chris Thorburn 0.34 6.45
Eric Tangradi 0.23 9.60
Anthony Peluso 0.18 6.07
TJ Galiardi 0.44 10.49

iFen/60 is the individuals non-blocked shot volume per an hour of 5v5 time
*Frolik and Halischuk's numbers are only for their 2013-14 season, due to being new additions to the Jets

Thoughts:

* Matt Halischuk has never struggled to put up points as a bottom six player. His struggles remain elsewhere. It is interesting that his results are very similar to former Jet Tim Stapleton, in goals, assists, shots, and Corsi, but are stylistically very different.

* Eric O`Dell had a solid year as a depth player and will be looking to break out this season.

* Chris Thorburn has scored a decent pace at 5v5 despite putting up very low shot volume numbers. Must be his toe drags…

* TJ Galiardi's numbers might be deceiving a bit. His career shooting percentage has sat around 8% for 5v5, but he posted a 6% and a 3%! in 2012-13 and 2013-14. His career 5v5 G/60 is 0.57. Could be a buying low situation for the Jets.

Looking for an easy way to support Arctic Ice Hockey?
Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this holiday season!

Talking Points