Players of the Decade: Shots on Goal

Here are the first four parts of my disjointed series on the decade that was:

Teams of the Decade: Regular Season Wins

Teams of the Decade: Shooting and PDO

Players of the Decade: Games Played, Goals, Assists, Points

Players of the Decade: +/- and PIMs

I talk a lot about shot volume on this site, and it's very true that you can't score if you don't shoot. Here are the leaders of the last decade in shots on goal: (misses are not included)

Jason Blake and Rob Blake came in at #11 and #12, respectively. Again, it’s amazing to see how players who didn’t get to play in their primes for the full decade managed to dominate the list. What about shooting percentage?

If I limit the sample to players with 200+ games played during the decade, I get a lot of long-retired players:

Holmstrom's high shooting percentage is in no way unexpected: after all, if he tries to deflect the puck and misses – he's not credited with a shot. It only counts if he makes contact and gets a high-percentage shot.

If I cut it off at 500 games played, Brendan Morrow, Dany Heatley and Anson Carter make the list. Anson Carter? He didn’t get all that much ice time, but his coaches made sure he got time on the power-play.

So what about the bottom end, among those 500 game players?

Not surprising in the least – defensemen are much less likely to score than forwards, and defensemen score most of their goals on the power-play. Take away PP time and you've got a low-percentage shooter.

And who has the distinction of the most games in the decade without a goal? Christian Laflamme, with a 175-game scoring drought. Here are the games played leaders for guys who scored 0-9 goals in the last ten years:

Next time, I'll look at who got the most ice time…