On Monday, I looked at the leaders in some very basic (advanced) statistical categories. This time, let's go a little more obscure. First, a statistic that's so important, it should be published everywhere so that people know who's good and bad at it. Penalty differential - penalties drawn minus penalties taken (non-coincidental only):
| Player | Tm | Take/60 | Draw/60 | Diff | Player | Tm | Take/60 | Draw/60 | Diff |
| Kaleta | BUF | 1.1 | 4.1 | 3.0 | Prucha | PHX | 0.4 | 1.7 | 1.3 |
| Brown | L.A | 0.5 | 2.6 | 2.1 | Kulemin | TOR | 0.1 | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| Hordichuk | VAN | 1.3 | 2.9 | 1.6 | Sheppard | MIN | 0.6 | 1.8 | 1.2 |
| Wandell | DAL | 0.7 | 2.2 | 1.5 | Ebbett | MIN | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| Datsyuk | DET | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.4 | Fraser | CHI | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| Carcillo | PHI | 1.4 | 2.8 | 1.4 | Grabovski | TOR | 0.2 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Clutterbuck | MIN | 0.6 | 2.0 | 1.4 | Petersen | DAL | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| Hagman | CGY | 0.4 | 1.8 | 1.4 | Little | ATL | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| Ruutu | CAR | 0.9 | 2.2 | 1.3 | Sutter | CAR | 0.0 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Parise | N.J | 0.5 | 1.8 | 1.3 | Boll | CBJ | 1.6 | 2.8 | 1.2 |
Like faceoffs, drawing penalties is a true talent. Patrick Kaleta and Dustin Brown are always 1-2 in the league. At the other end of the spectrum:
| Player | Tm | Take/60 | Draw/60 | Diff | Player | Tm | Take/60 | Draw/60 | Diff |
| Regehr | CGY | 1.2 | 0.2 | -1.0 | Ward | CAR | 1.5 | 0.4 | -1.1 |
| O'Brien | VAN | 1.2 | 0.2 | -1.0 | Barker | MIN | 1.4 | 0.2 | -1.2 |
| Moreau | EDM | 1.2 | 0.2 | -1.0 | Pitkanen | CAR | 1.6 | 0.4 | -1.2 |
| Hillen | NYI | 1.2 | 0.2 | -1.0 | Brach | DAL | 1.8 | 0.5 | -1.3 |
| Bartulis | PHI | 1.1 | 0.1 | -1.0 | Schubert | ATL | 2.1 | 0.6 | -1.5 |
| Kubina | ATL | 1.0 | 0.0 | -1.0 | Orr | TOR | 2.1 | 0.6 | -1.5 |
| Jurcina | CBJ | 1.0 | 0.0 | -1.0 | Gill | MTL | 1.8 | 0.3 | -1.5 |
| Lydman | BUF | 1.0 | 0.0 | -1.0 | Boynton | ANA | 1.8 | 0.2 | -1.6 |
| Yelle | CAR | 2.0 | 0.9 | -1.1 | Mayers | CGY | 2.3 | 0.4 | -1.9 |
| Kotalik | CGY | 1.7 | 0.6 | -1.1 | Boogaard | MIN | 3.1 | 1.1 | -2.0 |
Taking penalties is also a true talent - physical defensemen will frequently make our list. And for goons, penalties are unavoidable - in addition to being more penalty-prone because of their style of play, they are the only class of players who will take penalties intentionally, which inflates their totals.
Another slightly obscure but incredibly important statistic is "Zone Start" - how many offensive and defensive zone face-offs a player gets sent out for. As Tyler Dellow showed, individual statistics are very heavily driven by what zone a player starts out in. Zone start is obviously not a true talent, but it is driven by a coach's view of his players. The highest offensive percentages:
| Player | Tm | O% | Player | Tm | O% | Player | Tm | O% |
| Kane | CHI | 68.6 | Greene | N.J | 60.5 | St.Louis | T.B | 59.4 |
| Fraser | N.J | 66.3 | Gaborik | NYR | 60.4 | White | CGY | 59.3 |
| Brassard | CBJ | 65.5 | Shannon | OTT | 60.2 | Del Zotto | NYR | 59.2 |
| Oduya | ATL | 65.1 | Picard | OTT | 60.1 | Tavares | NYI | 59.0 |
| Sharp | CHI | 65.0 | Kaberle | TOR | 60.0 | Russell | CBJ | 59.0 |
| Mueller | PHX | 64.4 | Johnson | STL | 60.0 | Guerin | PIT | 59.0 |
| Lang | PHX | 64.4 | Ladd | CHI | 59.9 | Sedin | VAN | 58.9 |
| Barker | MIN | 63.5 | Prospal | NYR | 59.6 | Briere | PHI | 58.8 |
| Toews | CHI | 62.1 | Yandle | PHX | 59.6 | Holmstrom | DET | 58.6 |
| Sopel | CHI | 61.9 | Zajac | N.J | 59.4 | Berglund | STL | 58.5 |
There are a lot of Blackhawks at the top of our list, both because of usage, and because Chicago takes a lot of face-offs in the offensive zone. Other players (Oduya/Greene, White/Kaberle) are here because of coach usage. At the other end of the ice, the players with the highest percentage of defensive-zone starts:
| Player | Tm | O% | Player | Tm | O% | Player | Tm | O% |
| Metropolit | MTL | 41.6 | Ward | NSH | 40.8 | Jackman | STL | 38.8 |
| McClement | STL | 41.2 | Tkachuk | STL | 40.7 | Marchant | ANA | 38.2 |
| Hejda | CBJ | 41.2 | Winnik | PHX | 40.6 | Fiddler | PHX | 38 |
| Hannan | COL | 41.2 | White | N.J | 40.6 | Weaver | STL | 36.8 |
| Halpren | T.B | 41.1 | Kreps | FLA | 40.3 | Pahlsson | CBJ | 36.2 |
| Moore | FLA | 41.1 | Walker | T.B | 40.3 | Madden | CHI | 35.6 |
| Campbell | FLA | 41 | Brodziak | MIN | 40.1 | Polak | STL | 35.5 |
| Laperriere | PHI | 41 | Drury | NYR | 39.7 | Park | NYI | 35 |
| Pandolfo | N.J | 40.9 | Dvorak | FLA | 39.6 | Goc | NSH | 30.9 |
| Allan | FLA | 40.9 | Smithson | NSH | 39.1 | Thompson | T.B | 28.4 |
This end of the list is populated by many players who we see at the top of other categories like Quality of Competition or penalty-kill minutes. Their offensive stats will always be compromised by this type of usage, but we should make no mistake about how important they are to their teams.
I don't think I've ever seen the leaders in either Zone Start or Penalties Drawn published in a traditional hockey news source. But they are two easily-calculated metrics that capture a great deal of a player's value.