Stu Hackel Week on Arctic Ice Hockey: Penalties Drawn aka "Stats the NHL ought to keep"

Stu Hackel wonders: "Who draws penalties. Real time play-by-play notes when a player is penalized. Knowing against whom he committed an infraction would be a very useful stat to compile leaguewide. You’d see which players are so dangerous that extralegal means are needed to stop them, or so annoying that they break down their opposition’s discipline."

The NHL has been recording which players draw penalties since before the lockout, but it was done a bit inconsistently for several years. Recording has been fairly solid over the last five seasons at the very least, if not seven. Cumulative and annual league leaders in drawing non-coincidental penalties follow:

I'm always on the lookout for players who manage high counting standings in limited ice time, so you can see these numbers as a rate stat at 5-on-5:

2011-12 penalty drawing rate leaders

2010-11 penalty drawing rate leaders

2009-10 penalty drawing rate leaders

2008-09 penalty drawing rate leaders

2007-08 penalty drawing rate leaders

Dustin Brown clearly out-classes the rest of the league.

Edit: incidentally, 380 non-coincidental penalties drawn is worth roughly $33M in 2012 dollars relative to the league average and quite a bit more relative to replacement-level. Forwards draw more penalties than defensemen, so their replacement-level is a little higher, but still likely not much into positive territory. Dustin Brown has made roughly $15M so far in his career, making him one of the biggest deals in the entire league.

Verdict: the NHL 100% absolutely, positively should keep penalties drawn as an official stat.