Penguins Update: How Important is Speed?

Speed kills.

A truism often repeated, especially in hockey circles. The faster you play, the greater your chances of success.

Our Penguins used blazing team speed accompanied by an aggressive forecheck to capture back-to-back Cups in 2016 and ’17. In the process starting a mini-stylistic revolution among their brethren.

Speed is one of the primary attributes that separates the NHL from lesser leagues like the AHL. Speed, or lack of, has prevented many a collegiate, junior hockey or European star from advancing to the pro level.

Put in the simplest of terms, it provides a significant competitive edge.

Or does it?

I was working on an article about balancing speed and sand and was curious about where our Pens stood in terms of skating. With a lineup packed with 30-somethings and an aging core, it’s generally held that we’re not nearly as fast as we were in our heyday.

I decided to look up speed burst data on NHL Edge…and frankly was shocked by what I discovered. Contrary to popular belief, team speed did not necessarily guarantee on-ice success. In a good many cases, quite the opposite.

For the sake of this article, I’ve broken down the team rankings into three categories. The number of bursts over 22 mph, bursts between 20-22 mph, and bursts between 18-20 mph.

NHL Edge defines a speed burst as follows:

Once a player sustains a speed over 18 MPH, he is in a burst. That burst continues until his speed drops below 16 MPH. The speed associated with each burst is the maximum speed the player reaches during that window.

Of course, there are many factors that play into a team’s speed. Playing style, for one. A club that employs an aggressive, puck retrieval style like our Pens is likely to have more (and potentially faster) bursts than a team that executes a conservative, trapping style.

Too, teams trailing in games may be more apt to engage in a track meet as opposed to teams protecting a lead.

Still, I thought the results were fascinating.

Speed Bursts Over 22 MPH

For the reasons stated above, our Pens are no longer the uber-fast team we once were. We ranked 19^th in speed bursts over 22 MPH, which coincides exactly with our placement in the standings. A phenomenon that was actually a rare occurrence.

Colorado was the fastest team in this category, followed by Edmonton and Tampa Bay. No huge surprise, given the presence of burners like the Avs’ Nathan MacKinnon and the Oilers’ Connor McDavid.

What is a surprise?

The Presidents’ Trophy Rangers only ranked a notch ahead of us in 18^th place. And playoff teams like Toronto, Vancouver, Florida and Boston finished behind us…well behind in the cases of the Panthers and Bruins.

Speed Bursts Between 20-22 MPH

In the medium-fast category the Pens gained significant ground, finishing eighth between fellow non-playoff qualifiers Ottawa and Montreal.

Again, the Avs and Oilers finished one-two in this category, ahead of the third place Blue Jackets. Again, a healthy portion of playoff teams, including the Conference Finalist Rangers, Stars and Panthers ranked in the lower half of the league, along with the Canucks and Bruins, while seven non-playoff teams finished in the top half.

Speed Bursts Between 18-20 MPH

Here’s where the black-and-gold shown, finishing fifth behind the Avs, CBJ, Oilers and Flames and among a clump of high-ranking, non-playoff teams that included the Kraken and Devils.

Again, a liberal number of playoff teams (eight to be exact), including the Rangers, Hurricanes, Bruins and Golden Knights ranked in the bottom half of the league.

Overall Ranking

There are lots of ways to parse the data. I gave serious consideration to including only bursts of 20 MPH or over, in which case our Pens would’ve ranked as the 10th fastest team.

In the end I decided to follow NHL Edge’s lead and use the total number of bursts in the three categories to determine my rankings. Playoff teams are indicated in italics.

Again, the results are eye-opening. According to the data, the Pens had the fourth-most speed bursts of 18 MPH and over in the league, behind the Avs, Oilers and CBJ. Which would indicate that despite our aging legs and dearth of pure top-end speed, we’re still capable of playing a fast game.

While hardly a definitive study, the results seem to indicate that speed alone, while beneficial, is not the be-all-end all driver of success it’s often made out to be.