Back in 1987, the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, released a song titled, “Bad,” an oxymoron if there ever was one. The flamboyant performer ended each refrain with the provocative query, “Who’s Bad?”
Given the sorry state of our favored hockey team, I thought that would make a swell title for my impromptu look at individual on-ice performances.
Since the aim of any hockey player is to be on the ice when your team scores and not on the ice when scored against, I decided to keep things simple and use goals for and against as the basis for my evaluation. I ranked the players by their corresponding goals for percentage (GF%) and also included expected goals for percentage (xGF%), along with the differential between the two. I tossed in Corsi as well.
All data is courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and based on 5v5 play. I’ve displayed two tables, one for forwards and the other for our defensemen.
In most cases, read ‘em and weep.
| FORWARDS | |||||||
| Player | GF | GA | DIFF | GF% | xGF% | DIFF% | CORSI |
| Poulin | 2 | 1 | 1 | 66.67 | 58.02 | 8.65 | 58.02 |
| Rakell | 17 | 14 | 3 | 54.84 | 51.48 | 3.36 | 55.70 |
| Lizotte | 2 | 2 | 0 | 50.00 | 69.14 | -19.14 | 60.20 |
| Beauvillier | 11 | 12 | -1 | 47.83 | 51.68 | -3.85 | 49.52 |
| Puljujärvi | 9 | 10 | -1 | 47.37 | 53.16 | -5.79 | 51.66 |
| Malkin | 16 | 19 | -3 | 45.71 | 46.20 | -0.49 | 51.33 |
| Crosby | 15 | 21 | -6 | 41.67 | 50.46 | -8.79 | 52.98 |
| Bunting | 11 | 17 | -6 | 39.29 | 49.81 | -10.52 | 53.38 |
| Eller | 7 | 12 | -5 | 36.84 | 45.50 | -8.66 | 47.17 |
| Glass | 5 | 12 | -7 | 29.41 | 67.90 | -38.49 | 60.49 |
| Hayes | 4 | 12 | -8 | 25.00 | 51.29 | -26.29 | 52.55 |
| Rust | 6 | 19 | -13 | 24.00 | 42.01 | -18.01 | 45.09 |
| Acciari | 5 | 16 | -11 | 23.81 | 51.99 | -28.18 | 45.93 |
| O’Connor | 6 | 20 | -14 | 23.08 | 48.77 | -25.69 | 50.89 |
| Puustinen | 1 | 5 | -4 | 16.67 | 44.88 | -28.21 | 40.99 |
| Nieto | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0.00 | 37.80 | -37.80 | 39.56 |
| McGroarty | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0.00 | 51.37 | -51.37 | 51.67 |
| Ponomarev | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46.17 | 44.68 | ||
| Tomasino | 3 | 4 | -1 | 42.86 | 53.64 | -10.78 | 53.23 |
It’s somewhat ironic (and not at all unlike our Pens) that the player at the top of the forwards list, Sam Poulin, was just sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. As you can see, during his brief six games stay Sam had strong metrics across the board.
Rickard Rakell has surprisingly solid numbers given the carnage that surrounds him. Likewise, Anthony Beauvillier, Jesse Puljujärvi and Blake Lizotte in limited duty have performed reasonably well.
At the opposite end of the spectrum? Drew O’Connor, Bryan Rust and Noel Acciari have been brutal in terms of goal differential. Cody Glass is the proud owner of a great xGF% and Corsi, which indicates he’s driving both play and possession, but it hasn’t translated into favorable results.
Stars Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are lodged in the mushy middle of the pack along with Michael Bunting.
I included newcomer Philip Tomasino’s metrics with Nashville. With a decent xGF% and Corsi but comparatively poor GF%, he should fit right in.
| DEFENSE | |||||||
| Player | GF | GA | DIFF | GF% | xGF% | DIFF% | CORSI |
| Pickering | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00 | 51.88 | -1.88 | 52.53 |
| Karlsson | 20 | 28 | -8 | 41.67 | 52.56 | -10.89 | 51.50 |
| Pettersson | 22 | 32 | -10 | 40.74 | 54.35 | -13.61 | 54.21 |
| St. Ivany | 6 | 9 | -3 | 40.00 | 43.48 | -3.48 | 44.57 |
| Letang | 10 | 19 | -9 | 34.48 | 47.21 | -12.73 | 51.35 |
| Shea | 3 | 6 | -3 | 33.33 | 55.14 | -21.81 | 55.46 |
| Graves | 6 | 13 | -7 | 31.58 | 53.32 | -21.74 | 49.90 |
| Grzelcyk | 10 | 22 | -12 | 31.25 | 43.57 | -12.32 | 49.31 |
Befitting a team that’s allowed by far the most goals against in the league (93), there isn’t much good news on the defensive side of the ledger.
Former first-rounder Owen Pickering has been a bright spot during his brief stay, but elsewhere?
Woof.
The worst of the worst, the doomsday defensive tandem of Kris Letang and Matt Grzelcyk, and rookie Jack St. Ivany, who’s struggled to keep pace with the speed of the NHL game.
Mike Sullivan fave Ryan Shea has looked more assertive of late and leads the blueline pack in xGF% and Corsi, but is underwater in goal differential along with the rest of the crew.
Hey, at least now if someone asks you, “Who’s Bad?” you can answer with confidence!
