BEHIND THE NUMBERS - Takeaways

D'Arcy McGrath

September 24, 2001

As training camp approaches, Calgarypuck will take one final look back at the season that was by looking into a variety of stats and a more detailed analysis of the Calgary Flame's players. This week's feature deals with takeaways, their frequency of occurrence and the Flames' leaders in puck theft.  

Statistics can be a very valuable tool in assessing the performance of an athlete or sports team. Often however, the statistics that are available are too flat, offering little analysis beyond the actual numbers. For example it's easy to determine who led a team in points, but sometimes it's more interesting to find out who led the team in points based on other factors like games played, and ice time. In doing so, a reader can determine who did the most with limited ice time, and conversely, who did the least with ample ice time.

In the past Calgarypuck.com has used these "time between" numbers to look at the performance of the team through the season. With camp just around the corner, a camp which will feature many new faces, applying the same formulas will give us a look at how these new players fit with the current squad in many statistical categories.

Puck possession is vital to on ice hockey success. When your side has the puck, it's difficult for the opposition to inflict much damage. Players that can steal the puck from the opposition often shift their team into an offensive opportunity as turn overs ususally result in odd man rushes.

Giveaways

The list below shows the Flames most crafty players in terms of the ability to create turn overs by pickpocketing the opposition.

The top of the takeaway list is very similar to the giveaway list, with both Marc Savard and Craig Conroy featured high on both lists. This would suggest that although both players tend to give the puck away, often they also tend to get it back.

This isn't the case for players like Phil Housley and Igor Kravchuk; both of which coughed the puck up often enough to make the top ten in giveaways, but are nowhere to be found on the take away list.

Recently acquired players like Rob Niedermayer and Dean McAmmond managed to make the top ten in takeaways, suggesting the Flames puck pursuit game may see a leg up this season.

The only departed player from last season's squad that would have figured in the takeaway leaders is Val Bure, who registered 32 takeaways last season.

In order to provide a more thorough analysis, the table below adjusts each player's takeaway rate based on their ice time. The time quotient below represents the amount of time on the ice between each player's ability to steal the puck.

When the list is adjusted for time the first thing that jumps out is the fact that takeaways are primarily a forward's statistic. The highest rated Flame defenceman in terms of time is Derek Morris with 55:39 between puck thefts.

Surprisingly Chris Clark leads the list with less than 24 minutes between takeaways in his time in Calgary. It is unusual to see a rookie with limited ice time push things with the opposition to the degree that Clark managed last season.

Second and third place are held down by offensive players as Marc Savard and Oleg Saprykin's name appear.

When the list is expanded to show players with less games played some Saint John players managed to jump into the mix. Rico Fata managed to steal the puck every 11:24 of ice time.

Takeaways and Giveaways

Since it's been established that many of the prime culprits in the giveaway list are also well established on the takaway list it's interesting to see a good minus bad summation. Who takes the puck away more than they give it up? Who coughs the puck up often but doesn't get it back?

The "Good"

The "Bad"

Once again the two tables above clearly show that takeaways are a forward stat as the top five "bad" players all patrol the Flames blueline. The first forward that would have appeared on the "bad" list is the departed Val Bure who had a -26 value.

Summing It Up

Like many statistics, Craig Button's offseason moves look to have greatly altered the Flames in terms of takeaways. Rob Niedermayer, Craig Conroy, Dean McAmmond and the emergence of players like Chris Clark and Rico Fata have added a real puck pursuit feel to the Calgary Flames. The fact that all defenceman are so far into the negative when it comes to takes minus gives is alarming at first look, but actually quite normal when the league is considered. For example, Janne Niinimaa in Edmonton was -62 last year.