Shooting percentage rates and variations

After the season ends it’s interesting to look at shooting percentages, which can be an early if vague precursor that a player may be bound to progress or regress statistically from season-to-season. As a whole, the Kings averaged 2.66 goals per game in 2014-15, well below their 2014 playoff average of 3.36 but above last season’s 2.42. The Kings ranked 18th in the league in goals per game, even though they recorded the second-highest rate of a five-year team span. Los Angeles’ power play ranked tied for 11th in the league with a success rate of 19.0%, while they scored seven shorthanded goals and ranked 13th in the league with 155 goals in five-on-five play.

Below are the players’ individual shooting rates, measured both in shots on goal per minute and shooting percentages.

Player / Total TOI / G / Sh / Sh per minute / 14-15 Sh% / New career Sh%
#2 Matt Greene: 1295:41 / 3 / 69 / .05 / 4.3% / 3.5%
#3 Brayden McNabb: 1128:50 / 2 / 74 / .07 / 2.7% / 2.8%
#5 Jamie McBain: 329:52 / 3 / 18 / 0.5 / 16.7% / 6.8%
#6 Jake Muzzin: 1725:11 / 10 / 173 / .10 / 5.8% / 5.1%
#7 Andrej Sekera (with Kings): 307:20 / 1 / 23 / .07 / 4.3% / 5.0%
#8 Drew Doughty: 2377:40 / 7 / 219 / .09 / 3.2% / 6.1%
#10 Mike Richards: 708:23 / 5 / 63 / .09 / 7.9% / 10.9%
#11 Anze Kopitar: 1531:49 / 16 / 134 / .09 / 11.9% / 12.2%
#12 Marian Gaborik: 1167:08 / 27 / 174 / .15 / 15.5% / 13.1%
#13 Kyle Clifford: 859:04 / 6 / 117 / .14 / 5.1% / 6.9%
#14 Justin Williams: 1281:25 / 18 / 174 / .14 / 10.3% / 9.3%
#15 Andy Andreoff: 154:14 / 2 / 14 / .09 / 14.3% / 14.3%
#22 Trevor Lewis: 1029:48 / 9 / 143 / .14 / 6.3% / 4.8%
#23 Dustin Brown: 1354:23 / 11 / 189 / .14 / 5.8% / 9.8%
#27 Alec Martinez: 1116:07 / 6 / 103 / .09 / 5.8% / 7.8%
#28 Jarret Stoll: 1130:45 / 6 / 83 / .07 / 7.2% / 9.0%
#37 Nick Shore: 376:57 / 1 / 33 / .09 / 3.0% / 3.0%
#44 Robyn Regehr: 1361:53 / 3 / 63 / .05 / 4.8% / 3.2%
#70 Tanner Pearson: 558:16 / 12 / 68 / .12 / 17.6% / 15.2%
#71 Jordan Nolan: 597:52 / 6 / .44 / .07 / 13.6% / 11.1%
#73 Tyler Toffoli: 1108:46 / 23 / 200 / .18 / 11.5% / 10.8%
#74 Dwight King: 1166:02 / 13 / 127 / .11 / 10.2% / 10.8%
#77 Jeff Carter: 1473:36 / 28 / 218 / .15 / 12.8% / 11.5%

Observations:

-Your shots-per-minute leaders are Tyler Toffoli (.18), Marian Gaborik and Jeff Carter (.15), and a four-player group of Kyle Clifford, Justin Williams, Trevor Lewis and Dustin Brown (.14).

-Brown, meanwhile has compiled a 6.8% shooting percentage over the last two seasons. Between 2010-11 and 2012-13, he shot 11.6%

-Jeff Carter has played 10 NHL seasons. Of the three highest annual shooting percentages he has compiled, two have come with the Kings: 2012-13 (#1 / 19.6%) and 2014-15 (#3 / 12.8%).

-If anyone’s numbers stick out the most, I’m going with Tyler Toffoli, who potted 23 goals and took 200 shots despite finishing seventh amongst forwards in ice time per game.

-Jordan Nolan scored six goals on 44 shots. By virtue of how and where he gets his goals, he’s going to have a shooting percentage that’s naturally above average. But his late-season shot in Calgary in which he finished off an Alec Martinez rebound from a sharp angle serves as an indication that he’s got a quick release and good hands around the net.

-You may have noticed that Alec Martinez’s shooting percentage dropped from 13.9% in 2013-14 to 5.8% in 2014-15. This dip was (easily) predicted in his 2014 year-end evaluation.