Numbers That May Interest Only Me: Magnus Pääjärvi's Shot Rates

Photo by Lisa McRitchie, all rights reserved.

Jerconjake over at Oil Acumen wrote an interesting article about Magnus Pääjärvi's shot rates.  In it, he wrote:

In reviewing Taylor Hall's rookie campaign we saw that he was able to amass a very large number of shots, and was on pace to have shot totals that only Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, Couture and Grabner have had as rookies since the lockout. Magnus Paajarvi was no slouch in the shot department either. He hit the opposing net 180 times this year in 80 games, for a 2.25 shots-per-game average. It didn't always feel like he was shooting so much, but the numbers say Paajarvi was at least directing the puck in the right direction most of the time.

The average Oilers fan would be surprised to know that Paajarvi had at least 5 shots in a game nine times this year, including two games with 8 shots on goal and two games where he had six apiece. He hit the net at least 4 times in fifteen games this season. The only problem is the rate at which he converted all of those shots: 8.3%.

There's also an interesting tidbit about Pääjärvi's progression later in the article.

How do his shot rates compare to his 19 year old comps?

As with the scoring rates, Pääjärvi isn't in Kopitar's class, but he's showing very well when compared to the Sedins.  Lowetide likes to talk about arrows -- Pääjärvi's arrows are all pointing up.