I touched on the Oilers' STE yesterday and thought it worthwhile to look at league-wide STE to see who has squeaked out incremental wins via special teams.
From the original STE (Special Teams Efficiency) article:
If we had a simple metric to apply to special teams, we could get a sense of just how much of an impact special teams can have on a season. Since the league average for power play success percentage plus penalty kill success percentage is 100, why not add the two and use it as a baseline for measuring special teams efficiency? Though the tendency to regress toward the mean may be somewhat less strong (but then again, maybe not!), it may still be useful as an evaluation tool. In this case, we'll call the combined number Special Teams Efficiency, or STE. If all teams were to draw the same amount of penalties, a team with a 100 STE would net zero special teams goals.
If special teams efficiency is not a team talent, STE will regress to 100. This does not speak to shot generation or suppression as a team talent
In order to isolate the efficiency, I've set all teams equal to the league average and compiled the list below. Note that this does not take into account the differential in penalties drawn or taken, as this isn't a team talent, rather it's an individual talent.
PP: power play conversion rate; PK: penalty kill rate; STE: special teams efficiency; Goals Gained: goals gained or lost versus the league average
Rk | Team | PP% | PK% | STE | Goals Gained |
1 | Vancouver Canucks | 26.12 | 85.83 | 111.95 | 15 |
2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 19.58 | 87.7 | 107.28 | 9 |
3 | Boston Bruins | 18.49 | 88.71 | 107.2 | 9 |
4 | New Jersey Devils | 13.33 | 92.56 | 105.89 | 7 |
5 | Edmonton Oilers | 20.61 | 83.45 | 104.06 | 5 |
6 | New York Rangers | 16.39 | 86.73 | 103.12 | 4 |
7 | Nashville Predators | 20.35 | 82.2 | 102.55 | 3 |
8 | Detroit Red Wings | 21.21 | 81.15 | 102.36 | 3 |
9 | Los Angeles Kings | 15.5 | 86.57 | 102.07 | 3 |
10 | Buffalo Sabres | 18.18 | 83.33 | 101.51 | 2 |
11 | Montreal Canadiens | 12.32 | 89.05 | 101.37 | 2 |
12 | Colorado Avalanche | 21.3 | 79.84 | 101.14 | 1 |
13 | Anaheim Ducks | 18.49 | 82.52 | 101.01 | 1 |
14 | Florida Panthers | 18.12 | 82.86 | 100.98 | 1 |
15 | Philadelphia Flyers | 18.79 | 82.12 | 100.91 | 1 |
16 | Minnesota Wild | 16.26 | 84.55 | 100.81 | 1 |
17 | Washington Capitals | 17.24 | 82.46 | 99.7 | 0 |
18 | Calgary Flames | 16.81 | 82.4 | 99.21 | -1 |
19 | Dallas Stars | 15.74 | 83.33 | 99.07 | -1 |
20 | Winnipeg Jets | 16.96 | 81.94 | 98.9 | -1 |
21 | Chicago Blackhawks | 19.84 | 78.18 | 98.02 | -2 |
22 | Ottawa Senators | 17.07 | 79.86 | 96.93 | -4 |
23 | New York Islanders | 15.89 | 80.95 | 96.84 | -4 |
24 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 15.32 | 81.2 | 96.52 | -4 |
25 | Phoenix Coyotes | 13.08 | 81.98 | 95.06 | -6 |
26 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 21.37 | 73.44 | 94.81 | -6 |
27 | Carolina Hurricanes | 13.42 | 79.13 | 92.55 | -9 |
28 | St. Louis Blues | 11.01 | 80.91 | 91.92 | -10 |
29 | San Jose Sharks | 17.92 | 73.63 | 91.55 | -10 |
30 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 13.48 | 76.19 | 89.67 | -13 |
- Not only is Vancouver killing it at even strength, they have dominant special teams as well. On efficiency alone, they're 2.5 wins better than average.
- The Penguins' penalty kill is strong once again and the Crosby-less power play is still a top 10 power play.
- Like the Canucks, the Bruins are an even strength beast as well as outstanding on special teams.
- Year-in and year-out, the Leafs are at the bottom of the league in STE. I'll wager a deeper investigation of this will show some fatal flaws in their special teams approach.
- The Blues (a subject of our power play shot quality article yesterday) have the worst power play conversion rate in the league.
- The Sharks are struggling by this measure, mostly because their penalty kill has been terrible.
- The Blue Jackets have the worst special teams in the league (without looking I'll blame Steve Mason) and their 13 goals lost puts them 28 goals behind Vancouver, or 4.5 wins back on special teams efficiency alone.