Shawn Horcoff's first year as Captain of a team built to land another lottery pick saw him play a well-defined role: he was the defensively-responsible housesitter assigned to protect his own zone while the kids went gallivanting around the rink. Horcoff played with fewer linemates than any other forward with as many games. In a way, his housesitting duties rescued his reputation amongst Edmonton fans. Prior to the season, the fan's book on Horcoff went something like this: "overpaid, useless, terrible, awful." Now he's thought of in a completely different manner - he's the guy that allowed the kids to do their thing.
Chance % Team Rank: 3/23
Chance % Fwd Rank: 2/15
Diff/60 Team Rank: 3/23
Diff/60 Fwd Rank: 2/15
TCF = season total even strength chances for; TCA = season total even strength chances against; SCF = segment even strength chances for; SCA = segment even strength chances against; Segment % = player scoring chance percentage during the season segment; Team Seg % = Oilers team scoring chance percentage during the season segment.
Game # | TCF | TCA | SCF | SCA | Segment % | Team Seg % |
1-10 | 41 | 35 | 41 | 35 | 0.539 | 0.453 |
11-20 | 61 | 70 | 20 | 35 | 0.364 | 0.401 |
21-30 | 97 | 94 | 36 | 24 | 0.600 | 0.449 |
31-40 | 0.467 | |||||
41-50 | 126 | 110 | 29 | 16 | 0.644 | 0.531 |
51-60 | 163 | 151 | 37 | 41 | 0.474 | 0.470 |
61-70 | 199 | 186 | 36 | 35 | 0.507 | 0.454 |
71-82 | 0.486 |
*click to enlarge
- In games 21-30 and 41-50, Horcoff and friends were killing it. At first glance, it seems like Horcoff, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle were responsible for dragging the Oilers' team average up to respectability.
With Horcoff | Without Horcoff | Horcoff Without | |||||||||
# | CF | CA | % | CF | CA | % | CF | CA | % | ||
4 | 121 | 86 | 0.585 | 228 | 235 | 0.492 | 78 | 100 | 0.438 | ||
14 | 100 | 90 | 0.526 | 209 | 213 | 0.495 | 99 | 96 | 0.508 | ||
27 | 60 | 57 | 0.513 | 188 | 191 | 0.496 | 139 | 129 | 0.519 | ||
83 | 59 | 79 | 0.428 | 134 | 119 | 0.530 | 140 | 107 | 0.567 | ||
91 | 31 | 30 | 0.508 | 234 | 292 | 0.445 | 168 | 156 | 0.519 | ||
2 | 51 | 55 | 0.481 | 195 | 244 | 0.444 | 148 | 131 | 0.530 | ||
5 | 62 | 54 | 0.534 | 270 | 323 | 0.455 | 137 | 132 | 0.509 | ||
6 | 36 | 51 | 0.414 | 132 | 142 | 0.482 | 163 | 135 | 0.547 | ||
26 | 44 | 34 | 0.564 | 195 | 267 | 0.422 | 155 | 152 | 0.505 | ||
43 | 17 | 19 | 0.472 | 123 | 141 | 0.466 | 182 | 167 | 0.521 | ||
49 | 64 | 61 | 0.512 | 214 | 299 | 0.417 | 135 | 125 | 0.519 | ||
58 | 22 | 14 | 0.611 | 140 | 129 | 0.520 | 177 | 172 | 0.507 | ||
77 | 91 | 71 | 0.562 | 280 | 321 | 0.466 | 108 | 115 | 0.484 |
- As I wrote in the opening - Horcoff had a very specifically-defined role - protect Hall and Eberle. He was never subjected to the Renney/Injury blender.