What explanations can we explore to determine why the Oilers are giving up far more chances in front of Khabibulin compared to anyone else who plays in goal for them?
I asked that question of you, the reader, in mid-March. Commenters arrived at a "rebounds" consensus, but I don't believe anyone has done any work on the question. I don't know if goaltenders have a significant effect on scoring chance rates, but we needed a way to introduce the Nikolai Khabibulin review, so the season numbers are after the jump.
I've listed his rank among his teammates as if he were a skater:
Chance % Team Rank: 20/24
Diff/60 Team Rank: 21/24
Scoring Chances by Season Segment
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 | 91 | 117 | 91 | 117 | 0.438 | 0.453 |
11-20 | 134 | 204 | 43 | 87 | 0.331 | 0.401 |
21-30 | 206 | 296 | 72 | 92 | 0.439 | 0.449 |
31-40 | 292 | 431 | 86 | 135 | 0.389 | 0.467 |
41-50 | 373 | 496 | 81 | 65 | 0.555 | 0.531 |
51-60 | 448 | 573 | 75 | 77 | 0.493 | 0.470 |
61-70 | 454 | 590 | 6 | 17 | 0.261 | 0.454 |
71-82 | 515 | 672 | 61 | 82 | 0.427 | 0.486 |
Scoring Chances Line Graph by Season Segment
*click to enlarge
He was 20th in chance percentage so the poor numbers on the graph are not a surprise.
Scoring Chances WOWY
With Khabibulin | Without Khabibulin | Khabibulin Without | |||||||||
# | CF | CA | % | CF | CA | % | CF | CA | % | ||
4 | 178 | 200 | 0.471 | 171 | 121 | 0.586 | 337 | 472 | 0.417 | ||
10 | 92 | 101 | 0.477 | 107 | 85 | 0.557 | 423 | 571 | 0.426 | ||
13 | 152 | 179 | 0.459 | 138 | 150 | 0.479 | 363 | 493 | 0.424 | ||
14 | 164 | 173 | 0.487 | 145 | 130 | 0.527 | 351 | 499 | 0.413 | ||
16 | 49 | 87 | 0.360 | 41 | 48 | 0.461 | 466 | 585 | 0.443 | ||
22 | 40 | 46 | 0.465 | 33 | 47 | 0.413 | 475 | 626 | 0.431 | ||
23 | 81 | 100 | 0.448 | 72 | 85 | 0.459 | 434 | 572 | 0.431 | ||
27 | 132 | 146 | 0.475 | 116 | 102 | 0.532 | 383 | 526 | 0.421 | ||
28 | 81 | 159 | 0.338 | 82 | 105 | 0.439 | 434 | 513 | 0.458 | ||
46 | 27 | 42 | 0.391 | 18 | 17 | 0.514 | 488 | 630 | 0.436 | ||
67 | 57 | 94 | 0.377 | 51 | 60 | 0.459 | 458 | 578 | 0.442 | ||
83 | 85 | 121 | 0.413 | 108 | 77 | 0.584 | 430 | 551 | 0.438 | ||
85 | 59 | 55 | 0.518 | 52 | 78 | 0.400 | 456 | 617 | 0.425 | ||
89 | 151 | 189 | 0.444 | 120 | 128 | 0.484 | 364 | 483 | 0.430 | ||
91 | 136 | 182 | 0.428 | 129 | 140 | 0.480 | 379 | 490 | 0.436 | ||
2 | 113 | 146 | 0.436 | 133 | 153 | 0.465 | 402 | 526 | 0.433 | ||
5 | 181 | 225 | 0.446 | 151 | 152 | 0.498 | 334 | 447 | 0.428 | ||
6 | 92 | 133 | 0.409 | 76 | 60 | 0.559 | 423 | 539 | 0.440 | ||
26 | 128 | 182 | 0.413 | 111 | 119 | 0.483 | 387 | 490 | 0.441 | ||
43 | 70 | 99 | 0.414 | 70 | 61 | 0.534 | 445 | 573 | 0.437 | ||
49 | 152 | 214 | 0.415 | 126 | 146 | 0.463 | 363 | 458 | 0.442 | ||
58 | 83 | 78 | 0.516 | 79 | 65 | 0.549 | 432 | 594 | 0.421 | ||
77 | 184 | 216 | 0.460 | 187 | 176 | 0.515 | 331 | 456 | 0.421 |
This is just bizarre. There's something going on here, but what? Taylor Hall without Khabibulin has a scoring chance percentage better than Alex Ovechkin. With Khabibulin he's Jason Chimera. Tom Gilbert posts numbers similar to those of Karl Alzner without Khabibulin. With him, he's Tyler Sloan. Ryan Whitney's numbers are better than those of John Carlson without Khabibulin. With him, he's the worst player on the Capitals. Ales Hemsky is better than Ovechkin without Khabibulin. With him, he's the worst player on the Caps. Ladislav Smid and Kurtis Foster were nearly even players without Khabibulin. Only three Oilers were better with Khabibulin: J.F. Jacques and Liam Reddox, and of course Ryan Jones, though Jones and Khabibulin were so bad together it was impossible for them to be worse apart from each other.