The NHL’s best and worst special teams units during the 2010-11 season

James O'Brien

Jul 24, 2011, 12:12 AM EDT

1 Comment

Henrik Sedin,Daniel Sedin,Christian Ehrhoff,Alexander Edler,Ryan Kesler

AP

The Boston Bruins’ Stanley Cup run was impressive in many ways. One of the things that made it truly remarkable was that they raised the silver chalice even while dealing with some serious special teams issues, especially on their power play (at least in the first three rounds of the postseason). It seemed like quite a few teams struggled in that area in the 2011 playoffs, but over the long haul, strong special teams units usually lead to success.

At least, it would seem that way, but the only route to test that theory is to actually look at the numbers. So far on this stat-heavy Saturday, we took a look at Power Play Plus/Minus and Penalty Kill Plus/Minus for all 30 NHL teams in the 2010-11 season.

In order to put it all together, it might be best to look at Special Teams Plus/Minus. The formula is quite simple: take Power Play Plus/Minus (PP goals scored minus shorthanded goals allowed) and then subtract it by Penalty Kill Plus/Minus (PP goals allowed minus shorthanded goals scored). Let’s take a look at which teams had the best and worst overall special teams units, according to “ST +/-.”

Stat categories: special teams plus/minus, power play plus/minus, PP opportunities, PP goals, shorthanded goals allowed, penalty kill plus/minus, times shorthanded, PP goals allowed and SH goals scored.

Team	ST +/-	PP+/-	PP Opp	PPG	SHGA	PK +/-	TS	PPGA	SHG
VAN	31	70	296	72	2	-39	312	45	6
CHI	13	60	277	64	4	-47	255	53	6
NYR	13	44	290	49	5	-31	257	42	11
DET	12	60	301	67	7	-48	300	53	5
PIT	11	43	311	49	6	-32	324	45	13
SJS	11	61	289	68	7	-50	274	56	6
ANA	10	60	285	67	7	-50	305	57	7
NYI	8	45	302	52	7	-37	310	52	15
CGY	7	53	318	62	9	-46	282	53	7
STL	7	51	279	52	1	-44	279	51	7
CAR	5	49	346	55	6	-44	272	51	7
LAK	5	41	292	47	6	-36	276	40	4
MTL	5	51	290	57	6	-46	327	51	5
TBL	5	53	336	69	16	-48	302	49	1
WSH	5	41	263	46	5	-36	299	43	7
BOS	3	38	265	43	5	-35	265	46	11
NSH	3	39	269	41	2	-36	272	41	5
PHI	3	44	295	49	5	-41	313	54	13
MIN	0	46	292	53	7	-46	308	53	7
OTT	-1	41	257	45	4	-42	294	48	6
DAL	-5	40	306	55	15	-45	277	55	10
FLA	-7	30	267	35	5	-37	267	41	4
BUF	-8	41	279	54	13	-49	300	51	2
NJD	-11	26	237	34	8	-37	241	40	3
TOR	-13	44	326	52	8	-57	275	62	5
ATL	-15	43	289	53	10	-58	285	64	6
PHX	-19	40	289	46	6	-59	296	64	5
EDM	-24	42	304	44	2	-66	321	74	8
CBJ	-25	31	301	42	11	-56	314	62	6
COL	-29	38	265	49	11	-67	314	75	8

***

The Canucks enjoyed by far the best overall special teams play in 2010-11, which follows reasonable logic since they dominated the regular season. The only area where you can truly beat up the Canucks is in the amount of penalties they took, which some pointed out when GM Mike Gillis complained about the disparity in whistles during the team’s first round series against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The eighth-ranked Islanders were the best non-playoff team (+8) while the Coyotes made the playoffs despite the fourth worst special teams (-19). Seven teams had a +10 rating or higher while seven teams rounded out the bottom of the pack with a -10 rating or lower.

Tin foil hat time

As a bonus, I thought I’d court the conspiracy theory-loving crowd by looking at the teams who enjoyed the greatest (or suffered from the worst) disparity between the power play opportunities they received and the penalties they took. For the sake of simplicity, those amounts are listed as “ST opp +/-” or special teams opportunity plus/minus.

Stat categories: special teams opportunity plus/minus, power play opportunities and time shorthanded.

Team	ST Opp +/-	PP Opp	TS
CAR	74	346	272
TOR	51	326	275
CGY	36	318	282
TBL	34	336	302
NYR	33	290	257
DAL	29	306	277
CHI	22	277	255
LAK	16	292	276
SJS	15	289	274
ATL	4	289	285
DET	1	301	300
BOS	0	265	265
FLA	0	267	267
STL	0	279	279
NSH	-3	269	272
NJD	-4	237	241
PHX	-7	289	296
NYI	-8	302	310
CBJ	-13	301	314
PIT	-13	311	324
MIN	-16	292	308
VAN	-16	296	312
EDM	-17	304	321
PHI	-18	295	313
ANA	-20	285	305
BUF	-21	279	300
WSH	-36	263	299
MTL	-37	290	327
OTT	-37	257	294
COL	-49	265	314

***

Here are a few throwaway thoughts (feel free to share your favorite conspiracy theories in the comments).

As if the Hurricanes didn’t need more reasons to kick themselves for missing the playoffs … they received a staggering 74 more power play opportunities than penalties in 2010-11.
Interestingly enough, the top three teams (Canes, Maple Leafs and Flames) didn’t make the postseason. Their special teams coaches probably won’t link to this post on an online resume.
The Lightning might want to rank “special teams” right behind “defense” on their list of needed improvements for next season.
The Capitals suffered from the third-worst disparity, but the team’s transition can be seen in the fact that both categories are under 300.
The Bruins, Panthers and Blues were the only teams to have exactly the same amount of penalties and power plays in 10-11.

***

OK, so those two tables provide some interesting special teams bits to chew on. If you’d like us to delve into previous seasons a bit, feel free to let us know in the comments. (We’ll probably take a deeper look at that special teams opportunities bit, if nothing else.)

Click here for Power Play Plus/Minus.

Click here for Penalty Kill Plus/Minus.

Skip to Comments (1)

Email

« Newer Official benefits: How NHL teams have been drawing and taking penalties since the lockout

Older » The NHL’s best and worst special teams units during the 2010-11 season

More ProHockeyTalk

Back to Homepage

No Comments (Feed for Comments)

Leave Comment

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

Older » Winnipeg Jets reveal their new logos; What do you think?

More ProHockeyTalk

Back to Homepage

More ProHockeyTalk

Latest Posts

Top Posts

Subscribe