The View From Wisconsin
Just a random set of rants from a Sports Fan from Wisconsin.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
2006 NHL GOALS CREATED AWARDS
THE 2005-06 NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE GOALS CREATED AWARDS
- WAYNE GRETZKY AWARD (Most Goals Created, Technical Formula): Jaromir Jagr, NYR (152.4 GC). It was the closest GC total that I've ever seen since I first developed the formula back in the mid-1990's. Runner-up Joe Thornton (Boston/San Jose) ended with 152.1 GC, essentially 0.29 goals behind Jagr. The reason? The 11-minute difference in penalties (in Thornton's favor) didn't overcome Jagr's one-point lead (157 to 156) in points plus plus-minus rating. Penalty minutes are worth only .064537 goals in the GC-Tech formula, and the additional PIM for Jags didn't drag down his GC total. Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa was a distant third at 128.8.
- BOBBY ORR AWARD (Best Win Shares total): Joe Thornton, BOS/SAN (20.9 WS). This was where things got odd; Thornton's GC-Historical formula total was greater than Jagr's (144.5 to 143.4) because the value of any goal scored compared to PIM was higher than the Tech formula's PPG-to-PIM total. GC-Historical, though, is used exclusively for Win Shares, as it is (as its name implies) a way of comparing players across seasons. Jagr's 20.5 WS was not his best year (he had three 20-WS seasons with the Pens, one of them his breakout 1995-96 season of 62 goals and 162 GC. Alfredsson was third here as well, at 16.7 WS.
- HART TROPHY (Highest total Hart Trophy Formula points): Jaromir Jagr, NYR (139.4). The HTP system saw a larger difference between Jags and "Jumbo Joe" (123.9) than Goals Created did. That's because of Jaromir's better Fantasy Point total (see below), which is a component of the HTP formula. Dany Heatley was rated as the #3 player at 116.4 points for Ottawa.
- NORRIS TROPHY (Highest total HTF points among Defensemen): Nicklas Lidstron, DET (108.6). Lidstrom's teammate, Mathieu Schneider, was the second runner-up at 92.4. Dallas's Sergei Zubov was sandwiched in-between at 92.9.
- VEZINA TROPHY (Highest total Vezina Trophy Forumla points): Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY (127.5 VZN pts). The Vezina formula takes into account two weighings of a goaltender's performance in allowing goals, making saves and winning games. Kiprusoff was hands-down the best this year, with Martin Brodeur (NJD, 117.1), Roberto Luongo (FLA, 102.9) and Tomas Vokoun (NAS, 102.8) right behind. If Vokoun would have played in a few more games, it's conceivable that he would have caught Kiprusoff.
- CALDER TROPHY (Highest total HTF points among Rookies): Alexander Ovechkin, WAS (97.4 HART). He lapped the field. First of all, he beat Crosby by over 11 goals (104.6 to 93.9) in GC; he was distinctly better in Win Shares (11.2 to 7.8), and despite Crosby getting a slight edge in Fantasy Points (166.0 to 165.6), Alexander the Great bested Sid The Kid by 10 HTP (97.4 to 87.2). Henrik Lundqvist was a distant third with the Rangers at 69.9.
- POOLIE/FANTASY AWARD (Highest Fantasy Points Rating Total, skaters and goaltenders): Jaromir Jagr, NYR (226.6); Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY (200.0). This was developed from The Hockey News Fantasy Pool Hockey game's point system. Basically, one point per goal and assist, plus plus-minus rating, plus two times power-play goals, plus PIM times a constant; the constant used here is 0.300368 (the number of successful penalty kills per PIM in the NHL in 2005-06). The only other player to crack the 200-point mark was Dany Heatley of Ottawa, who posted a 203.8 total.
- GORDIE HOWE TROPHY (Most Goals, Assists and Penalty Minutes per 60 MIN): Bryan McCabe, TOR (86.74 points). This is a whimsical total that adds points to PIM, mutliplies it by ATOI and divides by 60.
- RON HEXTALL TROPHY (Most Points and Penalty Minutes per 60 MIN in Net): Marty Turco, DAL (28.8 points). This is the goalie's version of the Howe Trophy.
- Center - Joe Thornton, BOS/SAN (123.9 HART)
- Left Wing - Dany Heatley, OTT (116.4)
- Right Wing - Jaromir Jagr, NYR (139.4)
- Defensemen - Nicklas Lidstron, DET (108.6) and Sergei Zubov, DAL (92.9)
- Goaltender - Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY (108.7)
- Center - Marc Savard, ATL (88.7)
- Left Wing - Alexander Ovechkin, WAS (97.4)
- Right Wing - Daniel Alfredsson, OTT (111.2)
- Defensemen - Mathieu Schneider, DET (92.4) and Bryan McCabe, TOR (88.3)
- Goaltender - Martin Brodeur, NJD (97.1)
- Center - Sidney Crosby, PIT (87.2)
- Left Wing - Alexander Ovechkin, WAS (97.4)
- Right Wing - Marek Svatos, COL (31.6)
- Defensemen - Dion Phaneuf, CGY (58.6) and Andrej Meszaros, OTT (51.6)
- Goaltender - Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (69.9)
- LES GLORIEUX TROPHY (Most Points Gained in Regulation, each conference): Detroit Red Wings (51-16-15, 117 points) and Ottawa Senators (48-21-13, 109 points). With the changes in the standings, I figured we needed an award for the two teams that posted a record that would have won the league title years ago - when there was no overtime.
- SPECIAL TEAMS RATING AWARD (Best Net Special Teams Rating): Ottawa Senators (8.49%). STR is a combination of a Power-play Rating (PP goals, less shorties allowed, divided by Man-Advantages) and a Penalty-killing Rating (Times shorthanded, less PP goals allowed, plus shorties scored, with the sum divided by times shortanded). One is subtracted from the total, and the result is multiplied by 100 to get the rating. Essentially, the rating is a certain amount over/under the league average (which, by definition, should be zero). The higher the rating, the better the team is (theoretically) on both the power-play AND the penalty kill. The Washington Capitals were the worst in the NHL, with a -7.34% rating.
- SHOOTOUT PLUS/MINUS AWARD (Best Shootout Goal Differential): Dallas Stars (+15). When you outscore your opponents, 24-9, in the shootout, you're likely to win a few games. Dallas won 12 of 13 contests in the penalty shot competition, mostly thanks to Jussi "The Move" Jokkinen.
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Joseph Houk. All rights reserved.
