After practice Wednesday Glen Hanlon addressed the impact he believes his new high-priced free agent forwards will have on his team’s shootout prospects this season. On paper, it would appear to be a dramatic one. When you visit NHL.com’s stats page for shootouts from last season, you notice both Michael Nylander and Viktor Kozlov’s names on the first page of success. Through two seasons of shootout tally stats, that’s not a perch in which you’ve commonly found Caps.
It’s hard to imagine a team being worse in the shootout than the Caps were last season — they took 40 shootout shots and converted a grand total of 5 of them (that’s 12.5 percent) — but there actually was one, Carolina. The Hurricanes, however, only took 17 extra-extra session shots in 2006-07 (scoring on just one! Ouch!!).
In shootouts, the Caps aren’t even Shaq at the free throw line.
Here’s how bad things shootout got for Glen Hanlon last season: on March 1, in a 10-rounder against Tampa at Verizon Center, the coach even had Ben Clymer, Matt Bradley, and Donald Brashear rush in from the red line. (All three missed of course. All 10 Caps’ shooters missed that night, if memory serves.) I was inside Verizon Center that night, and I left thinking I’d have to return with my gear bag when covering future games in case Hanlon wanted to summon me for shootout duty.
Whatever your views on the appropriateness of the shootout as a game-settler, they’re here to stay for the foreseeable future, and for most teams they determine an important number of standings points over the course of the season. It’s hard to fathom the Caps remaining grotesque in them this season and qualifying for the postseason.
The addition of a single quality shooter in the shootout lineup can make a world of difference, but it would appear that Hanlon will be adding two this season. Both Nylander and Kozlov converted just under 40 percent in the shootout a season ago. On a team of 10-percenters (and often worse), that’s a revolutionary success rate. In his remarks Wednesday, Hanlon indicated that for now, both newcomers would be penciled in for shootouts at season’s start.
Which sets up an intriguing bit of personnel exclusion: in such a rotation one of the Alexanders necessarily would be excluded. Or . . . would both? Neither player — especially Ovechkin all last season long — looked particularly comfortable during shootouts, and after his dynamic success in them in the opening weeks of his NHL career in 2005-06, Ovechkin has been snakebit, stymied, and stoned, stoned, stoned ever since by all caliber of NHL netminder.
Hanlon on Wednesday actually acknowledged the novelty of sitting his magic-hands set of Russians during the team’s shootouts.
“Can you imagine if we had 15,000 in the seats and I sat those guys?”
He then suggested something about his fate involving a noose or a burning at a stake, I think. Even more interesting, according to the coach, is that apparently one of his most impressive performers in shootout-like drills in practice is defenseman Jeff Schultz. I don’t think we’re going to see him in the coach’s top 3 very often early on this season.
But if the shootout struggles continue, you never know.
7 Comments
Everyone rags on OV for being bad int he shootout, but lets not forget he was on fire int he shootout in his rookie season.
Strikeman - I think Pucks did a good job of describing Ovechkin’s shooutout success to date over 2 seasons; he started strong in 05-06, but then as Pucks put it has been “…snakebit, stymied, and stoned…” And I am not going into the details to rag on AO, just pointing out the facts.
Based on my notes, he took 13 shootout attempts in 05-06, he was successful on 5 of his first 6 attempts; after that he went 1 for 7.
Oh and about the shooutouts in the context that they exist, agree it will be great if the additions of Kozlov and Nylander (who have had success in SOs) to the top 3 shooters turns some of those SOLs into SOWs. As an organization, Bears and Capitals, shootouts have been painful to watch these last 2 seasons. Regulation wins and not having to watch a SO, even better.
I’ve been watching a lot of Nylander the last two seasons (living in NYC, Rangers hockey beats no hockey), and I have to say he does have good hands for it. He also provides something that I think is underappreciated: shootout leadership. During the big Shootout Controversy of 2006-07 (brought to you by the OMGNEWYORKMEDIA!) when Jagr was trying to sit out every shootout the Rangers went to, Nylander was as much an apparent inspiration to the guys on the shootouts, especially the longer ones, as Shanahan was during regulation. He was usually one of the first giving a guy a high-five or a pat on the shoulder on the way out or back from the red line.
I think the Caps last year were looking at the SO as way more of an individual drill than a team exercise, so having Nylander here should improve everyone’s success a little, and his hands are going to bump us over into the W column by themselves a few times this season, I suspect.
What a fascinating perspective, Kurt! Thank you for sharing it.
sk84fun_dc, point taken. I wasnt saying that the post was being negative about OV. I just meant the fans in general. Regardless if OV hasnt scored in the shootout recently, I still want him out there.
Hell I think OT should be 10 minutes without the SO. 10 minutes of 4on4 someone is bound to score.
Regardless if you (us) like the SO or not, the fans are definitely into it (at least the ones at the arena). When it is SO time, there is a significant buzz in the arena.
Personally, I think they should go 5 skaters a side instead of three. One, it draws it out a little more for the fans and two, it gives the fan a chance to see the players showcase their skill/creativity on a one v one. I am sure the goalies would disagree though.
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