NHL Edge: Carolina Hurricanes Deep Dive
NHL EDGE - NHL Edge: Carolina Hurricanes Deep DiveThe NHL unveiled a new site Monday morning, NHL EDGE, which for the first time gives public access to their player and puck tracking data that they've been collecting since 2021.
The site offers an insight into many new areas of data such as player skating speed, distance skated, shot speed, zone time and much more.
With new information available, I decided to take a deep dive into some of the Hurricanes' data.
*All data collected as of 3 p.m. 10/24/23.*
Skating Speed
Hurricanes Top Speed: 23.54mph - Martin Necas (96th Percentile)
League Average: 22.79mph
Martin Necas recorded the second fastest speed in the NHL this season with his burst at 14:49 of the third period against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 17.
And if you're curious what happened with that speed burst...
Necas' burst was just 0.41mph slower than Rasmus Kupari's league-leading burst (23.95mph).
Necas also has had the most bursts of 22+ mph in the league with 11, and the third most bursts of 20+ mph with 37.
Skating Distance
Hurricanes Average: 271.14 miles (84th Percentile)
League Average: 232.97 miles
It's no secret that the Hurricanes are a hard skating team and they're in the upper echelon of the league in that regard. Here's a few of the Canes' skating standouts.
- Seth Jarvis: 10th most distance skated this season among all skaters with 20.27 miles; 4th most among forwards. Jarvis also had the 10th most distance skated a in single game among forwards with 3.87 miles skated against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 11.
- Martin Necas: 8th most distance skated among forwards with 19.46 miles. Necas also had the second most distance skated in a single period by a forward with 1.64 miles coming in the third period against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 15.
- Brent Burns: 9th most distance skated by a defenseman in a single period with 1.5 miles skated in the third period against the LA Kings on Oct. 14.
The NHL EDGE data also allows you to break this data down further by different game situations.
PK Distance Skated
- Jordan Staal - 2.78 total miles skated on the penalty kill which is 3rd amongst all skaters and 2nd among forwards. Staal also skated 0.88 miles on the PK against the Senators on Oct. 11 which is 8th most among skaters and 6th among forwards for a single game and 0.47 miles on the PK in the second period against the Sharks on Oct. 17 which is the 10th most among forwards for a single period.
- Jaccob Slavin - 2.59 total miles skated which is 8th among defensemen. Slavin also skated 0.49 miles on the PK in the second period against the Sharks which is the 8th most among defensemen for a single period.
- Brent Burns - 2.46 total miles skated on the PK which is the 10th most among defensemen.
PP Distance Skated
- Seth Jarvis - 4.76 total miles skated on the power play which is 2nd most among skaters. Jarvis also skated 1.12 miles against the Senators which is the 7th most among forwards for a single game.
- Martin Necas - 4.56 total miles skated on the PP which is 3rd most among skaters.
- Tony DeAngelo - 3.95 total miles skated on the PP which is 8th most among skaters and 3rd most among defensemen.
- Brent Burns - 3.21 total miles skated on the PP which is 10th most among defensemen.
Top Shot Speed
Hurricanes Top Speed: 98.87mph - Brent Burns (81st Percentile)
League Average: 95.47mph
The Hurricanes shoot a lot of pucks and that's especially true for Burns who has a bomb. His best shot (98.87mph), which came in the first period against the Sharks on Oct. 17, was the 8th hardest shot by a skater this season and 6th hardest among defensemen.
Necas has also been known to wire some pucks too and his 94.9mph shot was the 7th hardest among all forwards. It came in the first period against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 15. Necas also has recorded three shots over 90 mph which is the 4th most among forwards.
Zone Time
The Hurricanes are the best team in the league in terms of generating offense for themselves and limiting offense for their opponents. While the goals against might seem to insinuate the opposite right now, the Canes are actually giving up very little in terms of sustained pressure.
Here's a few data points broken up by game situations and zones.
Even Strength
Offensive Zone
Hurricanes Average: 47.9% (99th Percentile - First Overall)
League Average: 40.6%
Standouts: The Hurricanes have four of the top 10 skaters in even strength, offensive zone time. Jesper Fast is the best in the league with 55.9% of his EV ice time spent in the o-zone, Jordan Martinook is second with 54.9% Jordan Staal is third with 53.9%, and Brent Burns is ninth with 49.5%.
In terms of just defensemen, the Hurricanes have the best defenseman with Burns spending 49.5% of his EV ice time in the offensive zone, Jaccob Slavin is second with 49.1%, Brady Skjei is third with 49%, Brett Pesce is fourth with 48.6%, and Jalen Chatfield is seventh with 46.7%.
Neutral Zone
Hurricanes Average: 18.9% (68th Percentile)
League Average: 18.7%
Defensive Zone
Hurricanes Average: 33.3% (99th Percentile - First Overall)
League Average: 40.7%
Standouts: As to be expected, if those guys are spending a lot of time in the offensive zone, then they're not spending it in the defensive zone.
Jesper Fast is once again first with 25% of his even strength ice time spent in the defensive zone, Jordan Martinook is second with 26.4%, Jordan Staal is third with 27.1%, Brady Skjei is fifth with 31.1%, Brett Pesce is 7th with 31.5%, Brent Burns is 8th with 41.8% and Sebastian Aho is 10th with 32.4%.
Takeaway: The Hurricanes are once again the league's best even strength team and Jesper Fast is the league's best even strength player. I don't make the rules, I just read the data.
Power Play
Offensive Zone
Hurricanes Average: 59.6% (65th Percentile)
League Average: 58.1%
Neutral Zone
Hurricanes Average: 13.9% (Below 50th Percentile)
League Average: 14.5%
Defensive Zone
Hurricanes Average: 26.5% (59th Percentile)
League Average: 27.4%
Takeaway - The power play hasn't been dominant, but it also hasn't been bad operating at 26.7% which is tied for 10th best in the league. However, the power play does seem to turn into a coin flip of either scoring or giving up a shorthanded goal which may be why these numbers are middling.
Penalty Kill
Offensive Zone
Hurricanes Average: 35.1% (99th Percentile - First Overall)
League Average: 27.2%
Standouts: Jack Drury - 50.5% of PK time spent in the offensive zone which is 8th among skaters and 6th among forwards.
Neutral Zone
Hurricanes Average: 16.7% (87th Percentile)
League Average: 14.4%
Defensive Zone
Hurricanes Average: 48.3% (99th Percentile - First Overall)
League Average: 58.4%
Standouts: Jack Drury - 36.2% of PK time spent in the defensive zone which is 7th among forwards; Sebastian Aho - 38.8% of PK time spent in the defensive zone which is 10th among forwards.
Takeaway: The Hurricanes' PK looks very strong in this regard, but they've also surrendered the most power play goals against in the league and have a success rate of just 67.9% which is the fourth worst in the league. So what gives?
The reason for the discrepancy is that six on the nine power play goals they've given up have come in under 33 seconds of PK time. That drastically skews the time spent in their own end when combined with how strong their other kills have been. So what to remember here is that some data doesn't tell the full story.
That and that Jack Drury has looked really good killing penalties as of late.
Shots on Goal
You can now also see where on the ice players are shooting from, scoring from and their overall shooting percentage in those areas as well. On the flip side, you can also see those similar stats for goaltenders as well.
The NHL EDGE website opens up a whole new set of data to play around with and look at for NHL fans.
It'll be fun to be able to finally see some of the data that we've assumed we've known actually be confirmed, I.E. Necas' speed.
And hey, maybe the NHL could actually invite players to the All-Star weekend who actually have the hardest shots or fastest times for once.
But that is for asking for a lot from them to be fair.
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