Seider's speed, Ghostisbehere's heavy shot, and other takeaways from the NHL's newly unveiled tracking data
This morning, for the first time, the NHL made its puck and player-tracking data available for public consumption. For a full perusal of your own, check out NHL.com/EDGE, but as an entry point, here are a few takeaways from a Red Wings' perspective.
Before diving in, it's worth offering the qualifier that because this data is newly available to us, it will inevitably make more sense with the passage of time.
For the moment, we have minimal reference points with which to contextualize this data, so just as one must take early season results with something of a grain of salt, it's worth allowing a bit more of this data to pile up before drawing too many conclusions.
For now though, let's take a look at what the site has to say about the Red Wings' start to the '23-24 season.
-First, some superlatives.
Moritz Seider has registered the fastest skating speed of any Red Wing this season, clocking in at 22.68 miles-per-hour. He reached that speed in the second period of the Red Wings' win over the Lightning in the home opener. When you think speedy Red Wings, your first thought is probably Dylan Larkin, but his top speed for the year so far 21.57 MPH, which came in Detroit's win over Columbus.
Shayne Gostisbehere can lay claim to the hardest Red Wing shot for the year. He delivered a 95.81 MPH blast in the second period of last night's win over the Flames.
-Meanwhile, from a team-wide perspective, the Red Wings are in the 73rd percentile for speed bursts over 20 MPH (with a team total of 115), and they are in the 93rd percentile when it comes to miles skated as a team at 273.30.
Both of those are figures I struggle to contextualize, but I think the latter number in particular (and to some degree the former) does suggest a high work rate for this Detroit team across the board.
-Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the NHL EDGE site at this point is its shot location tracker. The image below offers a look at where on the ice Detroit has shot from throughout the year. The lighter the gray each zone is shaded suggests a total that is above league average from that location.
As you can see, the Red Wings are in the 99th percentile for both goals and shooting percentage. As we discussed this morning in relation to last night's win, some measure of regression is inevitable there, but this chart also helps explain how Detroit has been so prolific offensively.
When you look at the areas immediately around the net, you can see the Red Wings are above average at creating chance in the highest value areas of the offensive zone.
A 16.0 team shooting percentage isn't sustainable, but if the Red Wings continue to create offense at an above average rate around the net, then the goals won't dry up altogether.
Red Wings Shot Locations-For now, there's nothing Earth-shattering about this data, but it will be exciting to continue to monitor it as the season progresses.
Read about Wayne Gretzky's Collaboration with Northland Hockey, aiming to make equipment more affordable, here