What Is The Most Important Statistic In The NHL? Does a higher Corsi%, Save %, or Shot % increase your chances of winning a Stanley Cup?

Scenario What is a Corsi%, Save% and Shot% and why do these numbers matter in Hockey? How do these statistics in past years correlate to the past Stanley Cup Champions? Which statistic gives your NHL (National Hockey League) team the best chance at winning the Stanley Cup?

Data Name of Team Games Played Goals For Percentage Shots For Percentage Fenwick For Percentage Corsi For Percentage Shooting Percentage Save Percentage Stanley Cups Since 2010 Playoff Appearances

What is a Corsi Percentage in Hockey? Corsi Number is the shot differential while players were on the ice Corsi Number Calculated: Shots + Shot Attempts that missed the net + Shot attempts that were blocked Corsi Percentage shows the relationship of a teams Corsi For and Corsi Against Corsi For Percentage Calculated: 100 x Corsi For/(Corsi For + Corsi Against)

What Can This Tell Us and Why Do We Use It? Corsi is used as a substitution for puck possession. Logically if a team has more possession, the more likely that team is going to shoot the puck more and score goals. We can now study actual puck possession time, scoring chances, and general shot attempts. A certain player may not see a positive Corsi number in one game, but over time the cumulative Corsi number will show a general average of their seasonal possession of the puck

A Look At The Data (Corsi%) Key Observations  Teams with the higher Corsi% have a better chance at making the playoffs  The last 4 Stanley Cup Champions have had the highest Corsi%  LA Kings Corsi %  Chicago Blackhawks Corsi%

What is Shooting Percentage And Why Does It Matter In Hockey? Calculates the average number of shots taken in each game Shots are only calculated if it is a shot on target Shots that do not hit the target or are blocked will not be documented as a shot on the score sheet The more shots you deliver on target, the better chance you have to score a goal and win the game The numbers however could be skewed if a team takes less shots over the course of a game and still manages to score multiple goals

A Look At The Data (Shooting %)  The bigger the circle the higher the shooting percentage the team has  The different colors represent the amount of playoff appearances the team has had over the past 5 years  The teams in Blue have made the playoffs the most and have the highest shooting percentage

What is Save Percentage and Why Does it Matter in Hockey? Save Percentage is similar to Shooting Percentage but flip flopped It calculates the percentage of saves your goalie makes per game Exactly like Shot Percentage, shots that do not hit the target or are blocked will not be documented as a save for the goalie on the score sheet The more saves you make per game helps the offense so they don’t have to score as many goals to win the game

A Look At The Data (Save%)  Over the past 5 seasons, 3 of the Stanley Cup Champions had the top 5 in Save Percentage  All the way down at #16, the Chicago Blackhawks won the Cup 2 times but did not need a high save percentage  There were also teams that have made it to the playoffs 0-3 times that had a higher save percentage then a team that made it more than 3 times

Putting It All Together CORSI Percentage Shot Percentage Save Percentage 3 Of The Top 5 2 Of The Top 14 3 Of The Top 15

Putting It All Together Cont Teams that posses the puck the most will shoot the puck more and have a greater chance to score and win games (Corsi%) The 2 teams with the best two Corsi% have won the Stanly Cup over the past 4 years LA Kings (2012,2014) Chicago Blackhawks (2013,2015) Although Save Percentage and Shot Percentage are important in the NHL, it doesn't’t have the greatest correlation to winning a Championship We can conclude that the higher the Corsi%, the better chance you have to win games, make the playoffs, and win a championship

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