Focus on: shootouts

We need some hockey to talk about. I think it would be good to discuss areas of the game we'll need to improve on to have a good chance next season. Of course things like no distractions and no Cup hangover will probably be the biggest areas of improvement, but we're going to need some help since our team will have to be downgraded some to fit the cap.

Our team has been historically weak in shootouts. We all know this anecdotally, but here's some numbers to back it up. Keep in mind we were the 5th place team in the entire league (tied for 4th with Pitt, but losing the H2H tiebreaker).

Win%:
| Team | W% | W | L
1 | EDM | 0.789 | 15 | 4
2 | COL | 0.700 | 7 | 3
3 | NJD | 0.667 | 8 | 4
4 | TBL | 0.667 | 2 | 1
5 | PIT | 0.636 | 7 | 4
6 | DAL | 0.625 | 5 | 3
7 | NYI | 0.625 | 5 | 3
8 | LAK | 0.625 | 5 | 3
9 | ATL | 0.600 | 9 | 6
10 | CHI | 0.556 | 5 | 4
11|ANA|0.533|8|7
12 | SJS | 0.500 | 6 | 6
13 | DET | 0.500 | 5 | 5
14 | WSH | 0.500 | 4 | 4
15 | CGY | 0.500 | 3 | 3
16 | NYR | 0.471 | 8 | 9
17 | BOS | 0.462 | 6 | 7
18 | MTL | 0.455 | 5 | 6
19 | FLA | 0.455 | 5 | 6
20 | PHX | 0.455 | 5 | 6

shooting%:
| Team | S | S%
1 | CAR | 14 | 50
2 | SJS | 41 | 43.9
3 | LAK | 29 | 41.4
4 | COL | 39 | 41
5 | DET | 30 | 40
6 | PHI | 25 | 40
7 | TBL | 10 | 40
8 | CGY | 18 | 38.9
9 | PIT | 44 | 38.6
10 | CHI | 26 | 38.5
11 | EDM | 65 | 36.9
12 | NJD | 42 | 35.7
13 | DAL | 28 | 35.7
14 | NYI | 32 | 34.4
15 | ATL | 51 | 33.3
16|ANA|48|33.3
17 | TOR | 24 | 33.3
18 | OTT | 31 | 32.3
19 | PHX | 39 | 30.8
20 | MIN | 33 | 30.3

save %
1 | EDM | 69 | 0.826
2 | STL | 26 | 0.769
3 | ATL | 49 | 0.755
4 | NJD | 43 | 0.744
5 | MTL | 38 | 0.737
6 | FLA | 41 | 0.732
7 | COL | 37 | 0.73
8 | WSH | 39 | 0.718
9 | PHX | 42 | 0.714
10 | VAN | 58 | 0.707
11 | NYI | 34 | 0.706
12 | PIT | 44 | 0.705
13 | NYR | 53 | 0.698
14 | BOS | 36 | 0.694
15 | DAL | 29 | 0.69
16 | CHI | 28 | 0.679
17 | TBL | 9 | 0.667
18 | CGY | 17 | 0.647
19|ANA|45|0.644
20 | LAK | 28 | 0.643

What can we do to improve our shootouts? Well, Teemu should help, I believe he's been about 50% (NHL.com took his stats out.). Morrison seems to have been good in 06-07, he was 6/9. But the weird thing is he didn't seem to take any shootouts in 05-06. Giguere seemed better for a time in this season, but his sv% ended up being a mediocre .667, the same as in 06-07. I'm not sure if he has a whole lot of improvement left in him though, his style just doesn't seem to bode well for shootouts.

Perry was 1/6 in 06-07, but 4/7 in 07-08. I think he's improving though, and this is a trend and not a fluke. Getzlaf was a horrible 2/12 this season, and a better but still not good 5/12 in 07. I also think back to his 0 for whatever in the skills competition, and the fact that he couldn't even score in the Fedoirin Cup and begin to wonder if he's got the moves but can't get the results. Ryan might be a good candidate, I thought I remember hearing that he's pretty good. He sounds like a good bet at least on paper, being a handsy guy with nifty moves, although he might be a little slow.

So what do people think should be done about the shootout, if anything (maybe this isn't really a big deal since there's no shootouts in the playoffs)? Should get try to get a specialist? Who would you put as your 3/4 shooters?

I don't think we've really got a lot of hope for shootouts. If a game gets to a shootout we'll probably just have to be happy with the 1-point consolation prize. If selanne is back (i've heard strong rumors, but no official confirmation) he would be my number 1. Perry would be 2 with his pretty strong performance last season in the shootout. As for Getzlaf, I didn't realize shot so poorly in the shootout last season, so even though I love the guy and I'm inclined to put him in, I guess I'd have to leave him out unless he can start showing more improvement. So that pretty much leaves Morrison and Ryan. I'd put Morrison at the number 3 slot (though I'm not entirely familiar with him so I dunno) and put Ryan in if he can start proving himself in those situations (if selanne isn't back).

1. Selanne
2. Perry
3. Morrison

4. Ryan (if needed)

IMO we do not need to waste a roster spot on a specialist (even if we could find one).

This team should be taking less penalties, spending less time on the penalty kill which should allow our offensive units more time to score goals. Of course, Burke needs to deliver the goal scorers.

With our defense, we should be able to tie less often.

During shootouts, Giguere was the problem for a long time. To his credit, he has improved a lot and we have seen better results recently.

RC is a spaz whenever the Ducks have a shootout. He needs to chill and stick to a game plan for shootouts. His random choices often leave us in the losers column.

With some effort, this team should be rarely be in a shootout position. We are better than most teams and should beat them outright on most nights.

I don't think we've really got a lot of hope for shootouts. If a game gets to a shootout we'll probably just have to be happy with the 1-point consolation prize. If selanne is back (i've heard strong rumors, but no official confirmation) he would be my number 1. Perry would be 2 with his pretty strong performance last season in the shootout. As for Getzlaf, I didn't realize shot so poorly in the shootout last season, so even though I love the guy and I'm inclined to put him in, I guess I'd have to leave him out unless he can start showing more improvement. So that pretty much leaves Morrison and Ryan. I'd put Morrison at the number 3 slot (though I'm not entirely familiar with him so I dunno) and put Ryan in if he can start proving himself in those situations (if selanne isn't back).

1. Selanne
2. Perry
3. Morrison

4. Ryan (if needed)
Yeah I was thinking along the same lines for a shootout lineup. The nice thing about a Selanne-Perry-Morrison order is it could offer a nice change-up type effect on the goalies in having to fast a fast-slow-fast guy. Maybe that'll help us out a little because we'll need all the help we can get for shootouts.
IMO we do not need to waste a roster spot on a specialist (even if we could find one).

This team should be taking less penalties, spending less time on the penalty kill which should allow our offensive units more time to score goals. Of course, Burke needs to deliver the goal scorers.

With our defense, we should be able to tie less often.

During shootouts, Giguere was the problem for a long time. To his credit, he has improved a lot and we have seen better results recently.

RC is a spaz whenever the Ducks have a shootout. He needs to chill and stick to a game plan for shootouts. His random choices often leave us in the losers column.

With some effort, this team should be rarely be in a shootout position. We are better than most teams and should beat them outright on most nights.
My wondering about getting a specialist is just that I think a shootout specialist might be a cheap way to get some points. And it could be some nice offensive depth. Say Teemu or Perry or somebody gets hurt. Then what do we do? We don't really have much in the way of callups that could sub in. But a shootout specialist might have the offense to fill in for a little.

That's a good point about the spazzing. It's just annoying when we have a shootout and Carlyle decides to kill all possibility of winning by putting in a guy like Marchant, Rob, or Pronger (all true!) just because he had a strong game.

But it's hard to just say "we'll avoid shootouts." I closed the spreadsheet, but I think there were like 156 shootouts in the NHL last season. That means you'll see roughly 5 of them. And we saw 15. That's a lot of points to be giving up.

Yeah I was thinking along the same lines for a shootout lineup. The nice thing about a Selanne-Perry-Morrison order is it could offer a nice change-up type effect on the goalies in having to fast a fast-slow-fast guy. Maybe that'll help us out a little because we'll need all the help we can get for shootouts.

Yeah i was thinking the same thing as far as the "change-up" goes. Have you seen Morrison in action much Obobo? I wish I could say I have but unfortunately I don't know much about him.

My wondering about getting a specialist is just that I think a shootout specialist might be a cheap way to get some points. And it could be some nice offensive depth. Say Teemu or Perry or somebody gets hurt. Then what do we do? We don't really have much in the way of callups that could sub in. But a shootout specialist might have the offense to fill in for a little.

That's a good point about the spazzing. It's just annoying when we have a shootout and Carlyle decides to kill all possibility of winning by putting in a guy like Marchant, Rob, or Pronger (all true!) just because he had a strong game.

But it's hard to just say "we'll avoid shootouts." I closed the spreadsheet, but I think there were like 156 shootouts in the NHL last season. That means you'll see roughly 5 of them. And we saw 15. That's a lot of points to be giving up.

A shootout specialist could be a good (and cheap) way to grab some shootout points but where do we put him during the rest of the game? He likely can't take a spot on the checking line and I'm pretty sure Carlyle is attached to the fourth line being a bunch of tough guys (May, Parros, Sutherby). That really only leaves spots on the top two lines and unless this specialist is good enough to be a top-6 forward, he likely wouldn't dress most games.

Certainly you're right though Obobo. We won't avoid shootouts altogether. If our offense doesn't pick up drastically, we'll likely see 10 or so. That's 10 opportunities for Carlyle to (as Mooseduck suggested) put random guys in. I love Carlyle as a coach, I think he's great. But his shootout choices are often questionable. Perhaps he'll have more good options this season though so he won't resort to a guy like Pronger. lol