Jeff Petry flourishing in new role with Habs
Defenceman flourishes in new role as Habs’ power-play QB, writes
When Shea Weber sustained a foot injury in the first game of the season, an already weak Canadiens’ defensive lineup suffered a significant blow. The team eventually shut him down on Dec. 16, but not before Weber managed to play 26 games on his injured foot, and an already delicate situation on the blue-line got worse.
Losing their best defender meant Jeff Petry — the only other legitimate top-four defenceman on the roster — was thrust into the No. 1 spot. Although this new role came with an uptick in defensive duties and despite the disappointing season the team is enduring, Petry is quietly on his way to having a career year.
He generally faces the best players from opposing teams, and does so while playing alongside Karl Alzner, who has struggled in most facets of the game this season. But Petry’s effect on Alzner’s play is quite significant.
While paired together they produce very respectable num- bers, including a 51.3 per cent control of the shots during their shifts as well as controlling more than 52 per cent of the scoring chances. The interesting juxtaposition is when we compare Alzner and Petry’s results when they’re not on the same pairing.
Without Alzner, Petry improves in both metrics. His shot differential rises to 54 per cent, and his scoring-chance differential is north of 53 per cent. The same cannot be said when Alzner plays alongside anyone else but Petry. During those shifts, Alzner doesn’t have a positive impact on the team as his shots and scoring-chance differentials dip below 50 per cent.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has closely followed Petry in Montreal. He’s usually had a positive influence on his defensive partners. When we take a look at his three most common defensive partners during the last three seasons (see chart), it is impossible to ignore the difference in results with and without Petry.
Comparing his play this season with other defenceman, Petry once again finds himself at the top of the list, with the exception of Weber’s numbers and Victor Mete’s high-danger shot control. It’s worth noting that the players are listed in order of total ice time this season at 5 vs. 5 (see Canadiens defencemen 2017-18 graph). As you would expect, Petry has played the most among all Canadiens defencemen.
Now that we’ve established that Petry — despite the mistakes he made earlier in the season when thrust into the No. 1 defenceman role — has a significant positive impact on the team and his defensive partners, we can take a look at his offensive production. With eight goals and 17 assists in 53 games, Petry is three points away from tying his career-high points total (set last season), albeit in 27 fewer games.
Like most players on the roster, his even-strength production has dipped this season, mostly because of the increased defensive duties. But since becoming the quarterback on the power play, Petry has put up fantastic numbers compared with last season (see Petry power play production graph).
Since Weber was sidelined, the Canadiens have iced one of the best man-advantages in the league, with a 12.7 per cent improvement in scoring efficiency. It’s not that Weber is a bad player on the power play, but the Canadiens tended to use him as a crutch during the man-advantage. With Weber out of the lineup, they’ve been forced to diversify their strategies and become a little more creative.
It certainly doesn’t hurt that Petry has boosted his power-play shooting percentage from 9.1 per cent last year to 19.2 per cent this season. While his shooting percentage isn’t sustainable, what’s more important to the Canadiens’ power-play efficiency is Petry’s increase in primary assists, something that’s quite sustainable if he is used as the quarterback during the man advantage.
There was a transition period during which Petry struggled. Once he finally acclimatized to being the most used defenceman on the team and facing the best opposing forwards on a nightly basis, his play has improved.
Note: All statistics are courtesy of Naturalstattrick.com, and are 5v5 unless otherwise noted.