Underrated skill nobody notices
DRAWING PENALTIES: Resilient players who keep feet moving give their clubs advantage
Goals in the NHL are, to put it mildly, at a premium in 2016. The standard final score in the sport’s top league is 3-2 and only one player is close to a 50-goal pace this season.
Predictably, power plays are also in high demand, with teams receiving 3.11 power play opportunities per game in 2015-16, the second-lowest average since the stat first garnered tracking more than 50 years ago (last year’s 3.06, is the lowest on record).
In a weird way, this PP-starved reality has boosted the stock of the smart, offensively minded puckpossession forward who draws a lot of penalties. Think of Brendan Gallagher and Nazem Kadri types — they own the puck, are strong on their stick and employ a pesky but disciplined playing style.
“It is probably one of the more underrated stats in the NHL, if you ask me,” Maple Leafs forward P.A. Parenteau said of penalties drawn.
Kadri leads the league in this unheralded category, turning the trick 49 times in the 69 games he played prior to Monday night’s game against the Flames. Since the lockout, he has lured opponents into taking 164 penalties, 46 more than the NHL’s next best power-play activator, the Kings’ Dustin Brown.
“I’m not going out there specifically thinking about drawing a penalty,” Kadri said. “I want to score goals, take the puck to the net, generate scoring chances. I feel like when I have the puck, I have a good chance of doing that.
“It just so happens that I keep drawing penalties.”
Even with a league-worst 14.5-percent success rate on the man advantage, the Leafs have benefited from Kadri’s habit of putting himself in situations where he is on the receiving end of hooks, holds, cross-checks, and the like. All things equal, the 25-year-old centre’s skilful manoeuvring has created seven power play goals for Toronto this season.
“Naz is really good at it because he has great edges and he can turn on a dime, he can make plays,” Parenteau said. “He’s got a long reach, too, so his hands are always open. You’ve got to take penalties on him to limit his offence. I think it’s a great skill to have.”
When you give this year’s regular NHLers an even playing field in terms of ice time, Kadri sits third in penalty differential (PenD) with a 1.12 PenD per 60 minutes. What puts him and his peers — New Jersey’s Kyle Palmieri (1.21), Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle (1.2) and Montreal’s Gallagher (1.1) are the only others with a PenD higher than 1.0 — in a class of their own is an ability to generally avoid getting sucked into extracurricular activity.
These are not divers or goons, and that extends further down the list of above-average penalty drawers.
“I don’t like to take penalties because I feel bad when I sit in the penalty box,” said Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers, who has taken 17 penalties but drawn 30 in 181 NHL games. “I try to play smart, be in the right place at the right time so I don’t have to hook or trip or anything like that. I try to play with the puck in their zone because you can’t take penalties when you have the puck.”
In Calgary, stud forwards Sam Bennett and Johnny Gaudreau have combined for just 19 minor penalties and a major this year, instead playing a starring role in getting the other guys in trouble in the form of 85 power play opportunities for the Flames.
“I think it’s partly a skill,” Bennett said. “In certain situations, if you keep your feet moving, you drive to the net hard, they’re more likely to take a penalty on you.”
Added Gaudreau, who has been told to play ‘fearless’ his entire life to offset an undersized frame: “When other teams are trying to play defence against me, they don’t hit as much because they know how shifty I am.
“They tend to use their sticks more, so I think that helps draw penalties. You have to use your speed, try to create holding penalties and try to get your team on the power play.”
Barkov’s linemate, Jonathan Huberdeau, has quietly drawn 94 penalties in 262 career games and had no idea he sat eighth on the post-lockout list.
“I didn’t even know that,” he said before offering an on-the-fly explanation for his body of work: “When you work hard, usually you draw penalties. I think that’s what has happened throughout my career, so I’m trying to play my best and it just so happens guys take penalties on me.”
Two common themes emerged from the seven players interviewed for this story: 1) body positioning and keeping your feet moving is essential to drawing penalties on a regular basis; and, 2) resiliency wins the day.