Oilers Blueliners: Puck Moving and Puck Transporting

Which Oilers defender is the best passer?
Who is the best puck carrier?

We will all have different answers, but after looking at a variety of statistics courtesy of SportLogiq, some answers are very clear, while others might surprise you.

Today let’s focus on passing and puck carrying skills, and turnovers, which are more the responsibility of the individual defenders. Courtesy of Sportloqiq.com, here are the Oilers blueliner rankings in a variety of categories at 5×5. This consists of 213 defenders who have played at least 200 minutes at 5×5 this season.

Definitions:
Zone exits are when D-man carries the puck out of the D-zone with control.
Zone entries are when they carry the puck into the offensive zone with control.
DZ pass completion is any forward pass attempt completed in the DZ.
Outlet pass completion is any pass attempt originating from the DZ that drives play north and is completed before the red line.
Stretch pass completion is any pass attempt from the DZ completed beyond the red line.
Successful zone entry is any time a team gains entry to the offensive zone while maintaining possession of the puck.

These present some good talking points.

— Nurse and Barrie are both among top-pairing defenders in zone exits per game, despite playing together. Both are good at skating the puck out of the zone, but who had Kris Russell at 19th in the NHL? He is averaging 3.13 zone exits per game.

@Ethan Bear has a very good zone exit success rate at 83.3%, but he is 125th in actual zone exits. As he matures and grows it will be interesting to see if he can add the puck carrying dimension to his game.  Adam Larsson is fifth in the NHL at success rate on his exits, but he doesn’t carry it out that much (139th).

— Nurse is sixth in the NHL in zone entries. He’s an elite skater who can transport the puck and, more impressively, he is sixth while playing at lot with Draisaitl, McDavid and Barrie (40th), who also are good at carrying the puck into the zone.

–Again, Russell is high in the puck transporting category, sitting 54th while newcomer Dmitry Kulikov is 65th. However, Russell’s zone entry success rate isn’t as good.

— Bear is fouth in zone entry success rate, but again, he doesn’t do it enough to be an impact player offensively. He is 147th in zone entries. Bear’s puck handling and passing skills are very good, but he needs to get involved in the rush more. This is all skating and conditioning, which are things he can, and likely will, improve on. But if he wants to become a true offensive weapon he needs to carry the puck more out of the D zone and into the offensive zone.

— Barrie is without question the best passer among the blueliners. He is sixth in DZ completion rate, fifth in outlet pass completion rate and 37th in stretch pass completion rate. He has always been an exceptional passer, and this is why Dave Tippett plays him with McDavid. Put your best passer with your most dangerous player to get him the puck in good areas so he can generate chances off the rush. Bear is also an excellent passer, and having two excellent puck movers helps the team.

— Russell ranks higher than many likely expect, since I constantly hear some Nation readers claim “Russell can’t pass.” He does go off the boards and out maybe more than you’d like, but he is 54th in DZ completion and 16th in stretch pass completion. He isn’t as bad of a passer as many claim. If anything these numbers tell me he should use his passing skills more often.

— Bear is a top-pairing passer, especially on shorter passes. His outlet passing is, surprisingly, 184th. But Bear’s quick short passes, especially under pressure, are very impressive. I think pairing Bear with Kulikov to start makes sense. Kulikov is better at carrying the puck, but Bear is a much better passer. I could see situational pairs as well. I think Nurse-Larsson, Kulikov-Bear will be the two pairings in specific defensive situations and when protecting a lead late in games.

— I think @Caleb Jones’ numbers reflect his season. He admitted yesterday the game was going 100 miles an hour for him at times early on, and while lately he has played better, his passing and puck carrying numbers reflect how he played earlier. He isn’t where he wants to be in most of those categories, and when you compare his numbers to Russell, I can see why Jim Playfair and Dave Tippett would lean towards Russell playing ahead of Jones once Kulikov arrives.

— Barrie’s biggest challenge as a defender is reading plays and positioning, but he is quite competitive. He is 26th in puck battle wins. I wouldn’t play him in the final few minutes when protecting a lead, but Barrie is much more competitive on loose pucks than many give him credit for. However, he might win more, because he turns over the puck more than you’d want and battles (successfully) to get it back. Something to watch for.

— With the addition of Kulikov, the Oilers now have five D-men in the top-97 in DZ denial rate, which is impressive considering the North division has a lot of high-end skill.

— Russell and Larsson sitting 17th and 38th respectively in expected GA/20 is very good. It is a bit reliant on your teammates, more than passing or carrying the puck, and it also depends who you play against. If you aren’t facing the other teams top players as much, this number should be lower. But both rank well.

— I did get Evan Bouchard’s stats as well. He’s played 160 minutes so he didn’t qualify for the 200 minute chart. I added, in parenthesis, where he would rank when included among the eight Oilers D-men listed.

— His D-zone completion rate is third behind Barrie and Bear, while after Nurse he is the best at zone entries, but he had low success maintaining possession. While not ideal, I understand why the coaches are playing Barrie, Larsson and Bear ahead of him right now. I won’t be surprised that when Kulikov comes out of quarantine next week that the Oilers send Bouchard to the American League to play some games. Kulikov’s addition gives them two extra D-men.

I’m always cautious to put too much weight in one stat. I like the variety here, and we can always look for other stats to see what else they add.

These do give some good context. I’ve always felt Bear makes great decisions when carrying the puck, but he doesn’t do it enough. The chart shows that. If Bear can start carrying the puck more, he will become a bigger factor in games. But this is a skating and conditioning factor. Nurse, who was a very good skater already, spent last off-season working mainly on his skating and I think that is a big reason he is having such a great season. He is so much quicker on crossovers out of the zone and he creates separation and space quicker because of his improved edge work.

Nurse is an outstanding skater and transporter of the puck, regardless of who he plays with. His passing is improving, but I think his biggest improvement in the defensive zone has been the reduction in turnovers. Last year he was 169th, but this season he is 73rd, despite playing huge minutes against top players.

Jones needs to play exceptionally in the games before Kulikov arrives if he wants a chance to play ahead of Russell. Russell has had a solid season.

Do any numbers stand out for you?