KHL Advanced Stats

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May 9, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) reaches for the puck in front of New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh (27) during the third period in game six in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Verizon Center. The Capitals won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

As the lockout continues a fair fraction of NHL stars are playing in the KHL which has become the de facto best hockey league in existence. If we are to follow this league across the pond it might be nice to see if we can import some of the techniques used in the modern evaluation of the NHL.

For a non-NHL league, the KHL keeps relatively good public statistics. Beyond the basic goals, assists, penalty minutes and plus minus, there are a number of minor stats availible to work on, with personal shots (and derivatives, shots per game and shooting percentage), the split between special team and even strength goals, ice time and shifts all tracked. This isn`t enough information to do anything fancy like corsi, but it is enough to change the measurements from the mere counting of events into rate statistics, to see how quickly the players there are shooting, scoring and accumulating points.

To this end I`ve put together a database of the top 150 forward scorers in the KHL current to October 21 and put them through calculations to rank them based on their shots, goals and points per 60 minutes of ice time. Unfortunately since this while not factor in special teams play this method will be unfair to players that play on the penalty kill and unfairly favour those with proportionately more power play time but that appears to be an unavoidable issue at this point. For a full season of games I could probably look at PP, ES and PK goals scored to get an idea of who plays in what situation so that could be a further refinement.

Here are the said top 150 point scorers in the KHL, ranked by current points scored per hour.

Rank	Name	shots per 60	goals per 60	points per 60
1	Tarasenko Vladimir	15.63	4.08	8.15
2	Kovalchuk Ilya	10.48	1.90	5.71
3	Kostitsyn Sergei	7.03	2.93	4.10
4	Makarov Dmitry	7.32	0.96	4.05
5	Klimenko Gleb	11.32	3.23	4.04
6	Makarov Igor	5.88	0.93	4.02
7	Starchenko Roman	7.85	2.62	3.92
8	Voracek Jakub	5.31	0.53	3.72
9	Varnakov Mikhail	13.73	1.67	3.53
10	Thornberg Martin	12.01	2.22	3.51
11	Mozyakin Sergei	8.34	1.54	3.51
12	Datsyuk Pavel	7.42	1.14	3.43
13	But Anton	11.10	1.14	3.42
14	Thoresen Patrick	8.20	1.68	3.36
15	Pesonen Janne	9.94	1.66	3.31
16	Ovechkin Alexander	17.25	1.35	3.23
17	Popov Alexander	4.56	0.80	3.22
18	Kuznetsov Evgeny	13.80	1.32	3.21
19	Mirnov Igor	10.68	2.14	3.09
20	Yakupov Nail	13.58	2.19	3.07
21	Radulov Alexander	7.36	1.11	3.06
22	Kontiola Petri	7.36	0.80	2.98
23	Bochenski Brandon	14.51	1.37	2.94
24	Petruzalek Jakub	13.29	1.55	2.94
25	Malkin Evgeny	15.99	0.90	2.93
26	Lehtera Jori	7.02	0.92	2.90
27	Koukal Petr	7.75	1.26	2.88
28	Tikhonov Viktor	7.04	1.60	2.88
29	Hodgman Justin	11.18	1.43	2.87
30	Abdullin Denis	9.39	1.63	2.86
31	Kostitsyn Andrei	12.04	1.90	2.85
32	Zherdev Nikolai	10.34	0.94	2.82
33	Obukhov Dmitry	6.63	1.27	2.80
34	Stapleton Tim	7.74	1.29	2.79
35	Demagin Sergei	10.78	1.20	2.79
36	Martensson Tony	9.01	1.07	2.79
37	Lisin Enver	9.76	1.95	2.79
38	Frolov Alexander	9.06	0.75	2.77
39	Gynge Richard	10.21	1.96	2.75
40	Skorokhodov Igor	10.24	2.25	2.75
41	Dawes Nigel	13.46	1.68	2.73
42	Milovzorov Yegor	9.44	0.45	2.70
43	Prucha Petr	11.31	1.66	2.66
44	Yakutsenya Maxim	8.81	1.54	2.64
45	Babenko Yury	5.57	1.17	2.64
46	Immonen Jarkko	7.60	1.05	2.62
47	Bumagin Alexander	8.46	1.30	2.60
48	Kasyanchuk Konstantin	7.36	1.10	2.58
49	Klepis Jakub	12.37	1.46	2.55
50	Filatov Nikita	10.14	1.01	2.53
51	Sannikov Stepan	7.52	1.25	2.51
52	Karpov Maxim	6.80	0.72	2.50
53	Bocharov Stanislav	8.00	2.09	2.43
54	Shipachyov Vadim	6.00	1.14	2.43
55	Lapenkov Evgeny	5.44	0.00	2.42
56	Nedorost Vaclav	7.43	1.12	2.42
57	Hagman Niklas	10.56	1.20	2.40
58	Kucheryavenko Alexander	3.30	0.60	2.40
59	Krasnoslobodtsev Vadim	10.74	1.59	2.39
60	Sitnikov Vitaly	5.75	0.99	2.38
61	Zaborsky Tomas	9.96	0.84	2.36
62	Trubachyov Yury	4.25	0.71	2.36
63	O Reilly Cal	3.34	0.20	2.36
64	Nilsson Robert	7.56	1.30	2.35
65	Golovin Alexander	8.53	1.55	2.33
66	Engqvist Andreas	7.16	0.42	2.32
67	Platt Geoff	10.51	1.26	2.31
68	Dadonov Evgeny	9.81	1.15	2.31
69	Kagarlitsky Dmitry	6.69	0.46	2.28
70	Satan Miroslav	8.92	1.14	2.28
71	Rudenko Konstantin	8.07	1.65	2.28
72	Robitaille Randy	6.21	0.61	2.27
73	Korolyuk Alexander	8.14	1.44	2.23
74	Simakov Alexei	5.26	0.85	2.20
75	Laine Teemu	12.98	1.60	2.20
76	Kalyuzhny Alexei	5.36	0.99	2.18
77	Bulis Jan	6.65	1.37	2.15
78	Tereshchenko Alexei	3.75	0.54	2.14
79	Ketov Evgeny	12.26	0.71	2.13
80	Grabovsky Mikhail	6.75	1.07	2.13
81	Morozov Alexei	8.99	0.70	2.11
82	Bliznak Mario	4.65	0.63	2.11
83	Lemtyugov Nikolai	9.26	1.68	2.11
84	Panov Konstantin	12.22	0.89	2.09
85	Karsums Martins	8.84	1.21	2.08
86	Anisin Mikhail	7.69	0.59	2.07
87	Osala Oskar	12.97	1.32	2.07
88	Hytonen Juha-Pekka	6.84	0.32	2.07
89	Zaripov Danis	9.04	0.77	2.07
90	Indrasis Miks	8.71	0.92	2.06
91	Videll Linus	10.05	1.03	2.06
92	Vondrka Michal	6.49	0.93	2.04
93	Khlystov Denis	7.48	0.61	2.02
94	Kapanen Niko	5.32	0.92	2.02
95	Hudacek Libor	8.39	1.68	2.01
96	Mikhnov Alexei	8.96	0.75	1.99
97	Ruzicka Stefan	12.92	0.90	1.97
98	Popov Andrei	8.40	1.40	1.96
99	Zhafyarov Damir	8.32	0.98	1.96
100	Yunkov Mikhail	5.87	0.49	1.96
101	Kokarev Denis	8.79	1.07	1.93
102	Christensen Erik	11.34	1.50	1.93
103	Radulov Igor	8.32	0.95	1.89
104	Gorovikov Konstantin	3.77	0.19	1.89
105	Tuppurainen Jani	7.12	0.94	1.87
106	Boyd Dustin	5.96	0.75	1.86
107	Enlund Jonas	7.74	0.46	1.86
108	Altaryоv Dmitry	4.54	0.82	1.86
109	Vyglazov Nikita	6.50	0.81	1.83
110	Grigorenko Igor	7.55	0.78	1.82
111	Lehtonen Mikko	11.69	0.78	1.82
112	Averin Yegor	7.47	1.36	1.81
113	Mereskin Alexander	7.45	0.77	1.80
114	Polygalov Igor	7.70	1.03	1.80
115	Krivonozhkin Maxim	9.32	0.72	1.79
116	Zinovyev Sergei	7.84	0.90	1.79
117	Zhmakin Stanislav	9.52	0.89	1.79
118	Chistov Stanislav	5.75	0.99	1.78
119	Miklik Michel	6.42	0.89	1.77
120	Irgl Zbynek	13.63	0.44	1.76
121	Andersson Jonas	8.19	1.08	1.72
122	Nesterov Alexander	9.96	0.71	1.66
123	Potapov Maxim	8.51	0.24	1.65
124	Lazarev Anton	7.08	0.73	1.63
125	Upper Dmitry	4.06	0.61	1.62
126	Shitikov Dmitry	6.26	0.93	1.62
127	Perezhogin Alexander	10.77	1.29	1.61
128	Malykhin Fyodor	10.88	0.68	1.59
129	Hossa Marcel	10.57	0.67	1.57
130	Spirko Rastislav	7.68	0.70	1.57
131	Zainullin Ruslan	9.11	1.30	1.56
132	Dzerins Andris	6.09	0.44	1.52
133	Kiiskinen Tuomas	5.66	0.22	1.52
134	Tsvetkov Alexei	4.03	0.21	1.48
135	Timkin Evgeny	6.64	1.11	1.48
136	Pyorala Mika	7.38	0.55	1.48
137	Stolyarov Gennady	7.16	1.05	1.47
138	Giroux Alexandre	12.06	1.16	1.39
139	Platonov Denis	11.02	0.77	1.35
140	Gubin Oleg	7.12	0.77	1.35
141	Ignatushkin Igor	6.35	0.77	1.35
142	Bushuyev Nikolai	5.12	0.57	1.33
143	Stas Andrei	7.20	0.57	1.33
144	Johnson Jamie	5.47	0.50	1.33
145	Chernykh Dmitry	5.68	0.57	1.32
146	Kazionov Denis	8.70	1.30	1.30
147	Badyukov Alexei	5.11	0.37	1.28
148	Petrov Kirill	11.07	0.85	1.28
149	Schastlivy Pyotr	11.96	0.81	1.22
150	Tarasov Dmitry	8.30	0.71	1.06

From this table we can quickly surmise a number of things:

- The NHLers aren`t running the table on their KHL brethren. The NHL stars are largely near the top of the list in a number of categories but the players that were KHL stars last year are still among the stars of the lockout strengthen league. Guys like Bochenski, Thoresen and Morozov can hold their turf in their own league.

- A 2nd line NHL winger is a strong 1st line KHL winger, judging by the relative performances of players like the Kostitsyns or Voracek.

- Great NHL players like Malkin and Ovechkin break the KHL, it just hasn`t shown up yet. Ovechkin and Malkin together lead the KHL in shot rate by a country mile, Oveckin with 17.29 per hour, Malkin with 15.99 per hour. Both are shooting at uncharacteristic sub-10% percentages. Expect the goals to start flooding in if they stay in Russia. Last year the best players in the KHL could only manage around 12 per hour.

- Pavel Datsyuk on the other hand, despite being a 40 goal man in the NHL, isn`t crushing it as a goal scorer or heavy volume shooter in the KHL. Instead it seems he`s been playing primarily as a set up man, as his fantastic assist rate shows.

- St. Louis prospect Tarasenko is crushing it on the rate statistics, but further analysis shows that this is due to a scoring run as a sheltered player. Tarasenko played only 12 minutes a night for 7 games, behind the likes of Kovalchuk and Thoresen but got a enough PP time to pot 4 of his 6 goals there. St. Petersburg`s wealthy of talent allowed him to be used solely as an offensive weapon for the short period he was in the lineup. He also shot at above 25% to get his 6 goals.

- Radulov gets a ton of ice time. The forward plays 24 minutes for CSKA Moscow, which explains why he`s got the scoring lead so far.