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