Jeff Tambellini scores hat trick

Written by Jay

Sunday, 01 November 2009 14:27

tambellini

Jeff Tambellini, son of Edmonton Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini, scored his first NHL hat trick in the Islanders game vs. the Buffalo Sabres. Of note, I believe that Jeff was a healthy scratch for a few New York Islanders games after Islanders' GM Garth Snow picked up Rob Schremp off the waiver wire. Already, Lowetide's opined that Jeff Tambellini is eating Rob Schremp's lunch.

As for the connections between the New York Isanders and the Edmonton Oilers, it turns out that Jeff Tambellini's been able to hold his own after his father placed Rob Schremp on waivers. In fact, Jeff has seven points in just eight NHL games this season while Rob Schremp in comparison has had an inauspicious start with just one assist in six games. Perhaps the number 13 hasn't been lucky for Schremp. As for the Islanders themselves, they've won three times in just the past four days.

Jeff Tambellini: [From Hockey Reference]

Season ▴	Age	Team	Lg	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	ESG	PPG	SOG	SPCT	TOI	ATOI
2005-06	21	New York Islanders	NHL	21	1	3	4	2	8	1	0	11	9.1	208	9:54
2005-06	21	2 Teams	NHL	25	1	3	4	1	10	1	0	17	5.9	246	9:49
2005-06	21	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	4	0	0	0	-1	2	0	0	6	0.0	38	9:23
2006-07	22	New York Islanders	NHL	23	2	7	9	6	6	2	0	20	10.0	166	7:14
2007-08	23	New York Islanders	NHL	31	1	3	4	-9	8	1	0	43	2.3	323	10:25
2008-09	24	New York Islanders	NHL	65	7	8	15	-20	32	7	0	98	7.1	852	13:07
2009-10	25	New York Islanders	NHL	8	6	1	7	3	2	3	3	17	35.3	95	11:54
Career		5 Seasons	NHL	152	17	22	39	-19	58	14	3	195	8.7	1683	11:04

Rob Schremp:

Season	Age	Team	Lg	GP	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	SOG	TOI	ATOI
2006-07	20	Edmonton Oilers	NHL	1	0	0	0	0	2	14	13:50
2007-08	21	Edmonton Oilers	NHL	2	0	0	-1	0	3	14	6:57
2008-09	22	Edmonton Oilers	NHL	4	3	3	2	2	3	54	13:35
2009-10	23	New York Islanders	NHL	6	1	1	-3	4	12	78	12:57
Career		4 Seasons	NHL	13	4	4	-2	6	20	160	12:17

Jeff Tambellini Advanced Stats

	Number	Rank on team
Corsi	-28.50	22nd
Qualcomp	-.298	23rd
Qualteam	.048	10th
Pts/60	3	1st
5v4/60	18.59	1st

What do these numbers tell us?

To start off, I have to acknowledge that Jeff's only played eight games which means that it's a very small sample size which means that the statistics have to be considered in that context. Secondly, Jeff Tambellini is currently benefiting from an unsustainable shooting percentage of 35.3% or a very hot stick. Reality check: his career NHL average shooting percentage is 8.7%.

Though he's currently leading his team in points per 60 minutes both at even strength and on the powerplay, his Corsi number is a bit of a concern right now. As well, based on the Qualcomp/team numbers, it seems that he could be tearing up the soft brigade (Qualcomp/team are generally pretty inaccurate with this sample size).

As of this recent data, Jeff also has the highest PDO number on his team (save percentage while on ice + shooting percentage). However, Jeff's starting in the offensive zone just 42.3% of the time (12 th highest on team) which suggests that he hasn't been playing with the ice completely tilted in his favor.

Final thoughts

So far, Jeff Tambellini's off to a great start to the season with seven points in just 8 games (6 goals). As well, it does seem like he's benefiting from some good match-ups by his coach and a really hot stick too. In contrast, he isn't getting as sheltered in terms of which zone he starts his shifts on.