Edmonton Oilers - New Kids on the Block

For the Edmonton Oilers, there have been two big stories this season--one positive and one of misfortune. On a brighter note, Dustin Penner's emerged as star play. Last season, many regarded Penner as having an 'unmovable' contract while this year, everyone is talking about how his contract is such a great value. Perhaps no other Oiler than Dustin Penner himself is so acutely aware of how fickle fans can actually be. Yet on a more dour note, who among us can actually keep track of the list of Oilers who are currently suffering from various types of injuries and illness? In the face of the growing list of injured players, the Oilers have had to call-up a long list of players from their AHL affiliate. Let's take a glimpse at how these and other less seasoned Oilers have performed this season based upon their 'advanced stats.' For those who will consider deriding me for writing a 'stats' article, I've also include my observations from watch every game this season.

Advanced Stats hey? Okay, I readily admit that the mere mention of the term has a tremendous ability to polarize fans. Yet, even bloggers who cite advanced hockey stats, preach the need to put them into context of various factors. Often, the context to consider are the quality of opposition that a give player plays against, his linemates, ZoneStart, and various other factors including playing with an injury. It's no secret also that players on better teams often reflect better on these metrics. In my present example, please consider that many of these players like Dean Arsene and Ryan O'Marra have played very few minutes during even fewer hockey games. I've blithely ignored the context of quality of team/competition since all of these players with the exception of Gilbert Brule have played very few total games. Additionally, with the smaller number of defensemen in this comparison, I've included Jason Strudwick's numbers.

Edmonton Oilers rookies/injury call-ups Forwards

	Even-strength Statistics				Penalty Kill		Powerplay
Player	Points/60	Corsi	GF-GA	SC %	TOI/60	GA/60	TOI/60	Pts/60	Zone%
Gilbert Brule	3.05	-15.6	0	40.3	0.25	0	0.69	0	44.4
Liam Reddox	1.68	-22.3	-1.1	44	1.3	15.7	0.11	0	42.9
JF Jacques	1.65	-17.5	-1.3	41.7	0.39	0	0.7	0	45
Ryan Stone	2.19	1.5	-1.4	48.8	1.38	10.9	0.01	0	71.4
Ryan Potulny	0	-12.8	-2.1	54.5	0.88	11.32	1.92	15.6	51.4
Ryan O'Marra	0	0	-10	0	0	0	0	0	0

*For descriptions of terms - Please see the notes at the end of this post.

** Table sorted by goal differential

Gilbert Brule

Brule's played the most of any player on this list with 19 total game played. Relative to the other forwards on this list, he's the best even-strength player of the group. He's on the ice for the most points/60 at 5v5; as well, he has the best goal differential with a break-even. His Corsi number is -15.6 which along with his 40.3% scoring chance suggest that he's still bleeding shots and scoring chances against.
Brule hasn't played a significant role on special teams with relatively few minutes on either the penalty kill or powerplay.
His Zonestart indicates that he starts in the defensive zone more frequently by a small margin. This could partially attribute for his poor Corsi and scoring chance numbers.
Observation - Brule's benefits from a pretty decent shot and is geting more effective with physical checking in spite of his small size. He does need to improve his defensive zone coverage.

Liam Reddox

Watching Reddox play on the ice, he exudes effort and try. Thus far, despite his reputation as potential Fernando Pisani replacement, his small sample size of penalty killing minutes have ranked as the worst penalty killer on the Oilers (for those who average 1min or more PK time/game).
His Corsi number indicates that he's also getting heavily out-shot, but most of the Oilers are as well.
Observation - Reddox gives all he has and then some. He will develop with more experience, but is limited by his talent and size. He needs to continue to limit his mistakes.

JF Jacques

Jacques has been out for a while with injuries. In his brief stint this season, he's provided a physical presence.
While he's on the ice, the Oilers bleed shots, scoring chances, and goals against.
Pat Quinn hasn't used Jacques much on special teams.
Observation - I would imagine that Quinn's given him pretty simple instructions.. "Hit everything that moves, get the puck moving down to the opposition's zone, skate towards the net." His brief stint on the first line seemed to be an epic fail, but the Oilers do need players like Jacques who can win puck battles and physically wear down the opposition.

Ryan Stone

Stone's numbers actually look much better than Jacques at first glance. He's on the ice for more even-strength points per 60 and his Corsi number's actually positive. However, his zonestart indicates that he starts his shifts in the offensive zone 71.4% of the time which greatly helps those numbers.
Observation - Like Jacques, the Oilers are in short-supply of guys who can win puck battles and make a physical presence on the ice. He's dutifully followed captain's orders like Jacques in terms of hitting anything that moves and skating to the net without the puck.

Ryan Potulny

At this point, Potulny hasn't been great at even-strength based on his small-sample size. However, he has been one of the better players on the above list based upon his scoring chance percentage-54.5% as well as his Corsi number.
Potulny's managed to impress Pat Quinn enough to be used sparingly on the penalty kill and getting some time on the powerplay.
In his brief appearance, he's been quite effective on the powerplay with 15.6 points/60--the highest of any forward on the team, but again he's only played in 6 games this season.
Observation - Potulny's not known for great footspeed, but he hasn't looked too bad for an AHL call-up. Me? I don't love seeing him kill penalties.

Edmonton Oilers Rookies / Injury Call-ups Defensemen

	Even-strength Statistics				Penalty Kill		Powerplay
Player	Points/60	Corsi	GF-GA	SC %	TOI/60	GA/60	TOI/602	Pts/60	Zone%
Dean Arsene	0	0	0		0.05	0	0	0	85.7
Jason Strudwick	0.69	-22.1	-1.2	36.8	2.3	6.4	0.07	0	46.7
Taylor Chorney	0	-21.1	-1.7	40.40	2.2	8.6	0.6	7.61	37.5
Theo Peckham	0	-48.2	-6.5	20.7	0.17	0	0	0	44

Taylor Chorney

Let's use Jason Strudwick as a comparison. This season, Chorney's played 13 games already. His even-strength numbers are not great--they don't indicate him generating points while he does manage to get out-chances, out-scored, and out-shot. However, his numbers are fairly similar in that regard to Jason Strudwick though he's been burdened with more defensive zone starts in comparison.
Like in the AHL, Chorney's managed to create some offense on the powerplay though he's been used sparingly.
Observation - I think Chorney's shown some promise as a good prospect. However, at this point in his career he remains a liability on the ice.

Dean Arsene

There's not really much that the stats say about Arsene. He's played very few minutes during only two starts in the NHL.
Pat Quinn hasn't used him on special teams. As well, Arsene's been sheltered with a very high percentage of starts in the offensive zone 85.7%
Observation - Seeing a career AHLer get a chance to play in the NHL is a bit of a mixed bag--one the one hand you can't help but feel happy for the player himself. On the other hand, he's a vet AHLer playing sheltered minutes.

Theo Peckham

He played 4 games this season while still recovering from an injury.
His numbers speak for themselves in terms of his brief stint in the NHL this year. Really, his numbers when compared to even Strudwick basically make Strudwick look All-Star caliber.
Observation - He's fallen in the depth chart relative to Taylor Chorney without question. Hopefully with a more full recovery from his injury and some more minutes in the AHL, he will continue to develop and improve as a prospect.

***

Notes:

* All stats from Behind the Net except for even-strength scoring chance % which is from the Gospel of Hockey blog.

Even-Strength Stats -

Points/60 - Points per minutes of play at 5v5
Corsi Number - The number of shots directed at the opposing teams net (including missed shots, goal posts, crossbars, goals) minus the number of shots directed to a player's own net while he's on the ice.
GF-GA/60 - Goals for - goals against while a player is on the ice per 60 minutes... aka "Goal differential" /60.
Scoring Chance % - The percentage of scoring chances created offensively while a player's on the ice relative to those created against him. Note, a player with 50% SC% creates an equal number of scoring chances that he gives up against.

Penalty Kill Stats -

TOI/60 - Time on ice per 60 minutes
GA/60 - Goals against per 60 minutes while a player is on the ice.

Powerplay Stats -

TOI/60 - as above
PTs/60 - Points scored for the powerplay per 60 minutes while the player is on the ice.

ZoneStart

Listed as "Zone%" which reflects the percentage of the shifts that a given player starts in the offensive zone relative to the defensive zone. If the Zonestart percentage is under 50% the player consequently often starts shifts in their own zone.