The Sharks have been getting most of their goals from Couture, Wingels, Marleau and Pavelski so let’s take a look at where they’re shooting from and what their shot percentage is.
The Sharks are known to take a lot of low-percentage shots against the opposing team. I’m not sure if this is by design, meaning the game plan is to throw everything at the net, or if it simply pulling the trigger on scoring chances too early. Either way the Sharks top shooters don’t have tremendous shooting% and these images from the sportingcharts.com Ice Tracker might shed some light on why 10.5%(Marleau)-10.6%(Pavelski/Wingels) seems to be the number for the top guns except Couture(13.0%).
The chart shows all shots for each player with heat indicators brightening for multiple shots from the area. Generally the best chances come from the center of the ice from the top of the circles down and expanding like a thick arrow a few feet on either side of the net.
Couture vs Pavelski (Shots)
Wingels vs Marleau (Shots)
Marleau, Couture and Pavelski all take a significant amount of low percentage shots more so than Wingels does. It’s not surprising to see Wingels shots closer to the net and heavy in the high percentage area because he makes his money by going to the net and, let’s face it, despite his hot scoring start he’s not in the same class of snipery as the other three Sharks.
The question is why don’t Marleau, Couture and Pavelski move to the left, right or toward the net a few feet to get in the high percentage areas? Yes, from time to time it’s not possible to move into the high% areas but there are opportunities that are wasted by shooting early.
When a forward takes a shot from above the circles but inside the blue-line the chance of scoring is significantly decreased due to the distance they’re away from the net. A defenseman shooting from above the circles has the same decreased percentage but, in this situation, there are three forwards in front of him who could deflect or get a rebound. The forward shooting has taken away one player that could benefit from the low percentage shot, reducing a scoring chance opportunity by two.
Here are the four players goal charts.
Couture vs Pavelski (Goals)
Wingels vs Marleau (Goals)
Notice the lack of goals from above the circles by these four players. Three of which will be 30+ scorers this year.
For highly skilled shooters like Marleau, Couture and Pavelski they should be making the extra effort to get to a better shooting position. Taking shots for the sake of taking shots isn’t a great plan unless you can have three forwards buzzing around the net, usually on a power play, and you can shift defenders out of position.
Shooting from above the circles is still a low percentage chance even if you're Sidney Crosby or Steven Stamkos. Take an extra stride, make an extra move and get into the high percentage areas. It’s easier said than done, but it’s worth a shot.
Thanks for reading.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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