Back in September before the season started, Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider rolled out a piece where Jake Muzzin talked about getting shots through.
It was also spurred on by a 30 thoughts piece from Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet.
From the 30 thoughts piece
3. Jake Muzzin drove down Highway 401 a few times per week in late August to play some games with regular defence partner Drew Doughty and a collection of NHLers who stay in the London, Ont., area. They didn’t pair in scrimmages — “I see enough of him,” Muzzin joked — but did work on a few things.
“We looked at all our shot attempts and practised getting them through more often,” he said. “Being more mobile on the blueline, changing the angles…shooting off different feet. What else can we do instead of making a dead play? We play so many games, you get tendencies and habits…good and bad ones. We worked to change the bad ones.” Muzzin also watched a lot of video of himself, seeing if there were different reads to make on the penalty kill and “whether you’re leading the rush or the fourth man, being more aggressive — or less — and still being an option.”
Consider the Rosen piece required reading before heading forward as well.
I've got you covered. Here it is for those that missed it
Basically, the Kings defensemen felt that they were getting too many shots blocked or not on net last season. So, In the offseason naturally an effort was made by both Doughty and Muzzin to work on getting more shots on net.
How has that worked out so far?
Let's first look at last season's numbers.
They were very very close in almost all categories of individual shots on net, blocked shots, and missed shots.
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They had the same amount of individual shots taken, while Doughty had slightly less blocked and missed shots.
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Muzzin's graph looks just about the same. In general, about 40-45% of the Kings top two defensemen's shots made it to net at even strength.
How about the powerplay?
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About 46% of the attempts made by the duo get on net.
Now back to the present. After working on it during the summer, has any noted improvement happened? Has there been a lightbulb moment?
Let's take a comparative look at this year versus last year.
At even strength it has been a little bit better for both players.
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For Doughty it looks very much like a case of him perhaps being more selective at even strength. He is taking fewer shots, but is seeing far less of a number blocked. That being said, it still is just a difference of 45% on net versus 43%. Muzzin has jumped from 41% up to 45% unblocked, non-missed shots, which is a decent improvement but still nothing major. Over the course of a season that may only surmount to a few more shots on net here or there. If you are taking 100 shots, four percent is simply...4 shots. For someone like Muzzin, who had a total of 265 even strength attempts at net, that's 10 more shots that actually make it on net. So again, it's not the biggest thing in the world. That's maybe one extra goal a year and a handful of extra chances.
On the powerplay however, both players have seen a dip in chances that actually make it to net. Doughty is down about 6%, while Muzzin is down 5% from last year in per 60 individual rates.
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Again, five percent is not huge, but it is still a dip. Five percent of 57 shots is almost three total. Take that for what it is worth. Shooting, especially in regards to blocked and missed shots can be a bit luck driven. Also, the numbers can be a bit close even from the best of the best down Doughty and Muzzin. If you are going by per 60 rates, some of the best defenseman in the league at getting shots through are Alex Edler, Dustin Bygfulien, Justin Faulk, Anton Stralman, and Alex Pietrangelo. Even then, those players are usually just above 50% at getting shots on net and/or blocked or missing. It is a skill we tend to focus on nevertheless. It doesn't seem to impact the overall quality of players like Brent Burns or Duncan Keith, who last year missed and had blocked almost two thirds of their total shot attempts at even strength. Doughty and Muzzin, in reality, lie somewhere in a robust middle ground of defenseman who manage to get about 45% of their attempts on net.
Hard to really imagine that such a trivial thing matters in today's NHL. Just keep shooting and eventually things will eventually even out. As far as an effort goes from both players to do better at getting shots through? Seems status quo.
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