Canucks in numbers: ‘Brocket’ Boeser driven under Boudreau

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In his six games as the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, Bruce Boudreau has led his team to six pretty impressive victories.

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They have been scoring, both in clusters and in key moments. And they have seen their goalkeepers, Thatcher Demko and Jaroslav Halák, perform outstanding performances on the net.

But can it really last?

Let’s take a look at four numbers that tell a story about the Canucks since Boudreau was signed.

20s

Brock Boeser has had six games this season in which the Canucks have generated more than 20 shot attempts at the opponent’s net while on the ice with uniform force.

Four have arrived since Boudreau took over the bench. This is just part of an overall positive trend for Boeser.

Throughout the season, including the long stretch in which he struggled to score with former coach Travis Green, Boeser has recorded his career-best division of shooting attempts with uniform strength, with the Canucks taking 55.6 percent of shooting attempts. while on the ice, according to the hockey data website Natural Stat Trick.

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That’s even better than the 2018-19 season, Elias Pettersson’s rookie year when Lotto Line, Boeser with Pettersson and JT Miller, was one of the most dominant in hockey.

And the quality of the Canucks’ shots as Boeser plays leans in his direction, with the Canucks scoring 52 percent of expected goals when on ice . Expected goals weigh shot attempts by the probability that similar shots have been a goal in the last decade or so.

In other words, the Canucks’ chances of scoring have been better than their opponents with Boeser on the ice.

17.5

The other thing to note about Boeser’s game: he’s shooting more. For 60 minutes of steady ice time this season, Boeser is shooting 17.5 shot attempts, the majority of his career.

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He has always been known as a “volume shooter”, a player who has a talent for shooting and is not afraid to use it. You can miss often, but you are making so many shots that misses are quickly forgotten because so often you find the back of the net when you hit the target.

62

In the 67 minutes they’ve played five-on-five together in Boudreau’s six games, Natural Stat Trick says the trio of Boeser, Miller and Tanner Pearson have scored 62.2 percent expected goals together. This line has been dominant since it was formed.

They seem like the perfect trio, with Pearson the mucker winning discus battles, Miller a bit of a power forward / playmaker hybrid and Boeser the sniper.

Numbers aside, the two goals that Boeser scored against San Jose last week were perfect examples of how this line works when played right – turning the pucks by preflighting and then making big plays with the puck. to prepare Boeser.

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49.9

Tyler Myers has always been a major events player. Your team takes a lot of shots when you’re on the ice, and so do your opponents.

According to Natural Stat Trick, Myers’ current expected goals are 49.9 percent, about as good a figure as he has posted for a full season in his career.

Twice he posted numbers above 50 percent in Winnipeg, but both were not full seasons. The first was the 24-game stretch he played after the Buffalo Sabers traded him to the Jets, the last was his shortened 11-game injury in 2016-17.

Myers had two seasons at Buffalo, where he was about 50 percent: his rookie and sophomore seasons.

His first season in Vancouver had him at 49.2 percent.

Myers has had a wave lately. The best three games of his season in terms of expected goals from the Canucks split with him on ice have all passed under Boudreau.

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The last two games before the team’s COVID-19 hiatus had Myers, mostly with Quinn Hughes, but also with a brief comeback with Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Under Green, Ekman-Larsson was Myers’s most common partner.

In the first four games under Boudreau, Myers played with a right-sided shooting partner as his left-side partner, be it Luke Schenn or Tucker Poolman, two defensive-minded players who might not expect them to help push things onto the ice offensively. . But they did well, an advantage because injuries on the blue line forced Boudreau to prepare his partners.

Either way, Myers has been playing a lot and a lot has been going on with him on ice. With Boudreau, he’s been playing a lot, more than 20 minutes a night for the last five games. Again, partly due to injuries, but also partly due to Boudreau’s early reliance on him.

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Add it all up and with Myers on the ice, the game has been played a bit more at the opposition’s end of the court. But how long will that last?

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10

Puck luck is also a part of Myers and Canucks history since they hired Boudreau.

With uniform strength in Boudreau’s six games, the Canucks have outscored their opponents 10-2. The Canucks may be generating some more offensive opportunities than their opposition to the mighty Myers on the ice, but not to that degree.

The Canucks have simply been finishing better on Boudreau, which may be a function of their style of play improving the quality of their hitting chances – an aggressive forecheck leading to turnovers near the backboards could mean they are generating more. from least to greatest passes, which cause goalkeepers to turn their heads and make a resulting shot harder to save, but it can also be down to a bit of luck.

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Earlier in the season, they were scoring at a rate up to 20 percent less than would be expected for the quality of their shots, according to HockeyViz.com. Lately, they have been 10% better than expected.

And at the other end of the ice, we know how well Thatcher Demko has been playing. The Canucks have been missing opportunities, Boudreau himself has pointed that out, but their goalie has remained very high in the Canucks area.

At some point, the division of goals for and against will slide into a 50/50 division.

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