Philadelphia Flyers key secondary stats: The forwards
Bill Meltzer http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=9479
With a team's top-six forwards, of course, primary stats are more important than secondary stats. Nevertheless, there is pertinent insight to be gained.
With checking line players, secondary stats take on added importance.
Here's a look at selected Flyers' forwards, focusing on the newer additions and young players who need to step up.
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Jeff Carter: Missed shots, Faceoff percentage
In my opinion, the success of this Flyers season will very much be tied to the progress Carter and defenseman Braydon Coburn show this year. They must both be catalysts. It will be the difference between the Flyers having a one-line attack and an average defense versus two scoring lines and a deep blueline with a strong mix of skill and grit.
In fairness to Carter, it should be noted the player had to deal with a fractured tibia. Additionally, Peter Forsberg's foot issues and frequent absences from the lineup caused Carter's workload to be increased even though he clearly wasn't quite ready for it.
But any way you slice it, Jeff Carter's second NHL season was subpar. His secondary stats underscore some of the causes of his poor primary stats (14 goals, 32 points, minus-17 in 62 games).
Let's look at missed shots. If it seemed like Carter put a lot of his shot attempts into the boards and glass behind the net, it's only because he did.
Carter missed the net on 31% of his shot attempts (96 misses, 215 on goal). His missed shots ranked 25th in the NHL-- and he missed 20 games. If he'd played the entire season, he almost certainly would have been in the top five at minimum.
Coupled with Carter's poor 6.5% shooting percentage on the shots that actually made it on the net, he was actually more of an offensive detriment than a help last year. And I say that recognizing that he generated a lot of his own scoring chances. He needs to start burying significantly more of those chances.
So who had the most missed shots in the NHL last season? It was the Flyers' Simon Gagne (179 misses-- 38% of his shot attempts).
But here's the big difference. Simon also put 291 shots on goal and scored on 14.1 percent of them to rack up 41 goals. That made up for the missed shots.
Carter was way too streaky offensively. That's not unusual for a young player. But he took it to extremes:
* He had one goal and four assists to show for the first month of the season.
* After returning to the lineup from injury in December, he had points in seven of eight games, including a pair of goals.
* He followed that up with a one goal, two assist, minus-seven stretch in five games.
* Over the next 16 games, Carter provided what a team needs from its second line center-- consisting support offense. He had at least one point in 11 of those games and, in total, seven goals and 15 points along with an acceptable minus-one rating.
* He was brutal over the next 15 games. Zero goals, three assists, minus-11.
* After a two game mini hot-streak (three goals, six points, plus-four), he went pointless in five of the six remaining regular-season games with one goal.
Carter needs to produce much, much more consistently than that this season for the Flyers to make noise in the crowded Eastern Conference. The strength he added over the offseason should help, but I suspect a lot of his problems are in getting down on himself mentally and pressing too much.
Another area where Carter absolutely must improve is in the faceoff circle. He won just 45.4 percent of his draws last year.
The Flyers in general were a poor faceoff team last year, without a single center they could rely on to consistently win faceoffs (a far cry from the days of rolling out Lindros, Brind'Amour, and Otto or the duo of Primeau and Handzus).
Carter, a big center with quick hands, ought to be better on draws. With added experience and strength, hopefully he will be.
***
Daniel Briere : Even strength points
The Flyers' marquee forward acquisition in the offseason led all NHL players in even-strength scoring last year. Of his 32 goals and 63 assists last year, 23 of the goals and 42 of the helpers came at even strength.
Briere was also remarkably consistent over the course of last season in his primary stats.
First half totals: 15 goals, 47 points, plus-nine in 41 games
Second half stats: 17 goals, 48 points, plus-eight in 40 games
Playoffs: Points in 12 of 16 games (3 G, 12 assists)
Apart from one four-game pointless stretch in late November and early December and a three game pointless end to the season (he was being used sparingly to be rested for the playoffs), Briere rarely went so much as back-to-back games without a point.
But Briere will have less support around him unless a) Carter's line steps up significantly, b) Mike Richards line produces enough to become the de facto second line, or c) Peter Forsberg ends up back in Philadelphia.
Any which way, Briere still going to need to have a similar season to last year for the Flyers to go places.
***
Mike Richards: Faceoff percentage, hits
Richards often gives up size in the faceoff circle, but he's capable of being a player who wins over 50% of his faceoffs on guile and quickness. I expect his 47.5% winning percentage to increase significantly this year now that he's in his third NHL season.
One thing I love about Richards is that he's already a very strong secondary stat player in most categories, and figures to get even better.
He was second in takeaways to Gagne among Flyers players with 47, despite missing 23 games with injuries.
He was second to Ben Eager in hits with 78. Likewise, Richards had a good sense for when it was a good time to drop the gloves (and handles himself remarkable well when he fights).
Offensively, it was a tale of two seasons for Richards, as many people know.
1st half 29 GP 1 G 8 A 9 PTS -11 22 PIM 0 SHG
2nd half 30 GP 9 G 14 A 23 PTS -1 30 PIM 4 SHG
I think the second half performance is closer to what he'll do this season offensively if he stays healthy.
***
Joffrey Lupul : Hits, takeaways
First and foremost, the Flyers need Lupul to be the guy who played in Anaheim in 2005-06 and not the one who scored 16 goals and 28 points in Edmonton last season.
If he scores 25-plus, fine. If not, well, Lupul's lack of points was just the tip of the iceberg in a putrid season last year.
Simply put, unless Lupul was scoring he wasn't contributing much of anything positive. He stopped scoring shortly before Thanksgiving (seven of his 16 goals came in his first 20 games) and then couldn't find the net the rest of the season.
I searched hard to find positive secondary aspects of his season last year, but can't find much, apart from the fact he dressed in 81 games and had at least one shot on goal in 72 of them.
Despite Lupul's size, he didn't hit. He was 233rd in the NHL with 71 hits. That put him behind the likes of Jon Sim, Sergei Brylin and Martin Gelinas (all of whom he towers over). Also slightly ahead of him were high skill players like Ilya Kovalchuk and Eric Staal.
He didn't forecheck particularly well and sure as hell didn't backcheck with much gusto. He had a modest 31 takeaways. By way of comparison, Sami Kapanen had 46 and Dmitry Afanasenkov had 43. Jeff Carter had 39 in 19 fewer games.
Lupul also struggled in the missed shot category. About 31% of his shot attempts missed the mark, and he was a so-so 9.3% in converting the ones on goal.
Again, the bottom line with Lupul is that he needs to score goals. If not, he needs to at least find other ways to contribute.
The good news: He's still just 24 years of age, he'll get a clean slate in a new city and conference, and a year ago at this time, he looked like a blossoming young scoring star. He's capable of bouncing back.
***
Scotty Upshall : Hits, takeaways
The offensive boost Upshall gave the Flyers after coming over from Nashville was an encouraging sign. So were his secondary stats that point to grit and forechecking.
Upshall averaged a shade under a hit-per-game in the 18 Flyers games he played after the deal, despite playing through a shoulder injury. He had 7 takeaways with Philly (14 for the season).
Add in his speed and the six goals, 13 points, and plus-four he put up and you get quite an eye-opening start to his Philly career.
Now the 24-year-old has to stay healthy and build on it.
***
Scott Hartnell : Giveways/takeaways, Shooting percentage
Hartnell didn't have as many hits as I thought he would have had last year (credited with 54 in 64 games). Even so he's still very effective in using his size and strength to keep or gain control the puck. One indication of this is the fact that he only had 21 giveways last year to 32 takeways.
He was also an opportunistic scorer last year, with a 14.7 shooting percentage. While that was a career-best, he's been over 11.7 percent each of his two prior seasons, and he's topped 20 goals the last two seasons.
I expect that Carter and Richards will rebound this year... there won't be as much pressure on them as last year and the whole team around them is better as well. I'm interested to see how Lupul will respond to his new environment... as well as see how Hartnell adjusts. As we saw last year, Upshall can really impress if he's given the opportunity.
He doesn't mention Gags... but he also needs to hit the net MUCH, MUCH more this year. 38% is horrible... that's hardly better than me! ... D.
vCash:
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Points: 34
Philadelphia Flyers key secondary stats: The forwards 
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