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***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 03-27-2023, 09:06 PM

This deep dive will look into whether shot blocks are a product of getting shot against as a team that lacks puck possession, or if they are a meaningful stat. To undertake this, I'll be doing a very cursory glance by eyeing the top shot blockers in the league and how their teams did last season and is in no way reflective of a comprehensive answer overall. The nuance of shot blocking's effectiveness on winning would need to be a deeper glance than a 500 word article. Regardless, let's begin.

Willow Soderberg-Snooks:

Led the league in shots blocked with 198, 4 higher than the next highest shot blocker so not a staggering amount. With so many shots stopped from reaching the net, it'd be hopeful to see it have a big reflection on the standings but no, their team the Regina Elk finished 11th out of 14 teams, not a strong showing for the Elk.

Rikaad Metzller:

Rikaad had 194 blocks, as mentioned 4 off the league lead. Kelowna finished 3rd in the league, showing a positive correlation in this cursory glance of shots blocked to wins.

Matt Ox:

Matt Ox of the Great Falls Grizzlies had 192 blocks, these leaders all bunched near the top without significant separation. The Grizzlies finished 4th, showing that his shot blocking prowess helped keep goals of his net in a positive light.

Hugh Manius:

Hugh had 190 shot blocks, staying right up near the top of the league. He played on the Colorado Raptors a team that finished 10th in the league, not the best showing.

Filip Lund:

Filip played for the Maine Timber with 183 shots blocked. We're still only 15 back of the league lead. !chop. Maine themselves had a fantastic season finished season in the league with 90 points.

Nathan Meager:

Meager played for the league leading, 98 point total Detroit Falcons. He amassed 179 shots blocked and clearly shored up his team defensively top help them win.

Nevek Kove:

Nevek is the last player we'll dive into for our shots blocked analysis. Playing for the Quebec City Citadelles (or QCC for short) Nevek put up 171 shot blocked. Quebec finished 6th in the league despite having a lot of young players, so Nevek's defensive prowess was likely a factor.

Final analysis:

As far as we can tell, having a solid defensive minded defenseman (you know, the player who does the job listed in the positional name) seems to be a fairly big factor towards success and shot blocks are a key contributor to it. There are outliers of course but it seems important to have and a positive correlation to winning games as shot blocks through our very cursory glance. In the future, we could do an aggregate total of league block vs their team wins to get a more accurate predictor of the correlation to wins vs shot blocks and use several season of data, however, we won't be doing that. All in all, this is a reminder to all defensive defenseman and defensemen in general to not neglect your own end of the ice.

Word count: 517

***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 03-27-2023, 09:07 PM

Please set title as deep dive #1

*CptSquall* · 03-28-2023, 03:26 PM

Approved, +5 TPE to @HabsFanFromOntario

*Eggcracker* · 03-30-2023, 11:11 PM

Shot blocks = win the cup, got it.

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