Rookie Matt Smith here, attempting to be the best two-way forward in the game! I want to learn from the best, so I’ve taken a look at the leaders in both Offensive Game Rating, and Defensive Game Rating amongst the S81 Centers in the SMJHL.

This deep dive will focus on the Defensive Game Rating (DGR).. Stay tuned for my second deep dive on offensive game ratings.

Let’s set the stage before I get into the numbers below. First off, I am a center, therefore I honestly don’t care about the other positions (sorry not sorry…), so I’ve narrowed it down to the highest rated CENTERS for DGR. Second, I wanted to account for TPE limitations. Thankfully, the top six leaders in DGR are evenly split between those at the 425 cutoff, and those at the 350 cutoff, so we’ll be examining them as a group, and separately to see how to potentially build out your player in stages. Lastly, since I waited so long to do my deep dives, I actually have the benefit of looking at the entire S81 stats! I’m not looking at any other seasons, or including playoff stats. With that, let’s get into the nitty gritty!

First off congratulations to those at the top of the Defensive Game Ratings! We have three with an average DGR of 76 those are; River Yekaterina Volkova, Slava Kasyanenko, and Leo Carlsson. The other 3 have have DGR of 75; Wednesday Shrinetime, Optimus Autonomous, and Boogan McGillicuddy (special shoutout to Mel Guolla who also has 75, but won’t be included in this analysis!).



Looking at the group as a whole, I’m surprised to find that the most points were put into Faceoffs with an average of 13.17 points! Next up was Position and Defensive Read both with 12.83. Checking came next with 11.83, with Stick Checking just behind with 11.50. The defensive categories with the least points were Hitting with 10.83, and Shot Blocking with 9.67, which I found just as surprising as Faceoffs have the most!



When we break the leaders up by TPE there are some slight differences. At the 350 TPE cutoff, Defensive Read has the most points with an average of 13. Next up is Positioning and Faceoffs each with 12.67. Followed by Checking Points with 11.67, Stick Checking with 11.33, Hitting with just 10, and Shot Blocking with 9.33.



At the 425 cutoff, Faceoffs again have the most points with 13.67, Positioning has 13, Defensive Read 12.67, Checking 12. Hitting jumps up slightly to tie with Stick Checking at 11.67, and finally we are left with Shot Blocking at 10.



So, what can we take away from this? Well, I would seemingly prioritize Defensive Read and Faceoffs early on. Although I originally wasn’t looking at it, I decided to see what the Faceoff win percentage was of the group. They averaged a 54% win percentage, with a high of 63% from Slava, and a low of 48% from River — surprisingly our top two ranked DGRs. Positioning is up there with Defensive Read and Faceoffs as one of the top ones to focus on. Meanwhile, I’d focus less on Hitting and Shot Blocking leaving them until later in my career, or focusing elsewhere entirely.

I’d be remiss as a researcher not to mention limitations. Namely this is only one season’s worth of data. Secondly, I did not compare high DGR players TPE spent on defensive traits, to low DGR players TPE spent defensive traits to see if there was any variability there. Lastly I didn’t account for TPE spent on Physical traits, which can also impact performance both defensively and offensively.

TDL: For the best DGR consider allotting points defensively in the following order: 
Faceoffs > Defensive Read > Positioning > Checking > Stick Checking > Hitting > Shot Blocking

Thanks for reading!

@Baron1898 mention!!

Thank you to @Revontulete!

River mention let's goooooo

DEATH BEFORE DETRANSITION.

I do my best work in the ISFL, go find me there.

+5 tpe, approved!

“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. ... There are neither beginnings nor endings to the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.”

Ólafur Atlason| C | SMJHL Prospect | Future Edmonton Blizzard
Birthplace: Reykjavik, Iceland
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SMJHL Season Stats
S76: GP: 0 | G: 0 | A: 0 | P: 0 | 0 | PIM: 0 | Hits: 0 | |
SMJHL Playoff Stats
S76: GP: 0 | G: 0 | A: 0 | P: 0 | 0 | PIM: 0 | Hits: 0 | |
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