A couple of days ago I put out a blog featuring breakout players, focusing more on the lesser known examples. A lot of breakout players have relatively high shooting percentages, pointing towards the luck being in their favour. I left off two of the biggest breakout stars of the year, but here I'm going to discuss them quickly.
Alex Steen and Kyle Okposo are obviously two of the largest surprise performers this year, and a lot of it may be due to shooting percentage. In the case of Steen, he plays on a ridiculous St. Louis team where the majority of players are north of 1000 in PDO including himself. He's 29, and all of the sudden he has 26 goals in 39 games after never posting more than 24 prior. In those 39 games, Steen has registered 132 shots, making for a 19.7% shooting percentage, when his previous career high was 12.7 in an injury shortened season. These numbers are all indicators that Steen is having a phenomenal season, but is bound for regression sooner or later. It's just not sustainable to shoot at a 19.7% rate in this league. Especially coming out of nowhere with these stats as a 29 year old. Sorry, I'm not buying the hype. If I were a big fantasy hockey guy I would use terms like "sell high."
As for Okposo, I noticed a peculiar trend. Throughout his career he's gone through some serious dry spells when it comes to shooting percentage. He registers lots of shots, but it seems that every other year lately he either can't put it in the net or he can't stop. This year, 21 goals and 15.4% already. Last year? 4 goals for 4%. The year before he clocked in at 15.8%, and then the year before that only 6.9%. His numbers are wildly fluctuating. Could it be that he's just an up and down kind of player, with one year of hot production followed by ice cold? Maybe. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on that trend. Just found it interesting.
Thanks for the read! Don't be afraid to give some feedback!- Johannes
@JohannesHockey
Alex Steen and Kyle Okposo are obviously two of the largest surprise performers this year, and a lot of it may be due to shooting percentage. In the case of Steen, he plays on a ridiculous St. Louis team where the majority of players are north of 1000 in PDO including himself. He's 29, and all of the sudden he has 26 goals in 39 games after never posting more than 24 prior. In those 39 games, Steen has registered 132 shots, making for a 19.7% shooting percentage, when his previous career high was 12.7 in an injury shortened season. These numbers are all indicators that Steen is having a phenomenal season, but is bound for regression sooner or later. It's just not sustainable to shoot at a 19.7% rate in this league. Especially coming out of nowhere with these stats as a 29 year old. Sorry, I'm not buying the hype. If I were a big fantasy hockey guy I would use terms like "sell high."
As for Okposo, I noticed a peculiar trend. Throughout his career he's gone through some serious dry spells when it comes to shooting percentage. He registers lots of shots, but it seems that every other year lately he either can't put it in the net or he can't stop. This year, 21 goals and 15.4% already. Last year? 4 goals for 4%. The year before he clocked in at 15.8%, and then the year before that only 6.9%. His numbers are wildly fluctuating. Could it be that he's just an up and down kind of player, with one year of hot production followed by ice cold? Maybe. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on that trend. Just found it interesting.
Thanks for the read! Don't be afraid to give some feedback!- Johannes
@JohannesHockey