If there’s an individual skill that really remains underutilized by analysts and fans right now, it’s the ability of a player to draw penalties for his respective team. Marouane Fellaini Jersey . While the vast majority of a hockey game is played at even-strength, there is still a swath of goals scored on special teams. Getting your team into that position, of course, has value. Most importantly, drawing penalties has been identified as something of a repeatable talent, meaning that players who exhibit ability to consistently draw penalties will likely continue to do so. Broad Street Hockey investigated this in great detail in 2013, and concluded that drawing penalties is a “real talent that a player possesses”. The one caveat to drawing penalties as it pertains to goal differentials (and, ultimately, adding wins to the standings) is that the inverse is also true – players who take a lot of penalties cost their team valuable goals. So, drawing penalties has value, but it’s only valuable to the extent that the player does not give those penalties back in the form of penalties against. Let’s try and identify some of the league’s best and worst players on this front. For the sake of this article, we’ll limit our focus to the forward position for all regular skaters 2011-Present. We will pull each player’s total number of penalties drawn, and each player’s total number of penalties taken. Here’s our top-ten, sorted by differential: FORWARD PENALTY DIFFERENTIAL LEADERS SINCE 2011 PLAYER TEAM PEN. DRAWN PEN. TAKEN DIFFERENTIAL Jeff Skinner Carolina 97 30 +67 Dustin Brown Los Angeles 102 39 +63 Nazem Kadri Toronto 85 34 +51 Matt Duchene Colorado 57 12 +45 Darren Helm Detroit 50 8 +42 Mikkel Boedker Arizona 55 14 +41 Martin St. Louis N.Y. Rangers 54 14 +40 John Tavares N.Y. Islanders 68 30 +38 Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis 48 11 +37 Patric Hornqvist Pittsburgh 55 18 +37 Those are some massively favourable numbers, even accounting for the fact that the sample spans multiple years. But, maybe there’s a better way to capture the impact the player is having. What if we substituted penalties drawn for goals added (simply by multiplying total number of goals and power-play conversion rate, which sits at 18%), and then doing the same for goals added? PENALTY DIFFERENTIAL AS GOAL VALUE, 2011-PRESENT PLAYER TEAM EST. GOALS ADDED EST. GOALS AGAINST DIFFERENTIAL Jeff Skinner Carolina 17.5 5.4 +12.1 Dustin Brown Los Angeles 18.4 7.0 +11.3 Nazem Kadri Toronto 15.3 6.1 +9.2 Matt Duchene Colorado 10.3 2.2 +8.1 Darren Helm Detroit 9.0 1.4 +7.6 Mikkel Boedker Arizona 9.9 2.5 +7.4 Martin St. Louis N.Y. Rangers 9.7 2.5 +7.2 John Tavares N.Y. Islanders 12.2 5.4 +6.8 Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis 8.6 2.0 +6.7 Patric Hornqvist Pittsburgh 9.9 3.2 +6.7 You can see that Jeff Skinner and Dustin Brown (and Nazem Kadri, too) really are the cream of the crop as it pertains to drawing penalties. If you subscribe to the notion that three goals is worth a point in the standings, then they have added four points (or two wins) on just the ability to draw penalties. Think of this alternatively: if Jeff Skinner or Dustin Brown had no measurable impact (let’s say zero points over the same timespan), they still would have added about four points in the standings from just a penalty point of view. Let’s look at the other end of the spectrum – the forwards who have hurt their teams the most from a penalty aspect. Again, we will focus on differential as opposed to just penalties taken, as it will give us a better idea as to the larger impact on goals and wins/losses. FORWARD PENALTY DIFFERENTIAL TRAILERS, 2011-PRESENT PLAYER TEAM PENALTIES DRAWN PENALTIES TAKEN DIFFERENTIAL Chris Neil Ottawa 40 85 -45 Ryan Reaves St. Louis 28 66 -38 Jarret Stoll Los Angeles 27 62 -35 Milan Lucic Boston 42 72 -30 Kyle Clifford Los Angeles 44 72 -28 Matt Hendricks Edmonton 50 78 -28 B.J. Crombeen Arizona 31 55 -24 Todd Bertuzzi None 16 39 -23 Zenon Konopka None 31 53 -22 Cody McLeod Colorado 41 63 -22 A lot of the league’s tough guys can be found on this list, from Chris Neil, to Ryan Reaves, to the notorious Milan Lucic. What’s important to remember is that not all ‘tough guys’ sit at the bottom of the penalty differential lists. For example, Brandon Prust (+1) and Antoine Roussel (+2) have long played the aggressive agitator role for their respective teams. Yet, neither has hurt his club from a penalty impact. That’s largely because they have been either more effective in reducing bad penalties, or more effective in enticing the opposition to take penalties through said agitation. How does our top group look from a goal aspect? PENALTY DIFFERENTIAL AS GOAL VALUE, 2011-PRESENT PLAYER TEAM EST. GOALS ADDED EST. GOALS AGAINST DIFFERENTIAL Chris Neil Ottawa 7.2 15.3 -8.1 Ryan Reaves St. Louis 5.0 11.9 -6.9 Jarret Stoll Los Angeles 4.9 11.2 -6.3 Milan Lucic Boston 7.6 13.0 -5.4 Kyle Clifford Los Angeles 7.9 13.0 -5.0 Matt Hendricks Edmonton 9.0 14.0 -5.0 B.J. Crombeen Arizona 5.6 9.9 -4.3 Todd Bertuzzi None 2.9 7.0 -4.1 Zenon Konopka None 5.6 9.5 -4.0 Cody McLeod Colorado 7.4 11.3 -4.0 So, again, view this through the prism of the impact penalties – and penalties only – have had on outcomes. Chris Neil and Ryan Reaves have cost their respective teams about two to three points in the standings. This, again, is just a sliver of the player’s overall impact (whether it’s been good or bad) on his team’s performance. From a penalty aspect, this group has had an unfavourable impact on their team’s position in the standings. Combine the penalty differentials to what we know about each player’s multi-year shot-differential and scoring-differentials, and you can get an even stronger idea about the players impact on the game. Scott McTominay Jersey . - Jordan Addesis shootout goal helped the Plymouth Whalers to a 3-2 win over the Sault Ste. Joel Castro Pereira Jersey . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. http://www.manunitedfcpro.com/Kids-Phil-Jones-Jersey/ . The hard-serving 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., became the first Canadian to be ranked in the Top 10 on the ATP World Tour thanks to his runner-up performance at Rogers Cup in Montreal.Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Jarrett Jack stuffed the stat sheet and Brook Lopez shook off trade rumors and scored 26 points as the Brooklyn Nets stunned the Washington Wizards, 102-80, in the opener of a home-and-home series. Jack led Brooklyn with 26 points, seven assists and six rebounds while Lopez, who has been the topic of trade speculation this week, gave 26 in just 23 minutes off the bench. Multiple media outlets have reported discussed deals that would send Lopez, who has spent his entire career in Brooklyn, to either Charlotte or Oklahoma City. Mason Plumlee finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double- double in the last six games. The Nets snapped a seven-game losing skid. John Wall had 13 points and six assists for Washington, winners in five of its last six games. Kris Humphries added 12 and a team-high eight boards ooff the bench. Marcos Rojo Jersey. . The Wizards ended the first on a 9-0 run and led 24-18 after one quarter. It was all Brooklyn the rest of the way. The Nets ran off seven straight to open the second. It was tied late in the quarter when Plumlees three-point play put Brooklyn back in front. Jacks floater before the buzzer sent the Nets into halftime with a 43-40 lead. A 12-1 run midway through the third, capped by two Lopez free throws, gave the Nets a double-digit advantage. The lead grew to 15 points on a Jack layup late in the stanza. The Nets won all three of the final quarters by at least nine points. Game Notes The two teams play again in Brooklyn on Saturday ... Bojan Bogdanovic scored 12 for Brooklyn ... Washington had 19 turnovers to Brooklyns 10 ... Both teams scored 10 points in transition. 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