Craig Simpsons incredibly high shooting efficiency

[alko]

From Hockey-reference:

1985-86	18	PIT	NHL	76	11	17	28	2	47	8	2	1	0	11	6	0	74	14.9
1986-87	19	PIT	NHL	72	26	25	51	8	57	19	7	0	3	21	4	0	133	19.5
1987-88	20	TOT	NHL	80	56	34	90	20	77	34	22	0	8	22	12	0	177	31.6			AS-4,AS-3
1987-88	20	PIT	NHL	21	13	13	26	5	34	9	4	0	3	9	4	0	59	22.0			AS-4,AS-3
1987-88	20	EDM	NHL	59	43	21	64	15	43	25	18	0	5	13	8	0	118	36.4			AS-4,AS-3
1988-89	21	EDM	NHL	66	35	41	76	-3	80	18	17	0	4	27	14	0	121	28.9			AS-6
1989-90	22	EDM	NHL	80	29	32	61	-2	180	22	7	0	2	21	11	0	129	22.5
1990-91	23	EDM	NHL	75	30	27	57	-8	66	15	15	0	5	18	9	0	143	21.0			AS-11
1991-92	24	EDM	NHL	79	24	37	61	8	80	18	6	0	2	27	10	0	128	18.8
1992-93	25	EDM	NHL	60	24	22	46	-14	36	12	12	0	3	9	13	0	91	26.4
1993-94	26	BUF	NHL	22	8	8	16	-3	8	6	2	0	2	4	4	0	28	28.6
1994-95	27	BUF	NHL	24	4	7	11	-5	26	3	1	0	0	4	3	0	20	20.0

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Two time he had shooting % above 30 %. Now we can ask, why didnt they use him more as a scorer?

 

[The Panther]

"They" did use him as a scorer. He was rumored to be a 1st overall draft choice in '85, but he told the Maple Leafs he didn't want to play for them, so he went 2nd to Pittsburgh. He got to play the PP with Mario Lemieux, gradually improved, and by the start of his third season in Pittsburgh he was hot. Then, came the Paul Coffey trade and he went to Edmonton where Sather immediately put him with Messier and Anderson, where he stayed through 1991.

Simpson is probably the best player I've ever seen one-on-one against the goaltender, and he had magical hand-eye coordination. About 95% of his goals were scored within four feet of the goal-line, which helps with that shooting percentage. But he was a sluggish skater, and wasn't the type to generate his own offence.

Great player, though. A real battler who rose to big occasions.

Terrible TV commentator.

 

[The Panther]

If anyone wanted to know why Craig Simpson's career was basically over at age 25, this is an example of why:


About 90% of his goals resulted in hits like this... Ah, the good old days!

 

[seventieslord]

Seems like a higher than usual proportion of his shots were taken on the powerplay, and a much higher than usual proportion of them were on passes from the two best passers of his generation, plus Mark Messier.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Seems like a higher than usual proportion of his shots were taken on the powerplay, and a much higher than usual proportion of them were on passes from the two best passers of his generation, plus Mark Messier.

No need to complicate this with fancy stats. The simple explanation is that he was better than Gretzky.