I very much subscribe to the 'David Krejci is our most important player' belief. And while he is admittedly one of my favorite NHL players, I'm not suggesting that 'most important' is 100% complementary. In fact, it could in part emphasize the inconsistency/variance in performance a lot of his detractors harp on, though I think that is largely overblown. As someone who has watched 99% of his shifts over the last 12ish years, I don't see what those folks see. I would argue that Krejci is no more inconsistent then similar high quality players throughout the league, though I do believe that his methodical/"slow the play down" style of play ends up hurting the perception of his effort when he isn't putting up points.
I did a version of this exercise quite a while ago but had some free time this afternoon and refreshed it.
Note: The very presence of points and therefore team goals will weight any outcome here towards the positive, so a perfect version of the below does a much better job accounting for that, both relative to other player's performance and the team's overall. That said, I feel like the results are so overwhelming that they still speak to something.
Since the 2006-07 Regular Season when Krejci played 6 games, the Bruins regular season record when he is in the lineup is:
483-259-98, for a winning percentage of 57.5%
When Krejci has >= 1 point: 305-90-51, 68.4%
When Krejci has >= 2 points: 124-16-12, 81.6%
When Krejci has >= 3 points: 31-2-0, 93.9%
In the playoffs over that same time period (again this is restricted to games he played so it doesn't even account for the Philly comeback after Richards crushed him)
Overall: 63-45, 58.3%
When Krejci has >= 1 point: 43-15, 74.1%
Overall, I feel like this data is mostly a commentary on how good of a player David is and the impact he has on this team. I also feel like it highlights the stability/"set your watch" to it style predictable performance Bergeron/Marchand have brought over the years. The consistency of that duo likely enables Krejci's production to be a difference maker more than it otherwise would.
I did a version of this exercise quite a while ago but had some free time this afternoon and refreshed it.
Note: The very presence of points and therefore team goals will weight any outcome here towards the positive, so a perfect version of the below does a much better job accounting for that, both relative to other player's performance and the team's overall. That said, I feel like the results are so overwhelming that they still speak to something.
Since the 2006-07 Regular Season when Krejci played 6 games, the Bruins regular season record when he is in the lineup is:
483-259-98, for a winning percentage of 57.5%
When Krejci has >= 1 point: 305-90-51, 68.4%
When Krejci has >= 2 points: 124-16-12, 81.6%
When Krejci has >= 3 points: 31-2-0, 93.9%
In the playoffs over that same time period (again this is restricted to games he played so it doesn't even account for the Philly comeback after Richards crushed him)
Overall: 63-45, 58.3%
When Krejci has >= 1 point: 43-15, 74.1%
Overall, I feel like this data is mostly a commentary on how good of a player David is and the impact he has on this team. I also feel like it highlights the stability/"set your watch" to it style predictable performance Bergeron/Marchand have brought over the years. The consistency of that duo likely enables Krejci's production to be a difference maker more than it otherwise would.
