News Article: How the Los Angeles Kings Corsi'd their way to the NHL's elite (good read)

[deeshamrock]

This is a good article about why the Kings have developed into a powerhouse, elite team and their strong use of puck possession and Corsi is driving that train.

http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/blog/e...eles-kings-corsid-their-way-to-the-nhls-elite

From that article:

Over the past couple of years almost no team in the league has been better than the Kings when it comes to controlling the puck. They've steadily improved each and every season. Six years ago the Kings were 28th in the NHL in Corsi percentage (the percentage of shot attempts that belonged to them during 5-on-5 play). In the five years that followed they've finished (in order) 11th, 16th, 10th, 2nd, and 1st.[/I]

That's impressive. The article states that DL was a fan of analytics even before reading Moneyball. And how more GM's right down to the Juniors, are using Corsi to improve their team and get an edge on competition.


It seems that nearly every roster transaction they've made over the past four or five years has had at least one or two common denominators to them. There have been some exceptions, but for the most part the Kings seem to value certain qualities when it comes to players they're looking to acquire


For one, nearly every player the Kings have acquired since 2008 has posted strong individual possession numbers and has a history of being used against tough competition.

Matt Frattin, the player that seems to have been overlooked in this past offseasons trade that sent Jonathan Bernier to Toronto, is another player that fits the mold of a typical Kings acquisition. He's young, cheap, and even though hasn't put up huge goal or assist totals he's coming off a season that saw him post great possession numbers while playing relatively tough minutes. He seems like the type of player that could be a contributor in Los Angeles, even if he goes relatively unnoticed in the box score.

The author is correct when he goes on to point out that teams that score high on Corsi are the teams that have gone deep in the playoffs and win the Cup. And the Kings scores last year, lead the league. It bodes well for a young team that is growing into a powerhouse.


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One of the best tools for measuring possession that we have at our disposal right now is Corsi, a plus-minus metric named after Buffalo Sabres goalie coach Jim Corsi that simply counts total shot attempts (goals, saves, misses, and blocks) for and against.

Click to read more...

 

[BigBrown]

Isn't Regehr and Schultz the opposite of Corsi players though, like among the worst in the league? I don't necessarily think Lombardi puts that much weight into those numbers, but certainly being a strong possession team is a primary goal for the Kings.

 

[Muzzinga]

Doesn't explain the trade and the ultimate re-signing for possession sinkhole Regehr. It's a good sign though, all the best GM's (Boston, Chicago) are building possession teams after realising its the key to success

and then you have the Leafs....

http://mapleleafshotstove.com/2013/...ith-associate-coach-of-the-leafs-greg-cronin/

AB: You don’t think the Leafs got outpossessed last season, and that shot differentials are not a good indicator of possession?

GC: Right. I unequivocally do not believe that.

AB: To be clear, you don’t believe the Leafs were outpossessed last season?

Nope.

AB: Do you use any performance metrics that aren’t publicly available? Have you heard of CORSI?

GC: No. We don’t. We just do a basic thing which is the generation of scoring chances; we know who is generating scoring chances for and who is responsible for a breakdown defensively.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Awesome read and we definitely are an elite powerhouse!

 

[Rorschach]

Thanks for the article link!!

 

[Papa Mocha 15]

Great Read.

 

[deeshamrock]

Doesn't explain the trade and the ultimate re-signing for possession sinkhole Regehr. It's a good sign though, all the best GM's (Boston, Chicago) are building possession teams after realising its the key to success

That', I think, was insurance more than anything else. And perhaps Sutter. Most likely they knew Scuds was leaving and weren't sure about Mitchell. With the CAP being what it was, not a lot of room left.

And not to say they can't trade him at some point.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Did you guys notice Surly and Scribe got linked in that article?

Congrats Zad and Surly!