The advanced stats community has to address Washington.
22nd in CF%
27th in xGF%
3rd in GF%
This isn't SSS anymore. They do this year after year. I have always believed that the object of the game is to score goals, and over very large samples, a player is what the GF% says he is, as long as those numbers are consistent. I'm becoming concerned that Erik Karlsson is a consistent goals drag, despite seemingly doing everything right. But for the sake of brevity, let's leave Karlsson alone for now. Derek Stepan is a good example, too. Nobody will accuse him of being Patrice Bergeron by CF%/xGF% but he's a GF% boom for his team year after year.
Can we apply the same logic to an entire team/core? Moreover, the question I've always applied to those players is: what exactly are they doing to influence the GF% a certain way, if the shots and chances are implying the opposite influence?
Shots are shots. There's no two ways about that. Now, is it possible that our existing quality metrics are way off?
Granted, the Caps, unlike last year, are doing ok in K-rating (9th overall). But according to Manny's numbers, their quality metrics are the worst in the league. They succeed, according to Manny's numbers, because they're other-worldly at shooting. I mean, that I buy, because they have the greatest shooter who ever lived. But that doesn't explain why their goals against per 60 is top 5 in the league over the last 3 years. This is not a team with particularly outstanding goaltending.
To be fair, it's only 13th over 17-18 and 18-19, but the quality metrics don't indicate that they should be 13th. They indicate that they should be towards the bottom. And even so, Tampa and Toronto have scored a lot more goals, so it's not like they're just beating everyone to death. This team has a Cup and multiple first-place finishes.
We've missed something here.