Zach Werenski should be considered for the Norris?

[FlyingPhi]

Hey all,

Just posting a tid bit from oilersnation.com here about Zach Werenski.

I have no opinion since I haven't watched him play much (I don't enjoy regular season hockey in October through January as much as CFB and the NFL and I only have so much time to watch)

Take a look and let me know if he is on to something. Sounds like an awesome story for CBJ fans either way.

"Werenski is having an outstanding campaign in Columbus. Help me understand why he isn’t talked about more with Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar for the Norris Trophy.

Werenski has been much better at getting pucks on net. He has 114 shots on goal, with 78 attempts blocked and he’s missed the net 54 times (11 of them are iron). Makar has 97 shots on goal, 93 attempts blocked, and he’s missed the net 50 times (six iron). Hughes has 95 shots on goal, he’s had 100 attempts blocked and he’s missed the net 49 times (three iron).

Werenski has had 46.3% of his shots hit the net, Makar is at 40.3% while Hughes is at 39.2%. Werenski’s point totals overall are 10-21-31, Hughes has 7-28-35 and Makar has 9-29-38. Makar has 16 points 5×5 while Werenski and Hughes have 15. Their GF-GA is Werenski (33-23), Hughes (32-19) and Makar (27-20).

Werenski averages 26:51/game, while Makar is 25:18 and Hughes is 25:01. Both Werenski (1:40) and Makar (2:02) are on the PK, but Hughes isn’t.

Werenski’s most common teammates are Sean Monahan (356 minutes), Kirill Marchenko (326), Dante Fabbro (308), Ivan Provorov (237) and Cole Sillinger (236).

Makar’s most consistent teammates are Nathan MacKinnon (555), Mikko Rantanen (514), Devon Toews (483) and Artturi Lehkonen (314).

Hughes’ most common linemates consist of Filip Hronek (321), Elias Pettersson (300), Conor Garland (272) and Jake Debrusk (267).

I think everyone would agree that Werenski plays with less talented teammates than the other two."

Click to read more...

 

[dgibb10]

Werenski has been excellent this year and absolutely should be in norris conversations but

"% of shots attempts that hit the net", is not a meaningful statistic

 

[Crede777]

I think he is in the conversation with Makar and Hughes at the moment. We will see how things shake out but if the season ended today I would expect he is a finalist but doesn't win.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

"% of shots attempts that hit the net", is not a meaningful statistic

As someone who watched the Kraken attempt to do literally anything useful playing 6-on-5 last night, I disagree.

 

[Rowlet]

He's my number 3/4 so far this year, but still not at the level of Hughes/Makar, he's placed himself in the Fox, Heiskanen, Dahlin tier, though.

That being said, the stats laid out in the article are not great.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Yeah he's part of the small handful of Dmen leading the race so far. However, we're barely beyond the 1/3 mark of the season.

My unsolicited $0.02: I have concerns that he'll have enough offensive production by the end of the year to be in consideration. No insult to him though, he just doesn't have much of a supporting cast. On top of this, he's only ever played 82 games one time in his career. I'd love to see him do it though.

 

[FlyingPhi]

He's my number 3/4 so far this year, but still not at the level of Hughes/Makar, he's placed himself in the Fox, Heiskanen, Dahlin tier, though.

That being said, the stats laid out in the article are not great.

Fair enough.

Full disclosure though, the section on Werenski started talking about the leaders in goalposts hit. I had trimmed that part off, and probably screwed up the context by doing so. Here is what I trimmed off:

"Since the NHL started tracking hitting goal posts/crossbar the most iron hit in one season by a D-man was 13, set by Zach Werenski in 2022. Werenski has already hit 11 this season (7 posts and four crossbars). He only hit one crossbar in 2022"

 

[CBJx614]

Only thing that matters for the Norris is who scored the most and it won't be Z by the end of the season..I do think he's the best dman currently of the bunch but the reality is he's not gonna have a real chance.

 

[Rowlet]

Fair enough.

Full disclosure though, the section on Werenski started talking about the leaders in goalposts hit. I had trimmed that part off, and probably screwed up the context by doing so. Here is what I trimmed off:

"Since the NHL started tracking hitting goal posts/crossbar the most iron hit in one season by a D-man was 13, set by Zach Werenski in 2022. Werenski has already hit 11 this season (7 posts and four crossbars). He only hit one crossbar in 2022"

Honestly, that doesn't make it much better, I don't really care about crossbars hit.

For example, the quoted article discussed how Hughes and Makar have much better linemates, but even despite having better teammates, their numbers relative to their team is much higher, and Hughes in particular is impacting the game at a higher level than any skater I'm aware of, relative to their teams.

Stats (5v5)	Werenski	Hughes
Corsi% Relative	+2.26%	+16.09%
Fenwick% Relative	+2.80%	+15.14%
xG% Relative	+0.57%	+13.19%
HDCF/HDGF% Relative	-1.13%/+22.90%	+10.79%/+33.33%

It also mentioned that Werenski and Makar play roughly 2 minutes of PK per game, while Hughes doesn't play PK at all, however it fails to discuss whether or not those players are actually good in those roles. in the 23-24 season, Makar was in the bottom 8% of PKers.

edit:

The article also mentions that Sean Monahan is Werenski's most common linemate, however when Sean Monahan is on the ice and Werenski isn't, Monahan's advanced stats go up, but when Werenski is out there without Monahan they go down, which is concerning.

Stat (5v5)	Werenski without Monahan	Monahan without Werenski
CF%	49.25%	53.86%
FF%	48.57%	56.23%
xGF%	44.57%	62.96%
HDCF%/HDGF%	42.92%/47.62%	53.57%/53.33%

 

[1989]

Haven't followed Werenski but...

Can we give Crossbars Hit Per Shot Attempt / 60 another stupid stat name like Corsi and Fenwick and make sure it's included in the Deserve-To-Win metrics?

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

Werenski has been great for the Jackets this season. We're all very impressed by his play.

Just yesterday I commented in our GDT that I haven't been his biggest fan but he's made me a believer this year. So many smart decisions, good play with the puck and without the puck.

He's not as flashy as Makar, doesn't make those sudden movement dangles or anything like that. But Werenski is smooth and seems to do things with a purpose, and succeeds more often than not. He's been great.

 

[John Mandalorian]

“Considered” is such a low substance word. And what does it mean really? To be talked about as a form of lip service? Or is someone pointing a gun to another’s head,”you better consider him!”