You might have noticed around here that I hardly, if ever, bring up numbers and statistics when writing about the Canucks and hockey in general. I get a thrill when I see Hank Sedin’s name near the top of assist leaders in the NHL, or when one of the guys hits the 20 goal mark for the first time, or when a franchise record is beaten, but that’s about the extent of my comfort with numbers and statistics. Math often makes me want to cry, because it insists on remaining such a mystery.
I became a hockey fan because I felt an emotional connection to the sport and the team on the ice, not because I want to analyze the team’s numbers after the game. But I accidently stumbled upon On the Forecheck and his link to Alan Ryder’s statbit filled epic 2008 NHL Review, and found some Canucks related statistics that were interesting, and shocker, actually kind of fun. And hey, it’s the off season. Might as well try something different, right? I’m not sure if the review is absolutely accurate, but for what I was interested in, it looked good to me.
The first one I got a kick out of was this
Penalty Drawing- Best
Player Team Minors PCOPPO
Dion Phaneuf CAL 53 13
Sidney Crosby PIT 55 12
Dustin Brown LA 62 11
Alex Burrows VAN 60 11*
Erik Cole CAR 52 10
Sean Avery NYR 43 10
*Emphasis mine
I like having statistical evidence that Burr is such a great pest and pain in the ass. With his salary, he’s probably one of the best bargains in the league for all the little things he brings every night. Just for curiosity’s sake, I compared Burr’s salary to other guys around the Northwest division that made similar contributions to their teams.
Burr’s salary $483, 333
Mark Parish’s salary $2, 650, 000
Owen Nolan’s salary $2, 750, 000
Ethan Moreau’s salary $2, 000, 000
Ian Laperriere’s salary $1, 150, 000
So there we are. Burr is entertaining and economical. And he’s quite a hot bitch too. Vote for him in the Hottie Hockey Dreamy Team.
The second statistic I liked was pretty cool too. And it shows that the Canucks aren’t making a mistake putting the big bucks into Lui.
Top Goaltender – 2003-08
Player Team PC
Roberto Luongo FLA/VAN 1083
Martin Brodeur NJD 797
Tomas Vokoun NAS/FLA 794
Jean-Sebastien Giguere ANA 714
Alan Ryder also states that,
Roberto Luongo had an “off” season with”only” 221 PC points based principally on a shot quality neutral save percentage of .915. But, over the past five seasons, he has been the NHL’s most valuable player by some distance.
Ah ha. Now I have evidence that shows I wasn’t just being a biased, greasy goalie loving Canucks fan when I was extremely irritated that Sid Crosby won the Hart the season before last over Lui.
And finally, the statistic that shows that the Canucks were a lucky team the season before last, and an unlucky one this past season was interesting. We always seemed to come out on the right side of one goal games throughout the lucky season, and it seemed like that never happened this last season.
I need hockey to come back before I become a total nerd. Here’s a cookie if you managed to read through all these uncharacteristic numbers.
The Humming Giraffe 
I’m a statbits consumer, too. Not a producer. I love reading that kind of stuff, but I don’t think I’ll ever come up with any of it on my own.
I LOVE Mark Parrish. LOVE. Um, that’s really all I took away from all of that.
Me too, Patty. My brain just doesn’t work that way.
Heh. But he’s more expensive than Burr, Kirsten… I actually am not really familiar with him. Is he cute?
Er no, he’s not really cute, but he’s funny and snarky, and he’s from Minnesota. He likes to stick his butt in people’s faces. Like Ryan Smyth only 5000% less traitor.
Funny and snarky is always good. And hockey players that know how to use their butts are good too.
Ugh. Ryan Smyth is such a traitor. Who cries about leaving the Oil and then signs with their division rival in the off season for more money? He’s kind of a wanker. And kind of overrated.