Blocking shots
| Rk | BkS | |||
| 1 | Anton Volchenkov | OTT | 18 | 79 |
| 2 | Michael Komisarek | MTL | 19 | 69 |
| 3 | Jason Smith | PHI | 19 | 61 |
| 4 | Greg Zanon | NSH | 19 | 60 |
| 5 | Brett Clark | COL | 19 | 50 |
| 6 | Mark Eaton | PIT | 20 | 50 |
| 7 | Brad Lukowich | TBL | 19 | 48 |
| 8 | Brendan Witt | NYI | 16 | 47 |
| 9 | Niclas Havelid | ATL | 19 | 46 |
| 10 | Rob Blake | LAK | 19 | 45 |
| 11 | Roman Hamrlik | MTL | 19 | 44 |
| 12 | Lasse Kukkonen | PHI | 19 | 44 |
| 13 | Chris Phillips | OTT | 18 | 43 |
| 14 | Adam Foote | CBJ | 20 | 42 |
| 15 | Scott Hannan | COL | 19 | 41 |
| 16 | Ken Klee | ATL | 18 | 40 |
| 17 | Garnet Exelby | ATL | 17 | 39 |
| 18 | Pavel Kubina | TOR | 18 | 39 |
| 19 | Hal Gill | TOR | 21 | 38 |
| 20 | Filip Kuba | TBL | 19 | 38 |
I'd be interested to see this up against ice time data, something that might be worthwhile if someone has those numbers. One would think that the number of blocked shots would increase as a player spends more time on the penalty kill.
The top forwards for blocked shots are all in the under 20 range, with Minnesota's Mark Parrish leading the way with 19 (and he's not a guy picking up big shorthanded minutes).
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7 Comments:
It's great that these fine gentlemen get ink for the tough job they do, but it's also very sad for hockey.
New rules created this monster. When you can't play man you play area. When you play area you block shots.
"Fronting" is the term du jour and it sickens me.
Please, bring back the Old NHL so shot blocking isn't as prominent as it is now.
Any stats to compare today's blocked shots to numbers before lock-out? It would be interesting to see.
He's not on the list because he doesn't get a lot of ice time, but I love watching Dallas Drake lay down in front of some of those shots. He's one of the few guys on the wings who does it. When a guy's laying down in front of a 90mph puck, you know he's giving it his all.
Kukkonen has been a definite beast for the Flyers. He has his brain-dead moments, but he's played very, very well.
RE: Blocked shots as a function of time:
Blocked shots statistics
The Hawks just lost one of their promising youngsters (Rene Bourque) when he broke his thumb blocking a shot against the Wings. He already had 2 goals as shorties, and was exciting to watch. His value to the team is his offensive skill. Any grinder can block shots.
Why in the world would you ask this kid to block shots then? This is just an asinine approach to winning by coaches, akin to cutting your nose off to spite your face.
Kukkonen blocking shots is his meal ticket. Can't pass, shoot, skate, hit, fight... You better do something out there.
regarding Rene Bourque:
I doubt that he can do anything else, other than block shots. He wants to win, and will do anything to help, so blocking shots is a way of demonstrating his effort and commitment to the coaching staff and his teammates.
And if he didn't block shots, I give the media about 30 seconds before they start asking if he's too good to actually get dirty to help his team win. Maybe 15 seconds ater that before some select journalists start wondering about his toughness and what it says about his ethnicity or heritage or sexual orientation or something similarly irrelevant to hockey skills.
If he didn't block shots and saved himself for opportunities where he could provide offense, I think the criticism would be very stressful for him.
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