Jack Eichel's Year

[WildCard]

We all know he's having an incredible year. Can someone explain this comparison from last year to this year?

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/toronto-maple-leafs-advanced-statistics/#skatr

Edited February 3, 2020 by WildCard

[Palm Trees And Taxes]

First glance (basics):

Last year he was in 94 percentile in assists as he was feeding Skinner, this year way down on first assists.

Now Jack is 92 percentile in goals this year and his first assists are way down this year, as a result of Skinner on 2nd line.

Has the same amount of goals 5 on 5 at this point then all of last season

Major jump in Shooting % this year, which shows that Jack was snakebit last year in terms of goals and now they are going into the net.

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by Ruff Around The Edges

[shrader]

1 minute ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

First glance (basics):

Last year he was in 94 percentile in assists as he was feeding Skinner

Now Jack is 92 percentile in goals this year and his first assists are way down this year, as a result of Skinner on 2nd line.

Has the same amount of goals 5 on 5 at this point then all of last season

Major jump in Shooting % this year, which shows that Jack was snakebit last year in terms of goals and now they are going into the net.

 

Now they just need to get those assists back up there to get him beyond Draisaitl/McDavid territory.  Whether it's trough a reunion with Skinner or continuing growth from Olofsson, the potential here is incredible.

[GASabresIUFAN]

His shooting % is off the charts compared to his 1st 4 years.  Is he better or is he having serious puck luck this year? 

[Curt]

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

His shooting % is off the charts compared to his 1st 4 years.  Is he better or is he having serious puck luck this year? 

I think this is the real question.  I’m inclined to believe that there has been true skill improvement.  He hasn’t really had fluky goals going in.

[matter2003]

20 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

His shooting % is off the charts compared to his 1st 4 years.  Is he better or is he having serious puck luck this year? 

There is definitely some of that, but Jack has said he spent a lot of time working on his shot and becoming better when he does shoot the puck, so I am assuming some of that is hard work paying off, but there is no way its more than double his career shooting percentage improvement.  I'd say he likely falls back to the 15% range, which would still be a huge improvement over his career average.

[shrader]

1 minute ago, matter2003 said:

There is definitely some of that, but Jack has said he spent a lot of time working on his shot and becoming better when he does shoot the puck, so I am assuming some of that is hard work paying off, but there is no way its more than double his career shooting percentage improvement.  I'd say he likely falls back to the 15% range, which would still be a huge improvement over his career average.

Right now he has the lowest shots/game figure of his entire career, other than his rookie season.  That makes me wonder about the part in bold, if he has weeded out some of the lower probability shots from his game.

[Palm Trees And Taxes]

33 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

His shooting % is off the charts compared to his 1st 4 years.  Is he better or is he having serious puck luck this year? 

I say its a tad bit of both but more on the 'Jack is taking the next step' aspect. Years past he was a little snakebit

[Taro T]

Really haven't focused on his shooting mechanics this season, but am curious if part of his off-season training was lowering his right hand in a more traditional manner when he goes to take a shot (pretty sure he has, but definitely haven't focused on it, so maybe believing he has is illusory) which would take a bit of surprise away from the shot for a goalie, but also increase the accuracy of the shot.

Doing so could also be a reason for the reduced attempts as that slight delay on getting the shot off should be expected to reduce the window to get an effective shot off.  And with Eichel's hockey sense he holds off on taking the low %age shot in favor of prolonged possession and hopefully a better shot.

Combine altered mechanics and his getting to better spots (tighter towards the slot than last season) to take shots would go a long way towards explaining that increased shooting percentage.

And one last factor that could be effecting the SH% AND primary assists is that he knew when playing g w/ Skinner (and even Pominville before he totally gave up the ghost) that a low shot had a very good chance of having the "garbage" cleaned up by Jeff or Jason who both were very good at it until injuries / old age took its toll on them as the season wore on.  Olofsson is more of a 1 timer sniper than either and doesn't seem to get to the nets much either.  So, when Eichel does get an assist on 1 of his goals he doesn't also get a shot to go with it.  (Olofsson doesn't give him the "chaser" after the shot like Skinner did. Maybe there's a nickname for when Jack plays with Jeff - the shot and the chaser.  ? )

Edited February 3, 2020 by Taro T