Blue Jackets Player Rankings: Part One – Offense

Columbus Player Rankings — Offense

With the hockey season over for the Columbus Blue Jackets and their fans, what else is there to do other than watch the playoffs?  Keep replaying in your head all the “what if” scenarios of narrow losses by the Blue Jackets?  Yes, it can drive you insane!  So, what better remedy from the insanity than immersing yourself in a plethora of numbers and try to make sense out of them?  By leveraging statistical analysis, let’s compute Blue Jackets player rankings in categories that result in points.  As such, we’ll let the numbers do most of the talking with the occasional smattering of commentary.

PLAYER RANKINGS BY POINTS

In reviewing Table 1 below, it is abundantly clear that Brandon Dubinsky ranks at the top of the list of Blue Jackets players when it comes to total points.  He had 57 points when statistically normalized over a full season. Even though goals have been hard to come by for Dubinsky, he has been instrumental in setting them up for his line-mates.  How many times did you see Dubinsky make a blind pass to the front of the net with perfect precision and timing?  One would almost swear he has 360 degree peripheral vision.

Former Rangers, Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal were not too far behind, finishing second and third respectively.  Gaborik joined the Blue Jackets late in the season and played only 8 games but rolled up 12 points.  When normalized over a full season, this translated into 55 points.  Meanwhile, Prospal had 52 points when normalized over 82 games.  Isn’t it amazing how the old guy keep going and going?

TABLE 1 – Player Rankings by Points

Special note: In order to make statistically equitable comparisons, data was normalized over 82 games based on each active player’s production in games they played for the Blue Jackets during the shortened 2012-2013 NHL regular season.  Data for individuals who played in only 8 games or less is deemed not worthy for comparison purposes as it cannot be appropriately normalized.

Source: Original data was retrieved from NHL.com

Ranking	Player	Games Played	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Brandon Dubinsky	82	6	51	57
2	Marian Gaborik	82	21	34	55
3	Vinny Prospal	82	21	31	52
4	Mark Letestu	82	23	25	48
5	Blake Comeau	82	18	27	45
6	Cam Atkinson	82	21	21	42
7	Artem Anisimov	82	26	16	42
8	James Wisniewski	82	14	25	39
9	Fedor Tyutin	82	7	31	38
10	Jack Johnson	82	9	26	35
11	Nick Foligno	82	11	24	35
12	Matt Calvert	82	18	14	32
13	RJ Umberger	82	14	17	31
14	Ryan Johansen	82	10	14	24
15	Dalton Prout	82	3	18	21
16	Nikita Nikitin	82	6	13	19
17	Derek MacKenzie	82	6	10	16
18	Tim Erixon	82	0	13	13
19	Jared Boll	82	4	8	12
20	Adrian Aucoin	82	0	9	9
21	Cody Goloubef	82	7	0	7
22	Colton Gillies	82	3	3	6
N/A	Nick Drazenovic	–	–	–	–
N/A	Nick Holden	–	–	–	–
N/A	Sean Collins	–	–	–	–
N/A	David Savard	–	–	–	–
N/A	Jonathan   Audy-Marchessault	–	–	–	–

 

PLAYER RANKINGS BY GOALS

Looking at Table 2 below, Artem Anisimov is at the top of the rankings for goals scored.  He had 26 goals when statistically normalized over 82 games.  You can tell the Jackets missed his services toward the end of the season as he sat out nursing a concussion.  Arguably, Anisimov was the team’s greatest scoring weapon during the regular season.  Now, if he could only have stayed healthy down the stretch!

One of the big surprises has been Mark Letestu.  He came in second place with 23 goals followed by a three-way tie for third place amongst Cam Atkinson, Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal.  Each of them scored 21 goals when statistically normalized over an entire season.  Atkinson definitely could have been more productive but got slowed down by an ankle injury.  After an initial flurry of goals, Gaborik’s goal production dropped off perhaps due to the abdominal injury that he seemed to have been playing through.

TABLE 2 – Player Rankings by Goals

Special note: In order to make statistically equitable comparisons, data was normalized over 82 games based on each active player’s production in games they played for the Blue Jackets during the shortened 2012-2013 NHL regular season.  Data for individuals who played in only 8 games or less is deemed not worthy for comparison purposes as it cannot be appropriately normalized.

Source: Original data was retrieved from NHL.com

 

Ranking	Player	Games Played	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Artem   Anisimov	82	26	16	42
2	Mark   Letestu	82	23	25	48
3	Cam   Atkinson	82	21	21	42
4	Marian   Gaborik	82	21	34	55
5	Vinny   Prospal	82	21	31	52
6	Blake   Comeau	82	18	27	45
7	Matt   Calvert	82	18	14	32
8	James   Wisniewski	82	14	25	39
9	RJ   Umberger	82	14	17	31
10	Nick   Foligno	82	11	24	35
11	Ryan   Johansen	82	10	14	25
12	Jack   Johnson	82	9	26	35
13	Cody   Goloubef	82	7	0	7
14	Fedor   Tyutin	82	7	31	38
15	Nikita   Nikitin	82	6	13	19
16	Derek   MacKenzie	82	6	10	16
17	Brandon   Dubinsky	82	6	51	57
18	Jared   Boll	82	4	8	12
19	Colton   Gillies	82	3	3	6
20	Dalton   Prout	82	3	18	21
21	Tim   Erixon	82	0	13	13
22	Adrian   Aucoin	82	0	9	9
N/A	Nick   Drazenovic	–	–	–	–
N/A	Nick   Holden	–	–	–	–
N/A	Sean   Collins	–	–	–	–
N/A	David   Savard	–	–	–	–
N/A	Jonathan   Audy-Marchessault	–	–	–	–

 

PLAYER RANKINGS BY ASSISTS

In reviewing Table 3, Brandon Dubinsky leads the pack with the most number of assists at 51 when normalized over a full season.  In fact, he was the leader by a wide margin.  This should come as no surprise as he makes his presence felt all over the ice.  Hopefully, he will be rewarded next season with a dramatic increase in the number of goals scored.

Gaborik is in second place with 34 assists when normalized over 82 games.  There is a two-way tie for third place between Prospal and Tyutin at 31 assists a piece at the normalized rate.  What is a bit of a surprise is that a defenseman is ranked third in assists instead of a forward.  This further enunciates the need for a high-scorer to be added to the roster.

TABLE 3 – Player Rankings by Assists

Special note: In order to make statistically equitable comparisons, data was normalized over 82 games based on each active player’s production in games they played for the Blue Jackets during the shortened 2012-2013 NHL regular season.  Data for individuals who played in only 8 games or less is deemed not worthy for comparison purposes as it cannot be appropriately normalized.

Source: Original data was retrieved from NHL.com

 

Ranking	Player	Games Played	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Brandon Dubinsky	82	6	51	57
2	Marian Gaborik	82	21	34	55
3	Vinny Prospal	82	21	31	52
4	Fedor Tyutin	82	7	31	38
5	Blake Comeau	82	18	27	45
6	Jack Johnson	82	9	26	35
7	Mark Letestu	82	23	25	48
8	James Wisniewski	82	14	25	39
9	Nick Foligno	82	11	24	35
10	Cam Atkinson	82	21	21	42
11	Dalton Prout	82	3	18	21
12	RJ Umberger	82	14	17	31
13	Artem Anisimov	82	26	16	42
14	Ryan Johansen	82	10	14	24
15	Matt Calvert	82	18	14	32
16	Tim Erixon	82	0	13	13
17	Nikita Nikitin	82	6	13	19
18	Derek MacKenzie	82	6	10	16
19	Adrian Aucoin	82	0	9	9
20	Jared Boll	82	4	8	12
21	Colton Gillies	82	3	3	6
22	Cody Goloubef	82	7	0	7
N/A	Nick Drazenovic	–	–	–	–
N/A	Nick Holden	–	–	–	–
N/A	Sean Collins	–	–	–	–
N/A	David Savard	–	–	–	–
N/A	Jonathan   Audy-Marchessault	–	–	–	–

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

Statistical analysis can provide intriguing information and one can be tempted to draw inferences that may be wayward.  Accordingly, statistical analysis must be balanced with variables such as injuries, trades, streaks, strength of schedule and so forth.

Nonetheless, it is apparent that there are five players that appear to standout as the offensive pacesetters of the club.  These are Dubinsky, Gaborik, Prospal, Anisimov and Letestu.  Four former Rangers and a former Penguin are leading the offensive charge with the Blue Jackets.

It will be interesting to see whether this pattern holds up next season.  You can expect a healthy Matt Calvert to be contending for top billing.  The same can be said for Cam Atkinson.  And, then there are some promising prospects like Boone Jenner who may get promoted to the big club.  The entry draft holds some surprises too especially if the Jackets trade up.  In the meantime, we can keep playing with statistics and drawing intriguing inferences.  Coming next in this series will be Blue Jackets Player Rankings: Part Two – Defense.

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