Blue Jackets Player Rankings: Part One – Offense

Columbus Player Rankings — Offense

Brandon Dubinsky
Brandon Dubinsky (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)

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?

Blue Jackets Puck

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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