Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Ovechkin and Malkin not as Clutch as Crosby?

USA Today's March NHL Clutch Rankings came out today, and guess who leads the league in overall "clutch-ness"?

You guessed it! Steve Sullivan of the Nashville Predators. Sullivan leads the league in clutch points with 1,244. Second place? None other than...Sidney Crosby, who has 1,101.

As for Ovechkin, he's ninth with 905 clutch points. Evgeni Malkin, the NHL's point leader, isn't even on the list.

Here's how the clutch ratings are compiled:

• First goal of the game: 75. Assist: 40. If first goal occurs after first period, then 100 and 60.

• Tying goal: 75: Assist: 40

• Two goals ahead (excluding empty netters): 50. Assist: 30

• Pull team within one: 25. Assist: 15

• Shootout goal: 50 points

Time bonuses

• For go-ahead or first goal: Sliding scale from 25 to 100 for a third-period goal. Assist: Sliding scale from 10 to 50.

• Overtime: 100. Assist: 60

• For two goals ahead or tying goal: Sliding scale from 20 to 60 for a third-period goal. Assist: Sliding scale from 10 to 30.

Maximum points for a goal is 200 for an overtime goal.

So what do you make of USA Today's Clutch Ratings?

3 comments:

  1. Considering how few points Sullivan has... that's just impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wait, I take that back, he had 14.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've always stressed that the quality of the points can be greater than the quantity. In Sullivan's case, he's scoring when his team needs someone to step up. That's admirable, but I wouldn't base a trophy or award off this stat, it's just interesting.

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