Daniel Sedin, left, and his twin brother Henrik Sedin, both of Sweden, sit on the bench during the third period of game 5 of an NHL Western Conference quarterfinal Stanley Cup playoff hockey series in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday April 21, 2011.DARRYL DYCK
It's funny how the playoffs work sometimes, with players who were big factors during the regular season suddenly invisible and so-called role players emerging as the heroes.
We've seen a lot of that so far in these playoffs, with the Sedins drawing criticism for their lack of production in Vancouver and Brad Marchand stepping up in a big way for the Bruins.
Here's a look at, statistically, which players are at the extreme ends of either category, using the difference between their points per game during the regular season and in the playoffs. (For players who were traded during the season, I've only used their statistics with their current team.)
Who's cold:
|
Players |
Teams |
Reg. PPG |
PO PPG |
Diff. |
|
Henrik Sedin |
Van |
1.15 |
0.50 |
-0.65 |
|
Nick Backstrom |
Was |
0.84 |
0.25 |
-0.59 |
|
Milan Lucic |
Bos |
0.78 |
0.22 |
-0.56 |
|
Steve Stamkos |
TB |
1.11 |
0.60 |
-0.51 |
|
Daniel Sedin |
Van |
1.27 |
0.80 |
-0.47 |
|
Brian Rafalski |
Det |
0.76 |
0.33 |
-0.43 |
|
Zdeno Chara |
Bos |
0.54 |
0.13 |
-0.42 |
|
Brett Clark |
TB |
0.38 |
0.00 |
-0.38 |
|
Raffi Torres |
Van |
0.36 |
0.00 |
-0.36 |
|
M. Samuelsson |
Van |
0.67 |
0.33 |
-0.33 |
There are injuries involved for a few of these players, with Henrik Sedin and Mikael Samuelsson both obviously fighting through something.
But what's wrong with Nick Backstrom these days? And Chara with just one point as Boston's power play labours?
Who's hot (minimum 0.15 regular season PPG):
|
Players |
Teams |
Reg. PPG |
PO PPG |
Diff. |
|
Chris Kelly |
Bos |
0.21 |
0.78 |
0.57 |
|
Steve Downie |
TB |
0.56 |
1.11 |
0.55 |
|
Patrice Bergeron |
Bos |
0.71 |
1.22 |
0.51 |
|
Nick Spaling |
Nsh |
0.19 |
0.67 |
0.48 |
|
Brad Marchand |
Bos |
0.53 |
1.00 |
0.47 |
|
Ian White |
SJ |
0.43 |
0.86 |
0.42 |
|
Joel Ward |
Nsh |
0.36 |
0.78 |
0.42 |
|
Claude Giroux |
Phi |
0.93 |
1.33 |
0.41 |
|
Marcus Johansson |
Was |
0.39 |
0.75 |
0.36 |
|
Andrew Ference |
Bos |
0.21 |
0.56 |
0.34 |
And a few more honourable mentions in the "hot" category, with all of these players having increased their PPG by 0.24 or more:
Ryan Clowe, Valtteri Filppula, Pavel Datsyuk, Teddy Purcell, Vincent Lecavalier, Mike Green, Rich Peverley, James van Riemsdyk, Simon Gagne and Sean Bergenheim.