In most sports, those who score goals and create chances are often the ones focused on. For example, in soccer, it’s often the attackers who win the Ballon d’Or, with it now being twenty years since the last defender won it.
Hockey is the same, as the focus and discussions about the best players often revolve around the front end of the ice, and less so on the back end.
As the Flames have rebuilt over the last few years, fans have focused on finding a player who can score goals. The franchise, on the other hand, has been focusing on defence. This is no longer evident in the Flames’ last three years: they have had two top-ten picks, and both draftees were defencemen.
So with that, let’s look at the current (as of 10th November) defensive pairings, in order of effectiveness in a five-on-five situation.
Kuznetsov-Parekh – An encouraging third-line pairing
Kutznetzov and Parekh are a perfect middle-ground for both goals for and against while they are on the ice together. At least that seems to be the case when compared to the other current pairings.
The current third-line pairing has a total of 121 minutes on the ice together in five-on-fives. In that time, the Flames have scored three, but have conceded five. This equates to an average of one goal scored every 40 minutes and 20 seconds, but, more crucially, from a defensive standpoint, only conceding once every 20 minutes and 12 seconds.
From a developmental standpoint, and knowing that neither player is anywhere near their prime, that second number is very respectable.
Middleton-Whitecloud – Experience results in high goals, but at both ends
Easily the most experienced of the trio of pairs, the Middleton-Whitecloud combination has had the most time on the ice together in five-on-five scenarios.
During their 149 minutes together, six goals were scored. That equates to a goal roughly every 24 minutes and 50 seconds. This sits between the two other pairs we’re discussing, as do the goals against.
Nine goals have been conceded while the pairing is on the ice. This translates to a goal conceded roughly every 16:55 minutes.
Hanley-Nemec – A worrying embryonic partnership
Out of the three pairs I’m going to be discussing here, this is by far the newest. Hanley and Nemec have, to date, played just 38 minutes between them. That’s not a lot of time when you think about it, but either way, the stats aren’t promising.
The math for the goals-for is easy, given that only one has been scored whilst they’ve been on the ice together. This equates to an easy 38 minutes per goal on the ice. While that isn’t impressive, at the other end, it’s a lot more worrying.
In their 38 minutes combined, they’ve conceded three goals. This equates to a goal conceded every 12 minutes and 40 seconds, nearly double the frequency of the first pair we talked about.
So, in short, this pair concedes goals the most frequently out of the three, whilst also being present for the lowest goals/for ratios.
Important factors to consider
Obviously, it would be remiss of me not to point out that all of the above has nuance to it.
For example, there will have been times when those pairs were playing in front of the number one Flames goaltender. Others will have played with Dustin Wolf.
Each will also have been facing different forwards on rotation.
For all of these reasons, it’s not an exact science, but on the flip side, averages are a thing for a reason.
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