An even easier way to look at this would be like this.
Eric Staal currently has 45 assists, 9 of which are to his current linemates (Tlusty//LaRose) and 1 is to our top pair dmen (Allen)
Giroux has 59 assists, 31 of which are to his linemates (Hartnell//Jagr) and 5 to his top pairing of dmen (Timmonen//Meszaros)
The Hurricanes have scored 202 goals as of this morning and the Flyers have 238.
Simple math informs us that Eric Staal has assisted on 22.3% of all of Carolina's goals. Giroux, on 24.8% of Philly's.
Pretty similar off the top of it, but the really interesting part is this;
I took out what I like to call "Comfort Assists (CA)", those he makes to player's he sees all the time, thus having better chemistry with, to give a better picture of both players ability to make their OTHER teammates better players. A stat I will hereafter call "Arduous Assists (AA)"
Staal's 45 assists - 10 (CA) = 35 (AA). 35 / 76 (GP) = 46.1%. So Eric averages .461 AA per game
Giroux's 59 assists - 36 (CA) = 23 (AA). 23 / 75 (GP) = 30.7%. So Claude averages .307 AA per game
82 (Games in a season) * 59.2% (Staal's total (CA + AA) assists per game average) = 48.5 rounded to 49 (Projected total assists Staal will finish with).
82 (Games in a season) * 78.6% (Giroux's total (CA + AA) assists per game average = 64.5 rounded to 65 (Projected total asasists Giroux will finish with).
82 * .461 (Staal's AA per game avg.) = 37.8 rounded to 38. So Staal is projected to finish the season with 11 CA and 38 AA = 49 total assists
82 * .307 (Giroux's AA per game avg.) = 25.2 rounded to 25. So Giroux is projected to finish the season with 40 CA and 25 AA = 65 total assists
So, from this we can gather that Eric is on pace to finish the season with 13 more AA than Claude, despite losing the overall assist race 65 to 49.
I'd say this means that Eric is the better playmaker BY FAR. 77.6% of his assists are to players he doesn't activley play with, while Claude's is 38.5% in the same situation. Giroux obviously can't play outside of his comfort zone of Hartnell//Jagr//Timmonen//Meszaros, while Staal activley thrives in it. Come playoff time, defending Giroux will be as easy at taking away his two or three favourite options. While, Staal in the playoffs would actually be undefendable, because he can turn his whole team into Sidney Crosby at any moment.
Last edited by Carolinas Identity: 03-26-2012 at 03:14 PM.
Since his rookie year, Staal is tied for 20th in the entire NHL in terms of points-per-game. Staal's points-per-game average is 0.90, which he shares with Jonathan Toews and Anze Kopitar, compared to 0.85 for Mr. Giroux, which he shares with Michael Nylander, Pavol Demitra and Ray Whitney.
So,
Staal = Kopitar and Toews
Giroux = Nylander and Whitney
