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Wrong side of the whistle: NHL teams hit hardest by penalties

Nashville Predators v Anaheim Ducks - Game Five

ANAHEIM, CA - MAY 20: Head Coach Randy Carlyle of the Anaheim Ducks looks up at the clock as assistant coach Ron MacLean draws up a play for Ducks players during a break in play in the third period of Game Five of the Western Conference Final during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Honda Center on May 20, 2017 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

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Earlier this week, PHT looked at the teams who tend to go on the power play far more often than they enter the penalty box, with the San Jose Sharks clearly leading the way. By a lot.

What about the other end of the spectrum? Well, it depends upon how you look at things.

Most time in the box

Chalk it up to strong coaching, great goaltending, or other factors, but some teams are hit harder by poor discipline than others.

Let’s start off in looking at sheer volume of penalty box trips, with help from NHL.com’s many handy stats.

TeamTimes shorthandedPPGA
1Anaheim Ducks28143
2Calgary Flames27751
3Winnipeg Jets27562
4Colorado Avalanche27464
5Washington Capitals27244
6Boston Bruins26538
7St. Louis Blues26340
8Arizona Coyotes26059
9New Jersey Devils26053
10Tampa Bay Lightning25848
11Pittsburgh Penguins25752
12Toronto Maple Leafs25144
13Dallas Stars24965
14Montréal Canadiens24947
15Philadelphia Flyers24750

As you can see, the Ducks were shorthanded more than any other NHL team. Even so, they only allowed 43 power-play goals in 2016-17, tying them with the Edmonton Oilers for the 10th-fewest given up.

What if you expand the view beyond last season and look at how teams fared since the lockout? You got it, and in this case, here are numbers for all 30 NHL teams.

TEAMGPTSPPGA
Winnipeg Jets3761294256
Arizona/Phx Coyotes3761284284
Anaheim Ducks3761277210
Philadelphia Flyers3761275236
Detroit Red Wings3761253230
Ottawa Senators3761242236
Washington Capitals3761241219
St. Louis Blues3761239188
Blue Jackets3761229227
New Jersey Devils3761225218
Los Angeles Kings3761224213
Montréal Canadiens3761222213
Toronto Maple Leafs3761214223
Pittsburgh Penguins3761212206
Boston Bruins3761205194
Colorado Avalanche3761205236
Tampa Bay Lightning3761197213
Dallas Stars3761193241
Vancouver Canucks3761181210
Florida Panthers3761176243
Buffalo Sabres3761164243
Edmonton Oilers3761151221
Nashville Predators3761097218
New York Islanders3761084211
Calgary Flames3761082215
New York Rangers3761081197
Chicago Blackhawks3761044192
Minnesota Wild3761040193
San Jose Sharks3761037190
Carolina Hurricanes376998173

The Arizona Coyotes are easily the most assaulted by the broader numbers, which makes sense since they’ve dealt with some of the leanest years. The Buffalo Sabres are fittingly in the top ranks by similar logic.

It’s more interesting to consider teams who seem to go to the box more based (arguably) on style, and who suffers from poor PK units the most.

Remarkably, the Ducks once again find themselves in the lower third of the NHL as far as goals allowed, even though they take a lot of penalties.

Unfortunately for Anaheim, those wild ways hurt them when it mattered the most. They gave up a whopping 15 power-play goals during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, easily the most of the postseason. (Somehow, Nashville only allowed seven while the Penguins won it all despite yielding 12.)

Other observations

Let’s rattle off a few other notes, then.

Calm Hurricanes- The Hurricanes have already been tabbed as a team that could break through soon. If they can keep up their tendency to avoid penalties, they really might be onto something.

They’re the only team under 1,000 times shorthanded in that list above. Meanwhile, they join the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings as the only three teams with less than 100 major penalties since the last lockout.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Hurricanes allowed the fewest power-play goals with 173 during that span.

Hitchcock the key for Stars turnaround?- That said, the Blues stand out as the most efficient PK unit of that span.

Here are the top seven PK percentages from 2012-13 to 2016-17, with PPG allowed and times shorthanded:

1. Blues - 84.8 percent (188 allowed on 1,239 TS)
2. Bruins - 83.9 (194 allowed, 1,205)
3. Ducks - 83.5 (210 allowed, 1,277)
4. Penguins - 83 (206 allowed, 1,212)
5. Hurricanes - 82.7 (173 allowed, 998)
6 (t) Kings - 82.6 (213 allowed, 1,224)
6 (t) Canadiens - 82.6 (213 allowed, 1,222)

Meanwhile, the Coyotes, Sabres, Panthers and Stars are the only teams under an 80-percent kill rate.

A lot can go into a unit being successful or unsuccessful. Even so, could Ken Hitchcock whip the Dallas Stars into shape? It’s at least a possibility.

Carlyle loves the rough stuff- Randy Carlyle might be a changed man in Anaheim, but he still loves his ruffians.

If you look at teams with the most major penalties in individual seasons since the lockout, Carlyle-helmed teams dominated the top list:

1. His 2013-14 Maple Leafs (48 majors)
2. His 2012-13 Maple Leafs, with 46 majors in just 48 games.
Tied for third: Last season’s Ducks, with 46 in 82 games.

Now, it’s true that Bruce Boudreau’s 2015-16 Ducks were pretty ornery with 43 majors of their own, but it does seem like Carlyle is OK with a bit of carnage either way.

On the other end, there are five seasons’ worth of teams under 10 majors for a full campaign.

Penguins (2015-16) and Red Wings (2013-14) - nine majors
Red Wings in 2014-15 and 2015-16 - eight majors
Fittingly, Hurricanes in 2016-17: six majors.
***

Much like with most studies in an age of parity, the majority of teams seem to fall in the middle when looking at penalties (either from a pessimistic or optimistic standpoint).

Interestingly, there are teams that can survive their own mistakes and others who aren’t always exploiting their advantages, but perhaps we’ll see changes in 2017-18 and beyond?