Kris Letang - Why he should win the Norris

Kris Letang - Why he should win the Norris

I have touched on this topic briefly in the past when I was speaking about Marc-Andre Fleury setting a team record for shut-outs in a season. Kris Letang's play was one of the reasons why he has been able to have, currently, his best season statistically. I briefly mentioned his play and some stats to go with it but now that we're further in the season and I am also now more aware of how to get statistical graphs on here I can present it better.

To start with we have to look at production. Kris Letang is currently tied in first with Mark Giordano of the Calgary Flames with them both having 47 points to their name. However, Giordano has played 5 games more than Letang meaning that their comparative PPG's are 0.79 & 0.87. They are both two points ahead of the next name on the list, Brent Burns. Another thing that makes Letang's point production more impressive is that he has fewer shifts per game at 28.5 compared to Giordano's 31.3. The only player in the top 10 with fewer shifts per game than Letang is Dustin Byfuglien.

Next we can step into the advanced stats area and look more at his on ice product outside of his points production. The NHL recently added Corsi and Fenwick stats amongst others to their new section called enhanced stats and this is where I'm getting my information from. Looking at it shows us that out of the top 10 producing defencemen Kris Letang has the highest Corsi % (Or SAT% on NHL.com) of 54.14%. The nearest to him Kevin Shattenkirk in 10th with 51.97%. Only four of the top defencemen have a Corsi% above 50%. Kris Letang dominates compared to the other top 10 in Corsi ahead and Corsi even. He drops to second in Corsi behind but it still at a high 59.04%.

Corsi % for the top 10 producers

Another thing to look at is how effective Letang is on the defensive aspects of things. Looking at the stats compiled on NHL.com we can see that he is fourth in drawing penalties with 0.22 penalties drawn per 20 minutes behind only Giordano, Subban and Byfuglien. One thing that does go against Kris Letang is the ES SV% which puts him on .918% and joint 7th way behind Shea Weber and Roman Josi who are joint 1st with .938% however that mostly indicates that Nashville have a good system and that more than one person is doing their job well. Letang is 6th on the Penguins with a few players in the low .900 and one or two frequent attenders below that line. Compare that to Nashville and you see that they have every player above .900 apart from Cody Franson but he was on a poor Toronto team for the majority of the season.

One final thing I want to point out that is sometimes used to point out whether a player has been playing well are the number of giveaways and takeaways. Takeaways are good as it indicates that they are able to strip the opponent of the puck through the pressure they put on them which forces them to make a mistake. Kris Letang is 17th in the league with 32. Giveaways aren't as good as it means that you are turning the puck over more. Brent Burns leads this on 83 but Letang is way down the list in 31st with 45, nearly half that of Burns. 

In conclusion  I think that it is evident that Letang is a more offensive defensive but that doesn't mean he isn't capable on the back-end as well. After all, the definition of the Norris trophy is awarded to the "defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in that position" Do I think he'll win it? No. I think Shea Weber will because he seems to be the flavour. Should he win it? Absolutely. It is even more incredible when you remember that he had a stroke last year. Keep playing like this please  Letang.