I was planning to post this article on Monday when news of Mike Sullivan’s departure rolled in like a tsunami. Diverting my attention and energies to more pressing matters.
Better delayed than never, I always say.
To digress, the nerd in me decided to take a gander at how our guys performed 5v5 this season in terms of goals on ice for and against. I also decided to compare their actual goals for percentage (GF%) to their expected goals for percentage (xGF%).
What are expected goals, you ask?
According to Inside the Rink, Expected goals (xG) is a model-based metric used to isolate the evaluation of play-driving and chance-creation/suppression ability from things a player cannot control such as bounces, quality of goaltender, etc.