5 Interesting Penguins Stats; Crosby & Malkin Ranked

Advanced stats can be as tedious as sitting in traffic or as misleading as political Tweets. Yet, picking through the latest, there are some interesting Pittsburgh Penguins stats nuggets to chew on that may confirm a few of your criticisms.

NHL Edge is advanced statistics that measure the activity on the ice, including speed and shot velocity. It’s not so much made-up metrics to ascertain who is controlling the game as it measures the actual on-ice speed. And with it, one of the criticisms lobbed at the Penguins rang true.

They are slow.

Using the 2023-24 Edge statistics, more than a few interesting Penguins stats came to the fore. Simply by shedding Jeff Carter via retirement, the roster will be a little bit younger in 2024-25 than it was last season. However, they also replaced 25-year-old P.O. Joseph with 32-year-old Matt Grzlecyk and added 32-year-old Kevin Hayes to the mix. The core, including Sidney Crosby, has another year around the sun, so they’re still old, if not the oldest, in hockey terms.

But you already knew that, and it is not the interesting stats, nor are their increasingly long-shot odds for the Stanley Cup terribly optimistic. Penguins fans may want to use those sports betting sites for smaller bets instead of the big Cup bets.

5 Interesting Penguins Stats

1. The Penguins’ speed is in the bottom half

The Penguins rank in the lower 50% percentile of skating speed in the NHL. Unfortunately, Edge doesn’t show exactly where or how slow they are compared to their competition, but the league average skating speed is 23.6 miles per hour, but the Penguins clock in at only 23.2.

The team also ranked in the bottom half of NHL teams for bursts over 22 mph, with just 67 total occurrences, compared to a league average of 77.

While it may look good on the stats page, the additional evidence supports the slowing team. The Penguins ranked high (78th percentile) in speed bursts between 20 and 22 mph, as well as in the 87th percentile in speed bursts between 18 and 20 mph.

In other words, a greater quantity of slower-speed bursts.

2. Greater Distance Skated?!

Here’s the funny thing about the Penguins: They’re slower, but they skate a greater distance than their opponents, and not by a little. The Penguins skate further than 90% of the teams in the NHL.

Last season, the Penguins players skated 3776 miles, which is 73 miles more than average, almost a mile per game more. As a weird subset, the Penguins ranked in the 78th percentile at even strength but in the 90th on the power play.

In other words, the Penguins were chasing the puck back to their zone … A LOT.

3. The Penguins Had Plenty of Zone Time

If coach Mike Sullivan said the phrases once, he said them ad nauseam. Sidney Crosby was fond of repeating them, as well. Sing them with me: “We had some chances” and “There was a lot to like.” Those phrases echoed down the halls from the Penguins’ locker rooms at home and on the road for months.

According to NHL Edge, the Penguins had a point. They had more high-danger chances than almost everyone, ranking in the 93rd percentile of high-danger chances.

But here’s the kicker: Their shooting percentage on those changes was way below average, and their goals were slightly below average. While the NHL as a whole shot 19.7% on high-danger chances (at all strengths), the Penguins were an anemic 17.4%. That’s entering terrifyingly bad territory. That’s entering the Penguins’ power play bad territory.

We knew the Penguins had trouble converting, but 17.4% is genuinely making every goalie look like Patrick Roy.

Subet 3A: In another statistical anomaly, the Penguins nearly led the league in long-range goals, scoring 25 compared to the average of 16. The mark put the Penguins in the 95th percentile. Was it the work of Erik Karlsson?

4. Sidney Crosby

Since we’re publishing on Sidney Crosby Day (8/7), we’re sure you want to know how the Penguins star center performed, and the numbers are as you would expect.

Crosby ranked in the 80th percentile in speed bursts, topping at 22.88 mph. He ranked near the top in bursts over 20 mph (93rd percentile), 94 percent skating distance, and in the 97th percent in shots on goal.

And unlike his teammates, Crosby knows how to finish, ranking in the 97th percentile in high-danger shots and 98th percentile in high-danger goals (23).

5. Evgeni Malkin

The glass is half full and half empty. Evgeni Malkin’s offensive output was surprisingly good, according to the stats. In terms of offensive zone time, he ranked in the 87%; in high-danger goals, he ranked in the 80th percentile; and he ranked in the 92nd percentile for skating distance.

That is the good news.

Malkin also lagged well behind the increasingly fast NHL, finishing well below average in skating speed. His best top-end speed was nearly a mile-per-hour slower than the league average (21.33 vs. 22.10). He had zero bursts above 22 mph and only 48 bursts above 20mph.

His skating and offensive statistics were down slightly from 2022-23 but within the margins.