- Joined
- Oct 7, 2012
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- 41,071
As someone who watches a hockey game maybe once a year, can someone explain to me how an expansion team is able to do this well in its first season? Weren't they only allowed to take players that no one wanted from existing teams?
There are lots of good reasons not to believe in the Golden Knights. Their PDO, a measure of shooting percentage and save percentage (which are generally flattened across the league, given enough of a sample), is very high, meaning, essentially, they’ve been very lucky. Their schedule has been a relatively easy one, fattening up on Arizona and facing just three teams in their first eight games that made the postseason last year. They’ve opened with six of their first eight games at home.
Vegas currently ranks 25th in expected Goals For percentage at 5on5. Their offense is below average (but not horrid) while their defense is firmly middle of the pack. About one or two teams make the playoffs each year with an xGF% below 50, but as you alluded to it’s mostly PDO driven in the end. I could see their shot% staying high given their forwards (only 11% right now, it’s high but not insane), however it’ll all come down to goaltending when they’re giving up the better of the chances.
Luck. Hockey apparently has great advanced stats. I don't really know what these ones mean. No one uses them because the intersection of advanced stats fans and hockey fans is really low. Hockey is all about bad assery.