Teemu Statslanne

Teemu Selanne returned to the Anaheim Ducks in the decline of his career after the full-season lockout (2004-05). While the extended time off (and healing) revitalized his legs, allowing him to play longer in the league, age was catching up to the superstar winger. The following is a brief look at his numbers in his last years as a Ducks winger.

In terms of raw shots on goal, Selanne was a catalyst in the team's offensive attack for the first two years. His on-ice shots on goal "for" was 54.1% in 2005-06 and 54.9% in 2006-07. (Over 50% means he was on the ice for more taken than against, just like CF% measures with attempts.) His off-ice shots for, which is the team without him on, was slightly below his rate at 51.7% and 53.3% in those respective years. In short, the Ducks put more pucks on the net when he was on the ice.

Not only that, his shots on goal per 60 were very respectable. Very. In 2005-06, he put up more shots per 60 (34.5) than Alex Ovechkin (32.0) and Sidney Crosby (31.7) did. He was killing it that first year back. Now, his numbers were less impressive the following year, but adding Chris Pronger on defense upped more players around him. It was less a fault of Selanne as it was a boost to everyone else. (And Selanne was far better in possession in 2006-07 than previous, which falls out from that.)

Age and his own indecision about playing again hurt his effectiveness going forward. He was a positive relative his peers in terms of shooting on goal when on the ice, but never to the extent as he was in the above mentioned years. He also never reached the rarified level of shots on per 60 that he did in 2005-06, but he came closest in his last year (2013-14). His drive was there, but his ability to finish was gone.

I started with raw shots on goal because prior to 2007-08, those were the closest measures we had for approximating non-production (points) effectiveness. (The NHL gathered the data before the 2007-08 season, but it wasn't readily available to you or me.) Fortunately, we are not limited to those years now, and in fact we can go back and grab his fancystats from the same time thanks to sites like war-on-ice.com.

So here it is! Teemu Selanne's last nine "full" seasons in fancystats. He played nine years in Anaheim v2, but one was shortened due to his late return to the team and another was shortened due to a lockout. Together they form about one full season. However, for the purpose of the maths herein, I am still treating each season on its own. (Unless otherwise noted, all charts are at even strength, 5v5.)

This web highlights a few Corsi situations, namely score adjusted, score close, and score tied. It's interesting how Selanne is a positive possession player with the score adjusted but is negative in close and tied situations. (However it is worth noting that until 2008-09, he was a positive player in all scenarios.)

Next is a neat look at his usage relative to his teammates (even strength). I use the possession numbers of teammates because it tends to correlate to an individual's own possession more than quality of competition does. In both 2005-06 and 2006-07, he was playing with the top possession players on the team in a more limited role. As his minutes grew at evens, his possession metrics dipped slightly. But in all years except 2012-13, he was level or better than the numbers of his linemates. (Because he's elite.) And the 2012-13 numbers are easily attributed to his age catching him in the lockout shortened season.

And here is a WOWY charts of Selanne with various players throughout the years. Unfortunately, this data is only through 2007-08. The previous two seasons would require me manually calculating it, and no thank you! He's already going into the Hall without costing me extra time! Here's a chart of each year, with all years available at the end. (The quality of teammates Selanne has played with has dropped significantly in time.)

Keep in mind, Selanne didn't rejoin the team in 2007-08 until quite a ways into the season.

This wasn't as good a team as the Cup winning one...by a large margin! Note here: Selanne missed time due to injury.

Selanne had a lot of injury trouble in 2009-10, which could help explain the slip in his even strength possession numbers.

I'm having a hard time remembering how anyone thought this roster could be competitive.

Let us never forget that Selanne closed out his illustrious, Hall of Fame career with a few seasons playing with Jason Blake.

The Grave and Dangerous Lockout Shortened (and Sample Size Ruining) Season. (Personally, I think any sample of 25 games is fine, but let's not digress.)

Mathieu Perreault between Patrick Maroon and Selanne was a hidden treasure. If only the Flash had had this level of teammate before his hands were completely gone.

Anyway for some fun, here's an "all" chart. I cut this off at 300 minutes played together, because one must have standards at some point, one supposes.

One last thing: although I wrote this post using even strength numbers, Selanne's production was primarily evident on the power play since his return to Anaheim. The hockey stats fraternity tends to frown upon power play specialists since they don't usually speak to team strength, which is the currency of conversation. But power play goals are goals, and scoring more goals than other teams translates into wins. Selanne has 457 regular season goals in Anaheim, v1 and v2, through 15 years (with 988 points).

Who cares how he got them. That's more than fine by me!