Gerry Broome/Associated Press
It’s always interesting looking at the penalty statistics each season, and this year is no different. PIMs are a bit misleading, as there’s no real difference between someone who takes undisciplined stick penalties and some heat of the moment roughing/fighting penalties. Ok, fights are easily tracked, but the minor penalties aren’t in the PIMs department.
When looking at the raw penalties taken, three Rangers really jump at you. The first is Taylor Pyatt, who has struggled until recently. Pyatt has played in all 47 games up to this point, and has taken just two minor penalties. TWO! That’s incredible. Considering how streaky and inconsistent Pyatt has been all year, only three guys who have played at least 40 games have taken less penalties.
The other two guys that stand out are Ryan Callahan and Derek Stepan. Both have taken just six penalties all season. What sets them apart from Pyatt is that they play more minutes and get much tougher assignments. To have only taken six penalties, and this includes time spent shorthanded, is crazy good. Tack on Stepan’s offensive outburst, and you have a kid who is really coming into his own.
Another aspect of penalties is penalties drawn versus penalties taken. Since this is dependent on ice time, we use BTN’s Pens Taken/60 and Pens Drawn/60. Naturally, Cally is atop the leaders here with a 1.3 Pens Draw/60 and a I0.4 Pens Taken/60. Carl Hagelin is also at the same 0.9 difference (1.5 PD/60, 0.6 PT/60) that Cally is at. These two lead the team in penalty ratio. Interestingly enough, Chris Kreider is third on the team with a 0.6 penalty ratio.
It’s no surprise that the guys with the best ratios are speed guys. Speed always kills, and it shows here. Both Rick Nash (-0.2) and Ryane Clowe (-0.5) are taking more penalties than they draw, but it’s not an extreme rate. All in all, the Rangers have been pretty disciplined.
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