I have taken a break from my sabermetrics and hockey posts to cover the NHL Awards and the draft but I am back today. I have earlier posted the top 20 players by their raw Corsi rating. Today I look at the flip side of that. These are the 20 worst players in 2011/12 by their raw Corsi rating. This is the difference in shots directed at the goal in even strength situations when a given player is on the ice. It is a very strong measure of puck possession when a player is on the ice. Some of these players have poor puck possession numbers because they play in tough defensive situations, but for the most part these are players who struggle in their roles on their teams.

2011/12 Worst 20 Raw Corsi Ratings Rank Player Team Corsi 1 Nick Schultz Edm -367 2 Jim Slater Win -322 3 Darroll Powe Min -293 4 Scott Hannan Cal -273 5 Eric Brewer TB -269 6 Manny Malhotra Van -263 7 Jarome Iginla Cal -258 8 Tanner Glass Win -256 9 Kyle Brodziak Min -252 10 Jay Bouwmeester Cal -248 11 Marco Scandella Min -247 12 Mike Fisher Nas -235 13 Colton Gillies CBJ -230 14 Nicklas Grossman Phi -228 14 Nick Johnson Min -228 16 Kevin Klein Nas -222 17 Brett Clark TB -220 18 Mark Eaton NYI -215 18 Tom Pyatt TB -215 20 Robyn Regehr Buf -211







Generally this list of players is a lesser known group of players. Few have reputations as being top NHL players. Nick Schultz is the worst in the league. He played a defensive role in Minnesota and Edmonton. He is a historically poor puck possession player. Jim Slater is next.

Of the bigger name players on the list, Calgary Flames stars Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester are on the list. This is a serious problem for the Flames. When their biggest stars are on the ice, the other team has the puck. That makes it hard for them to be a successful team. Former Flame Robyn Regehr is also on the list. He is no longer a top level defenceman. Top defensive forwards Manny Malhotra and Mike Fisher are found on this list and that is largely due to the defensive situations in which they play - after that is adjusted for they move off a worst player list.

This list is largely a list of players on poor teams. Poor teams tend to be worse at puck possession than good teams and Corsi is a context dependent stat. In fact only four players on this list made the playoffs. They are Manny Malhotra, Mike Fisher, Kevin Klein and Nicklas Grossman (who spent most of the year in Dallas before making the playoffs in Philadelphia). For the most part this is a list of players who struggled on poor teams. One of the first things to do to this list is adjust it for individual team. That is one of my next steps in this look at the sabermetrics of 2011/12.

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