Name: David Booth

Height: 6’00

Weight: 212 lbs

Experience: 9th Pro Season

Cap Hit: $1,000,000

Stats: 48GP, 6G, 6A, 25PIM, -3

See below for all advanced stats formulas. It helps!

Corsi Relative: 7.3

– A Corsi relative score of 7.3 indicates that for every 60 minutes David Booth plays at even strength compared to every 60 minutes that he is not on the ice the Maple Leafs get a net of 7.3 MORE shot attempts than the opposition.

– This number ranks David Booth as the third best Maple Leafs regular (2nd amongst forwards), given that his quality of competition (QoC) is on the lower end of the Leafs forwards, it shows he is outperforming the opposing teams’ bottom six players, from a possession perspective.

PDO: 985

– The average PDO for an NHL player should hover somewhere around 1000 (or 100%).

– This metric is derived from the fact that the on-ice shooting percentage of your team, added to the sv% of the opposing goalie, should equal to 1.000 (.985 sv% + 0.015 sh%).

– David Booth’s shooting percentage is sitting at 7.9% for the season, not too far off of his career average of ~9%, which indicates that his PDO is suffering due to poor 5 on 5 goaltending from the Maple Leafs.

Relative Quality of Competition: -0.364

– David Booth has the third highest QoC Rel amongst Maple Leafs LW, indicating that he is playing against bottom six opponents on a regular basis.

– As we have seen from his possession (Corsi Rel) stats, he is clearly out playing his current opponents and providing the Leafs with positive possession relative to them.

– Booth could likely go up against slightly tougher competition and still provide a positive impact on the Leafs, but he certainly shouldn’t be cast much beyond a fill-in second line player during emergency situations.

On/Off Ice +/-: 0.32

On Ice +/- per 60 Minutes: -0.51

Off Ice +/- per 60 Minutes: -0.83

– The Toronto Maple Leafs even strength +/- improved by 0.32 when David Booth was on the ice as opposed to when he was not.

– This just further cements the fact that Booth is handling the level of competition the Leafs throw at him and is driving a positive impact.

Face-Off Zone Starts:

Offensive Zone Start: 47.5% of the time. (Finishes there 49.3%)

– David Booth was used in a slightly more defensive role. This is a smart move by the Maple Leafs coaching staff, given his ability to possess the puck and keep it away from his opponents.

– When Booth does start in the offensive zone, his line does a good job of keeping the puck there and not allowing the opponent to dominate in the Leafs zone.

Top Linemate: Trevor Smith

– David Booth spent 45.1% of his time on the ice paired with Trevor Smith, the analysis on Smith has yet to be produced but this does show that the quality of linemates Booth is getting is on the lower end.

– Offensive production could spike a bit with better linemates but historical shooting percentages indicate that would be a marginal gain.

NEW: Relative Performance Analysis

– A new feature in the advanced stats series will be analyzing the performance of a player relative to his peers at his position. The chart below provides ice-time, goals, assists, possession and more, relative to the other NHL players.



Conclusion:

– David Booth, once a highly touted offensive prospect, has turned himself into a very respectable bottom six possession player.

– With depth becoming such a key part of Stanley Cup runs (LA, Chicago, Pittsburgh etc.), players like Booth, that can skate well and keep the opponent away from your net, are key components and should stick around at the right price.

– Booth is clearly outperforming his usage (3rd/4th line ice-time vs. 2nd line possession) but given the fact that he is a nine-year veteran and his offense appears to have dried up at this stage in his career, his niche may be as a high-end third liner that can skate with your top two lines in emergency situations.

FUTURE: If the cap hit is in line with other third line players, David Booth should be considered as a part of the Toronto rebuild. His responsible play will help mitigate against some of the mistakes that can come from younger players during a rebuild and he could also be a nice piece to move to a contender at the deadline.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Maple Leafs Advanced Stats Analysis featuring Leafs center Tyler Bozak, it should definitely be interesting!

– Brandon Finley

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Thanks to Behind The Net for compiling the Advanced Stats.

Legend:

Corsi Number = (Shots on Target For + Missed Shots For + Blocked Shots Against ) – (Shots on Target Against + Missed Shots Against + Blocked Shots For)

Corsi Relative = (Corsi Number of Player X) – (Corsi of Team with player X not on the ice)

On/Off Ice +/- = (On Ice +/- per 60 minutes) – (Off Ice +/- per 60 minutes)

Corsi Relative QoC = The weighted relative corsi of a player’s opposition