After an explosive regular season last year, Nash has struggled to find the back of the net so far this year. So far he has notched only two goals, one of which was a breakaway empty net. While scoring is important when you make $7.8M a year, Nash has found other ways to contribute. His defensive play 5v5, as well as short-handed, has been noteworthy and the Nash-Brass-Zucc line has returned to its dominant ways. Most already know Nash is playing well while coming up short in the goals column, but I want to highlight that Nash is doing well offensively by comparing it to last year’s 40+ goal performance.

Heat Map

The shot heat map (all strengths) demonstrates that Nash has been shooting from essentially the same area as last year and getting chances in on the crease. This plays back into the team’s mentality of getting pucks to the crease, screening goalies, and letting the forwards clean up the garbage. So as we can see here, Nash is getting to the right places.

Shot Distance

In addition to the heat map, the statistics behind Nash’s individual shots highlight that he is still playing at the level he did last year. The main difference between the two years is the shooting percentage which tends to regress towards the mean. The shot count and distance are the two most important aspects as they provide insight into scoring chances and how good those chances are (to some extent). Average distance may be lower due to a smaller sample size, but 25ft is on par with his performance last year, even if it nudges upwards.

Stats

Again, Nash’s stats are on par with 2014-15. Shooting percentage lags because that’s what happens when the puck doesn’t go in. Assists are up due to the line performing at possibly the highest level in all of the NHL right now. Corsi is on par but slightly lower, however this I’d attribute to other factors which will be addressed in an upcoming post (passing up shots, Rangers’ number of rush opportunities, etc.). Overall, it’s reasonable to deduct that Nash is primed to start scoring again.

(Note the discrepency with numbers in the charts above is due to this table only accounting for 5v5 while the above is all strengths)

Conclusion

Rick Nash is fine. His game is still incredibly well-rounded and he’s getting the opportunities to score. There’s been a lot of posts and bad luck, but those same chances will turn into goals. Expect his offensive output to increase as the season continues, especially given the strong performance of Brassard and Zuccarello.