Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek had exceptional seasons this year for the Flyers. About 2 months ago, I looked at how this duo compares to the rest of the league using 3 stats: Points, CF Rel and CF Adjusted Points. I decided to look at those same numbers and see where Claude and Jake rank among the rest of the league's best center/winger pairings.

Raw Data

POINTS Combined PTS CF REL Combined CF REL Combined CF Adj PTS Center Bergeron BOS 62 115 9.7% 16.9% 134.435 Winger Marchand 53 7.2% Center Gallagher MTL 41 101 7.7% 15.1% 116.251 Winger Pacioretty 60 7.4% Center J Benn DAL 79 163 1.8% 4.1% 169.68 Winger T Seguin 84 2.3% Center Crosby PIT 104 172 6.9% 12.1% 192.812 Winger Kunitz 68 5.2% Center Kopitar LAK 70 113 6.0% 11.3% 125.769 Winger Williams 43 5.3% Center Toews CHI 68 128 5.5% 9.2% 139.776 Winger Hossa 60 3.7% Center Getzlaf ANA 87 169 1.3% 5.5% 178.295 Winger Perry 82 4.2% Center Thornton SJ 76 124 6.8% 11.4% 138.136 Winger Burns 48 4.6% Center Koivu MIN 54 110 8.8% 18.0% 129.8 Winger Parise 56 9.2% Center Giroux PHI 86 148 4.8% 12.2% 166.056 Winger Voracek 62 7.4%

PTS = G + A

CF Rel = CF% relative to a team's CF% with player not on ice

*CF Adj PTS = PTS * (1+CF Rel)

*Self Calculated (Made Up)

Points

The Flyers' pairing is one of the top scoring pairings in the league, behind only Sidney Crosby with Chris Kunitz, Ryan Getzlaf with Corey Perry and Jamie Benn with Tyler Seguin. Coincidentally, all 3 Hart Trophy nominees are a part of the top scoring pairings in the league. Giroux and Voracek seem to be in a tier of their own, about 20 points below the top 3 and the same amount above the 4th highest pairing.

CF% Relative

What the other pairings lack in points, they make up in possession. The Minnesota Wild duo of Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise have a combined CF% Relative of nearly 20% making them easily the best duo at driving possession. The Flyers' duo is still rocking a solid 4th place out of 10 in CF% Relative which shows that they not only score points, they drive possession and play a defensively sound game. The top 3 scoring pairings (PIT, ANA, DAL) come in 6th, 9th and 10th respectively in terms of CF% Relative. The Penguins duo is right behind the Flyers (12.1% compared to 12.2%) but the Ducks pairing of Getzlaf and Perry is nearly 4% worse than the 8th place team and sit at a paltry 5.5, while Benn and Seguin of the Stars are barely above even at 4.1%.

CF Adjusted Points

Let me start off by saying that this is a stat that I have made up, and have not seen anything similar to. I think it does a decent job of mixing a players offensive production on the scoreboard with how well they drive possession and play defensively. The results seem to favor the scoring duos more, with the Giroux and Voracek pairing once again coming in 4rd behind the Penguins and Ducks and barely behind the Stars. If I was to try to make this reflect defensive abilities and zone starts as well, the Flyers pair would only move up the charts. Nevertheless, the Flyers have one of the top 10, if not top 5 or top 3 pairings in the whole NHL.

Points v. CF Relative Scatterplot

*Color coordinated to colors in previous charts.

Heres just another way to show and look at the above data. Giroux and Voracek are in the top 4 in both scoring and possession. With their young ages and their best years ahead of them, we have a lot of good hockey to look forward to.

All stats via ExtraSkater

All images via i.imgur.com