An Analysis of Molly the Cat performance, focus on Shooting

[JCarson 730]

In doing my analysis of why Molly the Cat isn’t scoring my first review will be to look at shots. The analysis will look at several factors including Shooting %, number of shots on net, Own shots blocked and missed the net and lastly total shots taken. I will elaborate on why each is an important consideration and what the statistical measures indicate. 

 

For consideration I will review the top 50-point getters in the league of which Molly the Cat is currently not a part of that group. Hopefully by looking at this group overall it will explain why Molly the Cat is not included in that group. Molly the Cat for reference currently sits 67th in points, but only 3 points out of 50th position. Noting Molly also has a game at hand on most players above 50th in points. 

 

Shooting % - potentially one of the most obvious statistics to look at, as this is the number of goals you have divided by the shots you take that hit the net. It is a measure of accuracy related to scoring. Looking at the top 50-point achievers there is a wide variation in this category. The minimum is 3.15% held by Pete Mitchell, who is number 36 for point getters. Pete relies heavily on assists to be part of this group. The maximum is 14.13% held by Brian Kowalski who is number 22 on the list and is split evenly between goals and assists, having 13 of each. With the average SHT% being 8.62, and Molly the Cat sitting at 6.87%, they are closer to the lower end of the group. Improved accuracy related to goals for shots on net could improve Molly the Cat’s performance. 

 

Number of Shots on Net – again a more obvious statistic, it only goes to suggest that if a player maintains shooting % and increases shots they will naturally score more goals. Looking at the top 50 players the average shots are 113.88, with the minimum being 41 and the maximum being 177. The minimum is held by Bobby Bob and the maximum is held by Jason. Molly the Cat currently has 131 shots so is above average in relation to the Top 50 comparator group. Obviously more shots mean more chances to score but Molly the Cat is not lacking in this area and so this should not be the issue causing the scoring problem. 

 

Shots Taken but not getting to the Net – The index records two statistics that allow for analysis in these areas, they are Own shots Blocked and Own Shots missed the Net. For now, I will look at these together in a statistic I call Shots Taken but not getting to the Net. In the top 50 players, the minimum is 47 and the maximum 182, with the average 112.98. Lloyd Braun leads this category with only 47 missed shots and Jason trails this category with 183 missed shot attempts. Molly the Cat currently has 147 missed shot attempts. This could be a partial explanation of why they have reduced goals this season. However, I want to go a step further to determine if the missed shots are a result of strong defensive coverage or from poor accuracy. Breaking the statistic down to look at Own Shots Blocked The average top 50-point getter has 33.02 shots blocked with the maximum being 52. Molly the Cat has had 43 shots blocked. This might suggest that teams are playing Molly the Cat more defensively than other players. This is something to continue watching to see the overall impact of these over a season. 

 

Total Shots Taken – This is Shots that hit the net + Shots taken but do not hit the net. Potentially better described as Shot Attempts. The average player in the Top 50 Point getters has 226.86 Shot attempts and an average goal per shot attempt of 4.3%. This ranges from the lowest being 95 shot attempts to a maximum of 359 shot attempts. Molly the Cat sits at 278 which is well above the average so this should not be a factor in Molly the Cat’s decreased production. 

 

Lastly, I want to look at shot accuracy or how many of the shots taken hit the net. The average shot accuracy in the Top 50 group is 50.18%. With the maximum being 57.34% and the minimum being 40.91%. To note Elias Lampi holds the maximum accuracy and Alfred Champaigne holds the minimum accuracy. Moly the Cat sits at 47.12% so is significantly below average. 

In conclusion Molly the Cat is suffering issues with accuracy in two regards. The first is with how many shots are getting to the net, the second is shot placement once it gets to the net as SHT% is low. I will continue to monitor this to see how it changes over the season. 

 

Noting that this analysis was completed On Saturday Sep 2, prior to Sims being run. Most teams had played 22 games, a couple, like London, had only played 21.