Submitting an Appeal to Simon for Shooting Luck

[dstevensonjr 395]

This is Harry Callahan's fifth season in the VHL, and once again, another season seems to be showing some incredible bad luck in shooting. A look back through the five seasons league-wide shows that his bad luck isn't isolated to this season, but rather almost across his career. Below is a comparison about Callahan's shooting volume, scoring, and shooting luck, as well as a look around the league at other players.

 

To start, here is Callahan's VHL ranks in shots through his career:

 

S91 (rookie year): 269 shots (70th)

S92: 489 shots (9th)

S93: 526 shots (8th)

S94: 634 shots (1st)

S95: 204 shots (2nd) *on pace for 612 shots*

 

Four seasons in a row in the top 10 in the VHL in shots has been impressive, but how about scoring? Here's Callahan's VHL ranks in goals:

 

S91: 24 goals (t-53rd)

S92: 30 goals (t-37th)

S93: 36 goals (27th)
S94: 39 goals (t-19th)

S95: 14 goals (t-10th)

 

Callahan's scoring has steadily increased, but not quite as exponentially as his shooting has. Most of that is explained here in his shooting percentage VHL rank (among players, not including bots):

 

S91: 8.92% (t-33rd)

S92: 6.13% (126th)

S93: 6.84% (110th)

S94: 6.15% (120th)

S95: 6.86% (104th)

 

The confusing part from an attribute focus is that Callahan's attributes should produce better results. Callahan's 92 Scoring rating is 1st in the VHL (nobody else is above 90 currently), his Penalty Shot rating of 85 is 1st in the VHL (nobody else is above 83 currently), and his Puck Handling rating of 94 is tied for 1st with four other players. He's also near the top in Defense at 94 (2nd in VHL), Skating at 91 (t-3rd in VHL), Strength at 99 (t-1st in VHL), and Overall at 79 (t-3rd in VHL). 

 

These things should add up to better production. Looking around the league at shot production over the last 5 seasons, there is typically a correlation between shots and goals, even if it doesn't necessarily line up every single season. Here's a look at some of the forwards who have been around Callahan's shot production (one right above and one right below) in that time, along with their goals and shooting percentages:

 

S91: Fred Hampton (274 shots, 20 goals, 7.30%)

S91: Harry Callahan (269 shots, 24 goals, 8.92%)

S91: Keegan Gamble (263 shots, 14 goals, 5.32%)

 

S92: Yaroslav Bogatyrev (493 shots, 32 goals, 6.49%)

S92: Harry Callahan (489 shots, 30 goals, 6.13%)

S92: Jimi Jaks (487 shots, 38 goals, 7.80%)

S93: Severus Targaryen (527 shots, 49 goals, 9.30%)

S93: Harry Callahan (526 shots, 36 goals, 6.84%)

S93: Steve Lattimer (518 shots, 44 goals, 8.49%)

 

S94: Jimi Jaks (614 shots, 62 goals, 10.10%)

S94: Harry Callahan (634 shots, 39 goals, 6.15%)

S94: Catia Goncalves (597 shots, 50 goals, 8.38%)

 

S95: Shubham Anand (206 shots, 25 goals, 12.14%)

S95: Harry Callahan (204 shots, 14 goals, 6.86%)

S95: Catia Goncalves (195 shots, 23 goals, 11.79%)

 

As you can see there, even among other forwards who are producing the same level of shots each season, Callahan consistently comes out behind on production. The only season that Callahan didn't have the worst shooting percentage among the three forwards was his rookie season, which is the only season that Callahan had a shooting percentage above 7%. I'm not sure how to remedy this, as it isn't a team issue (other teammates have flourished, shooting over 10% in all seasons). Is it all truly bad luck? If that's the case, how do you go about changing that bad luck? Toronto needs Callahan to step up and be a leader offensively, and right now that isn't happening to the degree that is required.

[jacobcarson877 2,528]

If you find out, pass it along to Landon Wolanin and he'll make a comeback!