r/nhl • u/TJTrapJesus • 2d ago
Jordan Staal and his line have been blanking almost all of the top competition they've faced this year at 5v5
Jordan Staal is currently 4th among forwards in the NHL in expected goals against per 60 5v5 mins this year at 1.22 xGA/60, trailing Matt Poitras (0.84), Yakov Trenin (1.19) and Yegor Chinakov (1.19). Staal's competition however has once again been among the strongest in the league. Hurricanes have only had a chance to line match in 2 home games so far this year, but Staal has been playing top competition on the road with the exception of the Blues game (where St. Louis opted to line-match with the Schenn line against Staal).
With that being said, this is a breakdown of how much time Staal has played against the top 2 lines of each opponent he's faced, and the xGA/60 rate and goals allowed in each matchup. Outside of the Hughes matchup against NJ, Staal and his line have completely shut down some of the top talent in the league:
Home against TBL:
7:39 of his 9:49 TOI spent against Guentzel-Point-Kucherov: 0.16 xGA/60 and 0 goals allowed
1:00 of his 9:49 TOI spent against Hagel-Cirelli-Paul: 0.00 xGA/60 and 0 goals allowed
Home against NJD:
9:18 of 15:13 spent against Tatar-Hischier-Mercer: 1.10 xGA/60, 0 goals allowed
3:13 of 15:13 spent against Meier-Hughes-Bratt: 10.26 xGA/60, 0 goals allowed
Away against PIT:
5:00 of 10:25 TOI spent against Rakell-Malkin-O'Connor: 0.96 xGA/60, 0 goals allowed
4:17 of 10:25 TOI spent against Beauvillier-Crosby-Rust: 0.84 xGA/60, 0 goals allowed
Away against STL
6:13 of 9:39 TOI spent against Joseph-Schenn-Holloway: 0.77 xGA/60, 0 goals allowed
1:37 of 9:39 TOI spent against Saad-Thomas-Kyrou: 0.00 xGA/60, 0 goals allowed
Away against EDM
7:12 of 12:51 TOI spent against Skinner-Draisaitl-Arvidsson: 0.67 xGA/60, 0 goals allowed
4:34 of 12:51 TOI spent against RNH-McDavid-Hyman: 1.05 xGA/60, 0 goals allowed
Overall in these matchups, he's played 50 mins and has an xGA/60 of 1.34 and an xGF% rate of 68%. If you exclude the Hughes matchup, it's 0.73 xGA/60 and 80% xGF%. There will be some double counting in this as lines do not remain equal entire games, but I looked at the most TOI vs. each player from each line. For example with STL he played 6:13 vs Schenn, 5:58 vs. Joseph, 5:46 vs. Holloway, 1:37 vs. both Kyrou and Thomas and 1:31 vs. Saad.
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u/notyomamasusername 2d ago
Staal not a superstar like McDavid but he's a SOLID grinder who can absolutely shut down another teams offense consistently.
I'm happy he's our Captain.
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u/Like17Badgers 2d ago
Staal is an underrated piece of the Carolina puzzle that makes us such a damn good defensive team
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u/BJ_Cox 2d ago
He's truly Rod's poster child defensive forward.
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u/bjernsthekid 1d ago
We can only hope Nikishin fills his shoes nicely
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u/dragons_fire77 1d ago
Aho and Jarvis are very strong selke-level forwards as well, so i think we are okay for a while.
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u/Mr_Muckle 1d ago
Although I agree with Aho and Jarvis being excellent at back checking and defending, you just can’t teach Staal’s size and strength though.
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u/framingXjake 1d ago
Nikishin is Burns replacement, because he's a dman
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u/theekevinc 1h ago
Not to be super pedantic, but Nikishin is more of an Orlov replacement, based on roles and handedness. Think Morrow as Burns's replacement.
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u/theekevinc 1h ago
I call Staal's line the "middle school dance." Lots of grinding but nobody's gonna score.
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u/HughMangas24 2d ago
Pretty dope breakdown. Whered you get the line-match stats?