Blake By The Numbers
December 26th, 2006 by Tom
With Mighty Jason Blake’s so far stellar season, we here at IslandersArmy took a closer look at his stats. Here’s what we found:
- Blake is scoring on 17.9 percent of his shots. An outstanding mark. #55 had scored on 8 percent of his shots during his prevous eight seasons.
- The only current Islander forward who has ever posted a better scoring percentage in a full season is Miroslav Satan. Miro scored on 19.2 percent of his shots with the Sabres in 1998-1999 when he had 40 goals.
- Blake is taking 3.3 shots a game, up from his career average of 2.7 and down from last year’s even 4 shots a game.
- Blake has 28 career power play goals, 11 of which he has scored this season.
- Blake is on pace for 89 points. His career high is 57 set last season when he had 28 goals and 29 assists.
- He is averaging 1.09 points per game.
- And, not that we have any stats to show it, he’s fast.
[Update] Nice post by Tom digging up the stats on the always hustling J. Blake. Just wanted to add this link to Newsday’s article about Blake’s impending free agency and the Islanders’ desire to resign him. -murph
“Blake fits in the picture for sure,” Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. “I’ve been associated with hockey for a long time, but very few times do you have a player of his determination and grit. He just wants to score and win and he battles. The fans appreciate him and we appreciate him. He’s definitely a big part of this team.”
[Update 2] Looks like it’s Jason Blake day in Islander country as Newsday’s Greg Logan has posted a story about #55 on his Islanders Blog.
No doubt, Blake is on the hottest roll of his career with 20 goals through 34 games, which is just eight goals short of his best full season. Presumably, talking about it might upset the hockey gods who control these things, and what’s the point of jinxing himself?
Coach Ted Nolan has another theory. He suggested Blake’s competitive zeal has rubbed off on Alexei Yashin, whose playmaking ability, in turn, has shoveled coal into the fire in Blake’s belly, fueling his desire to score. The symbiotic reaction generated by Nolan’s decision to pair them on the top line clearly has been one of the major reasons for the Islanders’ transformation into a legitimate playoff contender.
