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Backlund and Nemisz ES and PP scoring

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As promised in the comments of the previous post, I went back and looked at the scoring totals of Mikael Backlund and Greg Nemisz at even strength and power play last year.

First, Backlund, who played just 28 regular season games with the Kelowna Rockets:

ESP: 19

PPP: 10

Other (EN, SH): 1

ESP %: 63.3%

With such a small sample, I decided to add in his post season results, even though games in the playoffs tends to be non-representative owing to the relative diffculty/uniformity of opponents. Still, a bigger sample is always preferable to a smaller one, so…

ESP: 13

PPP: 8

Other (EN, SH): 2

ESP %: 56.5%

Totals (RS + PS) 

ESP: 32

PPP: 18

Other: 3

ESP %: 60.4%

Some healthy numbers overall I'd say. It'd be nice to know whom he was playing against, but baby steps.

Next up, Nemisz. He played a full season, so I looked at his RS results exclusively.

ESP: 49

PPP: 23

Other: 5

ESP %: 63.6%

Both of these percentages compare favorably to Wahl, who was in the 60% range. We know Mitch was probably playing against other top lines thanks to numerous reports describing him as Spokane's first option for tough match-ups, but we can't be sure who Backlund and Nemisz were matched-up against.

This process can be repeated for Wahl’s and Nemisz’s draft seasons (not Backlund, who was over in Sweden) and comparing their results to each other, as well as others from their draft class, would probably be informative. The good news is, it looks like (upon this initial investigation) the Flames don’t have a “Robbie Schremp” on their hands – at least, not amongst their top prospects.

by Kent Wilson