Analytics with Alison: Being Heavy on the Puck

When the Kraken were looking to get back into the win column, something head coach Dave Hakstol wanted to see his team improve was all that goes into gaining and holding possession of the puck.
"We needed to be a little bit more consistent in our heaviness on some of those pucks to come up with an extra possession along the way," Hakstol said Saturday night. "That's the bottom line… We can give a little bit more. (We need to) find a way to come up with an extra puck in those 50-50 situations. Get inside and find one extra rebound… we've got to be quick and evade, get out of that contact and then get to some open ice and spread the zone."

But how does a player do that? "Possession" is not necessarily a skill in and of itself. Historically, it was an easy mental jump to link possession to physicality - being able to "out muscle" an opponent to hold onto a puck or hitting a player to knock them off the puck and gain possession.
In today's NHL, however, possession can come about differently. So how does Hakstol want his team to go about winning battles and driving possession? And how does the Kraken stack up against the rest of the league?
Let's dig in.
First, thanks to data from Sportlogiq, let's look at which Kraken players have the longest average time of possession (each individual possession) and how that stacks up compared to the top five players in the league as well as league average (1.67 seconds).

We see that the top Kraken players in terms of directly possessing the puck all come in above league average (as do eight other Seattle skaters), and while the league's best have almost a half second more time than the Kraken leader, there are only six skaters in the entire NHL who exceed a 2.5 second average, so it's rare air, indeed.
But above and beyond holding onto the puck, what else goes into finding success? Hakstol mentioned winning 50/50 puck battles. Let's look at puck retrieval rate again compared to league average (54.5
per 60 minutes of play
for players with more than 10 games played) and the tops in the league. (Loose-puck retrievals are defined as gaining control of a puck not possessed by any other player).

Once again, Seattle's leaders are all above league average (as are four additional Kraken players). They are also all defensemen, so for additional perspective, the Seattle forward with the highest rate of puck retrievals is Yanni Gourde with 58.5 per 60.
But there is nuance to puck retrieval for Hakstol, he wants to see his team get the puck and then seize opportunity to maintain possession in the offensive zone.
"It's more of a focus on first touch when you get in the zone," Hakstol said. "It's all about the first touch, skating on first touch, evading on first touch, being able to get away from the heavy contact."
So, let's look at offensive zone loose puck recoveries specifically. Not just in the zone, but also those that come after a shot on goal and those that come off a rebound. (Loose-puck recoveries include controlling a loose puck from a broken play, blocked shot, disrupted pass, a successful body check or stick/poke check, dump-in/dump-out and, perhaps most visible for the potential scoring chance, a rebound). Here, we'll compare Kraken skaters to league averages (5-on-5 play). Shading indicates a recovery rate above league average.

What we see is that while Kraken players are overall above league average on recovering pucks in the offensive zone (this reinforces their focus on forechecking), and the majority are also strong on jumping on rebounds, they can work on getting more second and third shot opportunities by gaining possession of post-shot pucks.
In looking at all of this it's important to remember that these numbers look only at one specific part of a very complex game and don't reflect on a player's value as a whole. For example, defensemen are not likely to gather a lot of loose pucks off shots or rebounds due to their positional responsibilities. A player's role can also dictate where they focus their efforts and time. But overall, finding more ways to win those 50/50 battles could feed even more offensive opportunity for Seattle.
The good news is that, according to Hakstol, getting better at winning those 50-50 pucks was part of what built the
Kraken's 3-2 shootout win over Chicago
on Monday.
"It starts with the first guy that's on (the puck)," Hakstol said. "In the offensive zone when you're determined whether on forecheck or first touch, it gives everybody else a chance to do their part. I thought we were more determined on puck tonight and that was a real positive."