One of the founding principles for any of the Power Rankings that I produce for TSN.ca is that it matters who is in the lineup. My team rankings are all based on individual player ratings, so that the team rankings are affected when players move in and out of the lineup.
Picking up on that premise, I've gone through each team for the 2009-2010 season, and checked out team won-loss records for all players that have missed a significant amount of playing time, comparing the results to see which players have put up records better (and worse) than their team's overall records.
Naturally, there are a number of reasons for why a team might have different results with a player in the lineup -- from schedule, to other injuries, to other changes on the team -- so these results aren't intended, for example, to make Chris Campoli that best player on the Ottawa Senators; it's just an added measurement of a player's contribution.
Additionally, a player that is getting eight minutes of ice time per game may not be the greatest determining factor on the outcome of the game, so the record may not have as much to do with that particular player as it does to those playing 20 minutes per game.
Using small sample sizes can drastically alter results so, on top of all other things, these results shouldn't be overvalued. Nevertheless, it does seem to suggest that defencemen like Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Andrei Markov (among others) make a decided difference in the success of their teams.
So, the players that I've evaluated have played at least 25 games with their team, except for those that have gone to a new team (mostly deadline deals) and missed at least 11 games during the season. I also checked a couple others of interest, like rookies who may have played in fewer games, like John Carlson and Logan Couture, or the Oilers' Ales Hemsky; just for sake of comparison.
(The final disclaimer is that the records are based on games through April 8, just prior to the last weekend of the season, as playoff prep has overtaken regular season recap as a priority.)
BEST DIFFERENTIALS
| PLAYER |
WITH |
WITHOUT |
DIFFERENCE |
| Chris Campoli, OTT |
42-19-5 (.674) |
2-12-1 (.167) |
.507 |
| Tyler Kennedy, PIT |
39-16-6 (.689) |
7-11-1 (.395) |
.394 |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJ |
42-11-10 (.746) |
8-9-1 (.472) |
.374 |
| Rod Pelley, NJ |
41-16-4 (.705) |
5-11-3 (.342) |
.363 |
| Colin Fraser, CHI |
47-15-6 (.735) |
4-7-1 (.375) |
.360 |
| Darroll Powe, PHI |
36-21-4 (.623) |
4-13-2 (.263) |
.360 |
| Blair Betts, PHI |
35-21-5 (.615) |
5-13-1 (.289) |
.326 |
| Evgeni Malkin, PIT |
41-18-6 (.677) |
5-9-1 (.367) |
.310 |
| Brett Carson, CAR |
29-19-5 (.594) |
6-17-5 (.286) |
.308 |
| Brett Clark, COL |
37-19-8 (.641) |
6-10 (.375) |
.286 |
| Jack Hillen, NYI |
32-28-7 (.530) |
2-8-3 (.269) |
.261 |
| Patrick Dwyer, CAR |
30-22-5 (.570) |
5-14-5 (.313) |
.257 |
| Petteri Nokelainen, PHO |
13-2-1 (.844) |
37-23-5 (.608) |
.236 |
| Lauri Korpikoski, PHO |
45-19-6 (.686) |
5-6 (.455) |
.231 |
| Phil Kessel, TOR |
28-31-10 (.478) |
1-7-4 (.250) |
.228 |
| David Moss, CAL |
35-22-6 (.613) |
5-9-4 (.389) |
.224 |
| Christian Hanson, TOR |
16-11-3 (.583) |
13-27-11 (.363) |
.220 |
| Andrei Markov, MON |
25-13-6 (.636) |
14-20-3 (.419) |
.217 |
| Robbie Earl, MIN |
18-9-4 (.645) |
20-27-3 (.430) |
.215 |
| Brandon Dubinsky, NYR |
33-25-9 (.560) |
4-8-1 (.346) |
.214 |
WORST DIFFERENTIALS
| PLAYER |
WITH |
WITHOUT |
DIFFERENCE |
| David Booth, FLA |
9-16-3 (.375) |
23-20-9 (.529) |
-.154 |
| Maxime Talbot, PIT |
22-18-3 (.547) |
24-9-4 (.703) |
-.156 |
| Ryan Potulny, EDM |
18-38-6 (.339) |
8-8-2 (.500) |
-.161 |
| Jeff Halpern, LA |
6-6-2 (.500) |
39-21-6 (.667) |
-.167 |
| Brandon Bochenski, TB |
8-15-2 (.360) |
24-21-10 (.527) |
-.167 |
| Oskars Bartulis, PHI |
24-26-3 (.481) |
16-8-3 (.648) |
-.167 |
| Niclas Wallin, SJ |
12-9-2 (.565) |
38-11-9 (.733) |
-.168 |
| Darryl Sydor, STL |
18-20-7 (.457) |
21-12-2 (.629) |
-.172 |
| Rick Rypien, VAN |
38-25-5 (.596) |
10-3-0 (.769) |
-.173 |
| Rob Schremp, EDM |
16-24-4 (.409) |
18-12-6 (.583) |
-.174 |
| Mike Cammalleri, MON |
28-28-8 (.500) |
11-5-1 (.676) |
-.176 |
| Robert Lang, PHO |
37-22-5 (.617) |
13-3-1 (.794) |
-.177 |
| Rob Niedermayer, NJ |
38-25-6 (.594) |
8-2-1 (.773) |
-.179 |
| Fredrik Modin, LA |
6-7-4 (.471) |
39-20-4 (.651) |
-.180 |
| Andrew Peters, NJ |
13-13-3 (.500) |
33-14-4 (.686) |
-.186 |
| Fernando Pisani, EDM |
8-25-5 (.276) |
18-21-3 (.464) |
-.188 |
| Teddy Purcell, TB |
5-11-1 (.324) |
27-25-11 (.516) |
-.192 |
| Sean Avery, NYR |
29-30-10 (.493) |
8-3 (.727) |
-.234 |
| James Sheppard, MIN |
26-31-7 (.461) |
12-5-0 (.706) |
-.245 |
| Ryan Parent, PHI |
18-24-5 (.436) |
22-10-1 (.682) |
-.246 |
(minimum 25 games played, missed at least 11; stats through games of 4/8/10)
ANAHEIM DUCKS (38-31-11)
ATLANTA THRASHERS (34-33-13)
BOSTON BRUINS (37-30-13)
BUFFALO SABRES (44-26-10)
CALGARY FLAMES (40-31-10)
CAROLINA HURRICANES (35-36-10)
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (51-22-7)
COLORADO AVALANCHE (43-29-8)
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (32-35-14)
DALLAS STARS (36-31-14)
DETROIT RED WINGS (42-24-14)
EDMONTON OILERS (26-46-8)
FLORIDA PANTHERS (32-36-12)
LOS ANGELES KINGS (45-27-8)
MINNESOTA WILD (38-36-7)
MONTREAL CANADIENS (39-33-9)
NASHVILLE PREDATORS (46-29-6)
NEW JERSEY DEVILS (46-27-7)
NEW YORK ISLANDERS (34-36-10)
NEW YORK RANGERS (37-33-10)
OTTAWA SENATORS (44-31-6)
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (40-34-6)
PHOENIX COYOTES (50-25-6)
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (46-27-7)
SAN JOSE SHARKS (50-20-11)
ST. LOUIS BLUES (39-32-9)
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (32-36-12)
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (29-38-14)
VANCOUVER CANUCKS (48-28-5)
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (53-15-12)
Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@ctv.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen.