E. Karlsson among advanced metrics standouts during best-on-best tournament
© Vitor Munhoz/4NFO/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images
NHL.com’s fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats. Today, we identify leaders in key advanced metrics during the 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best tournament that runs until Feb. 20.
Skating speed leader: Erik Karlsson
The Sweden defenseman leads the 4 Nations Face-Off in max skating speed, reaching 23.16 miles per hour in the tournament opener against Canada on Wednesday. Karlsson, who’s 34 years old and has 106 speed bursts of 20-plus mph in 57 games (1.85 per game) this season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, had five such bursts in the 4 Nations Face-Off opener, tied with forward Adrian Kempe for the most on Sweden. Karlsson assisted on Kempe’s goal against Canada.
Speed bursts leader: Nathan MacKinnon
The Canada forward leads the 4 Nations Face-Off in 20-plus mph speed bursts (nine in tournament opener against Sweden) and leads his position in max skating speed (23.12 mph). Through the first two games of the tournament, Canada forward Connor McDavid (eight speed bursts of 20-plus mph) and United States forward Jack Eichel (seven) rank second and third, respectively, in the category behind MacKinnon.
MacKinnon scored a power-play goal and had a game-high six shots on goal in Canada’s 4-3 overtime win against Sweden; only Matthew Tkachuk of the United States has had more shots on goal in a game (eight) during this tournament. MacKinnon, who plays for the Colorado Avalanche, leads the entire NHL in 20-plus mph speed bursts (408) this NHL season.
Shot speed leader: Victor Hedman
Sweden has the two hardest shots of the 4 Nations Face-Off, with the attempts coming from defensemen Hedman (97.60 mph) and Rasmus Dahlin (92.24 mph) in their tournament opener against Canada; each of those shots was blocked. Only Canada’s Cale Makar (28:06) has logged more ice time than Hedman (27:15) in a 4 Nations Face-Off game so far. Hedman, who plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning, leads 4 Nations Face-Off defenseman participants in 90-plus mph shots (46) this NHL season.
Canada defenseman Colton Parayko has the hardest shot on goal (88.27 mph in opener against Sweden) of any player in the tournament so far.
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More: 4 Nations Face-Off statistics
