Stat of the day - breaking down Pahlsson

Let's break down Sammy Pahlsson shall we.

First the vitals:

AGE: 31
HEIGHT: 6'0"
WEIGHT: 204
SHOOTS: Left
BIRTHDATE: Dec 17, 1977
BIRTHPLACE: Ornskol, Sweden
NUMBER: 26

Okay.. now some stats. The first number is his total from last season while the second in () is where he would have ranked on the Jackets last season:

GOALS: 7 (14)
ASSISTS: 11 (17)
POINTS: 18 (17)
PIM: 34 (16)
+/-: -17 (31)

POWER PLAY POINTS: 1 (tied 10)
SHORT HANDED POINTS: 0 (tied 6)
GAME WINNING GOALS: 2 (tied 6)
SHOTS: 88 (13)

FACE OFF %: 53.5 (3)
TIME ON ICE PER GAME (TOI): 18:21 (8)
SHIFTS PER GAME: 24.7 (8)

HITS: 121 (6)
BLOCKED SHOTS: 21 (16)
MISSED SHOTS: 32 (11)
GIVE AWAYS: 26 (tied 5)
TAKE AWAYS: 25 (tied 9)

HOME POINTS: 9 (tied 16)
AWAY POINTS: 9 (tied 16)

EVEN STRENGTH TOI: 856:30 (10)
SHORT HANDED TOI: 272:06 (3)
SHORT HANDED TOI /G: 4:11 (1)

Stats never tell the whole story but here are some thoughts on some numbers that caught my eye:

* 121 hits tells me Pahlsson isn't afraid to take the body and would have ranked 6th on the Jackets. For a comparision -- Manny Malhotra had 74 hits last season.

* Only 34 penalty minutes is excellent. Especially considering he plays against the other teams top lines in key situations. It tells me Pahlsson is an extremely disciplined player and can keep up in a clutch and grabless game.

* That -17 certainly catches my attention. I realize he goes against the top lines but that number should be much better and I expect it to be under Hitch next season.

* No surprise that he would have led all Jackets in penalty kill time last season with a whopping average of over 4 mins a game. Expect to see this guy out in all shorthanded and game saving situations. Hitch will ride this horse like Harry Potter rides the Hogwarts Express.

* If points are any indication Pahlsson brings the same game be at home or on the road.

* I know Pahlsson's primary role is shutdown center but I'd certainly like to see more offensive output.

* I thought he'd have more than 21 blocked shots with all of that PK time.

* Don't expect much offense out of Sammy while shorthanded. In fact he didn't register any shorthanded points last season. If he's on the kill with Nash that could change quckly as the Monster had 5 shorties last year (it could have been many many more if he converted on half of those breakaways).

* Needs to also work on those give aways.. but very pleased with his take aways. Interesting to note that Nash led the Jackets with a whopping 70 take aways -- Huselius was next with 49. Both also led in give-aways with Juice w/ 35 and Nash with 34.

* Don't expect any fisticuffs with Pahlsson -- I couldn't find one listing on hockeyfights.com that involved him.

All n'all these stats paint the picture of what we've all heard about. Pahlsson is a prototypical shutdown centerman who isn't going to give you a lot offensively but will certainly help you win games with this defensive acumen and ability to play key minutes against the opposition's top lines.

-LTL