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Player Profile: Drew Doughty, Team Canada
To the delight of Los Angeles Kings fans and the surprise of some, Drew Doughty was among the seven defensemen selected for Team Canada's 2010 Olympic Hockey Team. Unlike Patrice Bergeron, Doughty had been invited by Team Canada to the summer training camp. However, he still had to step over lofty names like Jay Bouwmeester, Mike Green, Dion Phaneuf, and Robin Regehr to make the squad.
Though no stranger to playing for Team Canada at the World Championships, Drew Doughty is just a 20-year-old who's playing in only his second NHL season. Let's take a look at the numbers behind number 8 of the LA Kings to see why his selection wasn't much of a surprise...
Over at the LA Kings Blog, The Royal Half, Chris Kontos provided the following reaction to the news that Drew Doughty was named to Team Canada's Olympic hockey team:
As a Kings fan, there really is no way to feel about Drew Doughty's selection to Team Canada than ecstatic...
Yeah, I'd say that's an upgrade from sharing a locker room stall with Teddy Purcell and Brad Richardson. Congrats Drew, now go out there tonight and celebrate with a victory against Canada by beating the Calgary Flames in Calgary. Just don't have a beer cause you are still underage in the States.
In short, Drew Doughty was not only a better fit for Team Canada, but also a better defenseman than the aforementioned names like Jay Bouwmeester and Mike Green. Steve Yzerman, Team Canada's GM, provided the following statement:
"We felt that Drew Doughty in this case is little bit more complete a player and based on how he played at the world championships and saw him play in big games that he was a better fit for us," said Yzerman. "I'll just simply say the seven defencemen we picked were the seven we liked the best."
Now, let's take a look at Drew Doughty by the numbers. In terms of the 'tale of the tape,' Doughty is listed at 6'0 and 211 lbs by the NHL's website. Okay, so this not a hulking size or particularly tall height for an NHL defenseman. What he lacks in size, he certainly makes up for in draft pedigree. Doughty was drafted in 2008 in the first round, second overall by the Los Angeles Kings. Last years was his first in the NHL. He had 27 points in 81 games and finished the season with an abysmal +/- of -17.
This season, Doughty is currently ranked 5th overall among defensemen in terms of total point production. Let's take a look at his 'box car' numbers.
| Player |
Team |
GP |
G |
A |
P |
Rank |
+/- |
PIM |
TOI/G |
| Drew Doughty |
LAK |
43 |
9 |
23 |
32 |
5th |
8 |
28 |
24:14 |
By the numbers, Doughty has seemingly made a dramatic improvement in his plus/minus stat from last season's -17 to this season's +8. Of note, Doughty averages just over 24 minutes of ice time per game. From the behindthenet site, we can also take a look at a few 'advanced' stats for Doughty.
Without going into too much detail, these numbers show that Doughty's a solid option at even-strength, penalty killing, and on the power play. To start with, Doughty's numbers show that he faces tough opposition while playing for the LA Kings. At even strength, Doughty produces 1.1 points per sixty minutes of icetime along with a positive goal differential of +.6 goals scored for the Kings while he is on the ice, again per sixty minutes. In comparison, the Flames defensemen (Bouwmeister, Phaneuf, Regehr) are in the range of .47-.67 which gives the edge to Doughty at even-strength. Mike Green edges out Doughty here at 1.64 points/60 along with a goal differential of +1.72/60.
Shorthanded, Doughty is the Kings best penalty killer in terms of defensemen. He allows a very respectable 4.54 goals against per sixty minutes of ice time while killing penalties. That's about on par with Robyn Regehr, better than Dion Phaneuf or Mike Green, and not quite as good as Jay Bouwmeester.
On the power play, Doughty produces 5.18 points per sixty minutes of ice time. Again, in comparison ,the previous Flames defensemen range from a low of 2.19 (Bouwmeester) to a high of 3.15 (Phaneuf) which again supports Doughty's greater relative effectiveness. Even the much heralded offense of Mike Green has been slightly lower on the power play this season than Doughty (Green is 5.03 pts/60).
In conclusion, Drew Doughty's a young player with great draft pedigree who's already a very well-rounded defensemen at the NHL level. The numbers themselves suggest that he's a better option this season than any of the three Calgary defensemen invited to Team Canada's camp and probably better than Mike Green.
 Jay M. writes about the Edmonton Oilers at Low On Oil in addition to his work on Bloguin's Olympic Hockey Blog.
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