After doing two posts on Draft Pick Value and NHL Team Drafting & Development, I decided to look at the rosters of every team in the league to see how they were constructed. Which teams rely heavily on their own drafted talent? Which teams have brought in the most players from other teams? Which teams have a large number of undrafted players? Let’s find out.
The data used in this article focuses on players who have appear on an NHL team roster this season. Some have only played one game, while others have been in the league for years. With that in mind, we will first look at an overview of which teams are producing the most players on NHL rosters this season.
Buffalo and Ottawa have drafted the largest number of current NHL players. The values in blue indicate how many of those players are still with the team that drafted them. The values in red represent the drafted players that have been traded or lost. After Buffalo and Ottawa, Chicago, Anaheim and Columbus have the most drafted players on an NHL roster so far this season. Vancouver, Arizona and Winnipeg have the fewest. It should be noted that the graph above does not include goalies.
The team roster construction graphs do not include goalies either, because they are handled and developed very differently than skaters. Below are graphs, broken down by conference, showing the number of games played this season by goalies drafted by teams and undrafted goalies signed by a team in that conference. The drafted goalies may not be playing for the team that drafted them so please keep that in mind when looking at this. The undrafted goalies are currently playing for the team indicated.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Again, the goalies may or may not still be playing for the team that drafted them. This is simply a look at where the goalies in the NHL are coming from to get an idea of how teams are doing in terms of goalie scouting and development.
Now that we have the goalies taken care of, I’ll give you the team by team roster breakdown. I focused on players drafted by the team they have played for this season, undrafted players (regardless of how they were acquired by the team), and drafted players who have been acquired from other teams through trades, free agency and the like. At the end, I have three graphs giving a league-wide overview of roster construction so you can compare teams based on the makeup of the roster, points and time on ice. I’m keeping my commentary to a minimum on these. Perhaps they can be a good launching point for writers focusing on a particular team to delve further into this information.
EASTERN CONFERENCE – ATLANTIC DIVISION
BOSTON BRUINS
BUFFALO SABRES
DETROIT RED WINGS
FLORIDA PANTHERS
MONTREAL CANADIENS
OTTAWA SENATORS
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
EASTERN CONFERENCE – METROPOLITAN DIVISION
CAROLINA HURRICANES
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
NEW YORK RANGERS
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
WESTERN CONFERENCE – CENTRAL DIVISION
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
COLORADO AVALANCHE
DALLAS STARS
MINNESOTA WILD
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
ST. LOUIS BLUES
WINNIPEG JETS
WESTERN CONFERENCE – PACIFIC DIVISION
ANAHEIM DUCKS
ARIZONA COYOTES
CALGARY FLAMES
EDMONTON OILERS
LOS ANGELES KINGS
SAN JOSE SHARKS
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
LEAGUE OVERVIEW
There are some teams that standout for different reasons in terms of roster construction. Perhaps these are interesting areas for further exploration. I hope so.
Retention and Use of Players Drafted by Team: Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks
Heavy Reliance Upon Players Acquired from Other Teams: Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota Wild, Vancouver Canucks
High Percentage of Undrafted Players Responsible for a Large Percentage of PIMs (Penalties in Minutes): Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks
*All data used herein was collected from www.hockey-reference.com, www.nhl.com and www.hockeydb.com
