Three games after being called up from Rockford, Brandon Pirri has made the best of his limited minutes by scoring a pair of goals and adding an assist. Below is an in depth break down of Pirri's last two games (against the Blues and Leafs) by linemates, deployment, Corsi, and other statistics.
vs St. Louis
First period:
Saad-Shaw
Saad-Shaw
Saad-Shaw (Pirri's goal)
Saad-Kane
Second Period:
Saad-Kane
Saad-Kane
Saad-Shaw
Saad-Shaw
Saad-Shaw
Third Period:
Saad-Shaw
Sharp-Kane
Saad-Shaw
Totals:
9:34 TOI
12 shifts
47.8 average shift time
Notes: Against the Blues, Pirri did score his first goal, but his Corsi numbers, along with Saad's (his linemate) weren't pretty (both had a 36.4 CF%). A good explanation for such low numbers? Pirri primarily started in the defensive and neutral zones. His 28.6 OZst% was the second-lowest on the team behind Saad who he was skating with the entire night. So while Pirri's Corsi in this game may be alarming, considering the fact that he was playing some "tough minutes", against a good team, as an offense-first player, this shouldn't be surprising.
vs Toronto
First Period:
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bickell
Hossa-Saad (PP)
Second Period:
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bollig
Saad-Hossa (Pirri's PP goal)
Third Period:
Shaw-Bickell
Shaw-Bickell
Shaw-Bickell
Nordstrom-Bollig
Shaw-Kruger
Totals:
9:37 TOI
14 shifts
41.2 average shift time
Notes: After being on a line with Shaw and Saad, Pirri spent most of the night on the fourth line with Nordstrom and Bollig against the Leafs until later in the game. He posted a 56.3 CF% against the Leafs, but had a -9.9 Corsi Rel% as Nordstrom and Bollig both were better Corsi-wise. Is there an explanation for his low relative Corsi? I think so. As you can see above, Pirri spent the majority of the third teamed up with Shaw and Bickell which got him a couple more minutes of ice time than Nordstrom and Bollig. With a two goal lead and in control of the game, the Blackhawks strategy toward the end of the game was presumably more defensive which would lead to less shots for the Hawks. This should lead to lesser Corsi and if we look at Pirri's 5v5 close Corsi, we see that this was the case (he actually had a higher Corsi Close than Nordy and Bollig).
Conclusion/Opinion
If you go to ExtraSkater.com or Behindthenet.ca and briefly glance at Corsi, you'll see that despite his three points in three games, Pirri is struggling. However, after doing some digging, there are various reasons why his stats are so poor. This leads me to think that Quenneville, who is obviously a great coach and a guy I trust by default, isn't using Pirri correctly.
I'm not necessarily advocating that he centers the second line (although I want to see it), but Q should be putting Pirri in better situations. Against St. Louis, he was sending out Pirri, an offense-first player with suspect defense, mostly in the neutral and defensive zones against a pretty good team. Obviously he's going to struggle. Against Toronto, he put him with arguably the two worst forwards on the team which prevented Pirri from using his assets.
With a team that just won the Cup and it being October, Pirri's role on the team is perhaps the biggest question mark surrounding the Hawks. And on this topic, I think I'm against the two-time Stanley Cup winning coach.
Notes: Against the Blues, Pirri did score his first goal, but his Corsi numbers, along with Saad's (his linemate) weren't pretty (both had a 36.4 CF%). A good explanation for such low numbers? Pirri primarily started in the defensive and neutral zones. His 28.6 OZst% was the second-lowest on the team behind Saad who he was skating with the entire night. So while Pirri's Corsi in this game may be alarming, considering the fact that he was playing some "tough minutes", against a good team, as an offense-first player, this shouldn't be surprising.
vs Toronto
First Period:
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bickell
Hossa-Saad (PP)
Second Period:
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bollig
Nordstrom-Bollig
Saad-Hossa (Pirri's PP goal)
Third Period:
Shaw-Bickell
Shaw-Bickell
Shaw-Bickell
Nordstrom-Bollig
Shaw-Kruger
Totals:
9:37 TOI
14 shifts
41.2 average shift time
Notes: After being on a line with Shaw and Saad, Pirri spent most of the night on the fourth line with Nordstrom and Bollig against the Leafs until later in the game. He posted a 56.3 CF% against the Leafs, but had a -9.9 Corsi Rel% as Nordstrom and Bollig both were better Corsi-wise. Is there an explanation for his low relative Corsi? I think so. As you can see above, Pirri spent the majority of the third teamed up with Shaw and Bickell which got him a couple more minutes of ice time than Nordstrom and Bollig. With a two goal lead and in control of the game, the Blackhawks strategy toward the end of the game was presumably more defensive which would lead to less shots for the Hawks. This should lead to lesser Corsi and if we look at Pirri's 5v5 close Corsi, we see that this was the case (he actually had a higher Corsi Close than Nordy and Bollig).
Conclusion/Opinion
If you go to ExtraSkater.com or Behindthenet.ca and briefly glance at Corsi, you'll see that despite his three points in three games, Pirri is struggling. However, after doing some digging, there are various reasons why his stats are so poor. This leads me to think that Quenneville, who is obviously a great coach and a guy I trust by default, isn't using Pirri correctly.
I'm not necessarily advocating that he centers the second line (although I want to see it), but Q should be putting Pirri in better situations. Against St. Louis, he was sending out Pirri, an offense-first player with suspect defense, mostly in the neutral and defensive zones against a pretty good team. Obviously he's going to struggle. Against Toronto, he put him with arguably the two worst forwards on the team which prevented Pirri from using his assets.
With a team that just won the Cup and it being October, Pirri's role on the team is perhaps the biggest question mark surrounding the Hawks. And on this topic, I think I'm against the two-time Stanley Cup winning coach.
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