Classic Stats: Rookie Edition

Not to say advanced statistics are bad. They're extremely useful. But that's not what Classic Stats are all about.

Does it seem like there are a lot of rookies recently? That's because there are. In fact, the Ottawa Senators have already played eight rookies a mere 17 games into the season. Before the weekend, fans had already seen Jakob Silfverberg, Mika Zibanejad, Stephane Da Costa, Mark Borowiecki, and Patrick Wiercioch. Then on Saturday, three more guys made their NHL debut with Dave Dziurzynski, Eric Gryba, and Derek Grant.

And that's not even counting Robin Lehner, who hasn't played but has dressed. Nor is it counting Andre Benoit, who at 28 is too old to be classified a rookie, yet had only played 8 NHL games coming into this season.

Let's take a look at some Classic Stats, shall we?

• The Senators have actually played two fewer rookies so far than each of the last two seasons. Still, the eight rookies in 2012-13 is above the team average of 6.73 per year since 1997-98. Minimum one game.
• Four Ottawa Senators have scored their first NHL goals this season: Jakob Silfverberg, Mika Zibanejad, Andre Benoit, and David Dziurzynski.
• Amongst rookies who have taken 30+ faceoffs, Stephane Da Costa is ranked first with a 60.3% win percentage. Next highest is 55.9% by the New York Islanders' Casey Cizikas.
• Amongst all NHL players who have taken 50+ faceoffs, Da Costa is 10th-overall in win percentage.
• How decimated is Ottawa's defence? Eric Gryba is 6th amongst NHL rookies in ice time per game (18:58 average so far).
• (This one from Elias Sports Bureau): Tuesday's Andre Benoit/David Dziurzynski pair is the first time two Senators have scored their first NHL goal in the same game since 2001, when Shane Hnidy and Karel Rachunek pulled off the same feat.
• Bonus: Ottawa lost that game 7-6 in OT to Los Angeles. A young Daniel Alfredsson had a goal and an assist, as did Shawn McEachern (each had four shots). Andre Roy played a team-low 5:03, a total of 6 shifts. Wade Redden's average shift length was 1:02. Not-yet former Senator Bryan Smolinski had a hat trick, while Jamie Storr got the win for the Kings after taking over from Steve Passmore midway through the second period.
• Two of the eight rookies this season were undrafted: Stephane Da Costa, and sniper David Dziurzynski.

But now for the real treat: an interactive chart showing how each rookie relates to each other with a bunch of different stats. Enjoy!

Legend: GP (games played), PTS (points), PIM (penalty minutes), TOI (average time on ice), SOG (shots on goal), S% (shooting percentage), Hits (hits), BkS (blocked shots), MsS (missed shots), FOW (faceoff wins), FOL (faceoff losses)