Nashville’s Other Top Six Forward

Doran Libin

2015-07-13

ColinWilson

 

Libin takes a close look at Preds forward Colin Wilson and his untapped potential

 

Filip Forsberg, Mike Ribeiro and James Neal got a lot of publicity for spurring the revamped Predators offense but dig a little deeper and you will find that Craig Smith and more specifically Colin Wilson fueling the fire. Wilson bounced between three different lines on the season, especially after Mike Fisher returned and the Predators ran with three scoring lines. Whichever line Wilson skated with enjoyed success at both the offensive and defensive ends of the rink. Wilson has become an intrinsic part of the Nashville offense over the last six seasons but has only risen to a top six forward. Wilson took a big leap this year but still has a long way to go before being considered an elite talent.

While Wilson's defensive numbers got a boost from some quality goaltending behind him he was not nearly as lucky on the offensive end. For the second year of the last three Wilson had an even-strength P60 of 2.0, the only year he did not reach 2.0 P60 his shooting percentage and that of his teammates both hit career lows. At 2.0 P60 he has a similar even strength production rate as Marian Hossa, Radim Vrbata, Bobby Ryan, Patrice Bergeron and Jori Lehtera. That is some impressive company to keep, generally each of them are first line players. Wilson did it this season by bumping his shot rate and scoring chance rate. He went from 1.38 shot per game to 2.23 shots per game, a 75% increase in shots, and from 1.67 scoring chances per game to 2.52 scoring chances per game, a 67% increase in scoring chances. With his shooting percentage at 11.6% last year, well within expectations based on his career numbers, means that his increased production comes from doing it the right way meaning his increased production is entirely sustainable.    

There does not seem to be much room for increase though Wilson does have a paltry rate of production on the power play 2.2 P60. This is despite him playing 2.5 minutes per game on the power play on a team where each of the top six forwards all play between 2.5 and 3.0 minutes of power-play time per game. That production rate is the same as Corey Perry this year, the difference though is that for Perry it was an anomaly. Furthermore, Wilson is already involved in more than 70% of the goals scored while he is on the ice. So while he does not get many secondary assists the 30% of goals he is not involved in means he is leaving 16 points on the table. Should he reach an 85% rate of IPP that is maybe another seven points. The main area for Wilson to improve is on the power play where he has only once had more than 10 points in a single year. In short do not bet on it.

Colin Wilson is very useful and productive player in fantasy hockey. His value however is limited by his lack of power play production and in multi-category leagues by his lack of production in periphery statistics. Barring any major injuries to the Nashville core that would allow Wilson significantly more ice time he has probably hit his peak in terms of production. He has turned into a productive and useful top six forward but it is time to stop expecting any further leaps forward.

 

 

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