There was no shortage of standout performers in December.
Today, as we do early in each and every month, we’re going to take a closer look at the best of the bunch.
Let’s get to it.
3rd Star – Alex Pietrangelo
Pietrangelo was Mr. Everything for the Blues in December.
He played a ton of minutes against top competition and more than did his part defensively.
The Blues gave up 14.26 fewer shot attempts per 60 minutes with Pietrangelo on the ice. That was the 2nd best relative total among 111 defensemen who played at least 200 minutes at 5v5.
The Blues gave up 7.48 fewer scoring chances per 60 minutes with Pietrangelo on the ice. That was the 4th best total using the same criteria as above.
St. Louis didn’t just give up significantly fewer shots and chances with their captain on the ice. They also gave up fewer goals, which I’m told is important in hockey.
Beyond Pietrangelo’s excellent defensive work, he quietly put up 12 points while leading the Blues in shots and shot attempts. He only fell four scoring chances short of David Perron for tops on the team and actually ended up with more high-danger opportunities.
The 29-year-old sure is making a good case to cash in big after the season, be it in St. Louis or elsewhere.
2nd Star – Auston Matthews
December couldn’t have gone much better for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They won nine games and finished with a .731 points percentage, coming 2nd only to Pittsburgh in each category.
Pretty much all of Toronto’s big-name superstars had a hand in their success, as you’d expect, but a strong case can be made Matthews played the biggest part.
You win games by scoring more goals than your opponent. Nobody in the NHL scored more goals than Matthews – at 5v5 or across all situations.
Matthews also just so happened to be the *only* forward with a goal differential of +10 or higher at 5v5.
Put another way, the Maple Leafs killed it in on the scoreboard with Matthews on the ice and it was often No. 34 doing the damage.
1st Star – Roman Josi
The Predators had a solid month by all accounts. At 5v5 they finished 7th in Corsi For%, 5th in Goals For%, and that translated into a respectable 13th place ranking in terms of points percentage. Nothing crazy, of course, but doing that on a consistent basis gets you where you need to go.
The biggest driving force – by far – behind the Predators was their captain, Roman Josi.
I’m not sure if it is possible to do any more than Josi did in December. He scored seven goals in 12 games, which is absurd for a defenseman, while also leading all blueliners in points (15).
As impressive as Josi’s counting totals were, his on-ice numbers might have been better. With Josi out there, the Predators scored 20 goals; 12 more than they gave up. Both the total (20) and differential (12) were tops at his position.
Josi was also up there in terms of Corsi (57.56%) and Expected Goals (57.46%), making him full marks for his strong goal differential.
Josi might not be worth his contract down the road but, in the meantime, these kinds of dominant stretches are why the Predators felt it necessary to keep him around.
Updated leaderboard
3 = 1st star, 2 = 2nd star, 1 = 3rd star
David Pastrnak – 3 points
Nathan MacKinnon – 3 points
Roman Josi – 3 points
Connor McDavid – 2 points
Leon Draisaitl – 2 points
Auston Matthews – 2 points
Alex Pietrangelo – 1 point
J.T. Miller – 1 point
Connor Hellebuyck – 1 point
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
