Advanced Statistics Show It's Been A Rough Season So Far For Carson Soucy

PUBLICATION

Cooper Godin
November 2, 2024 (8:14 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

It's been a rough start to the season for Vancouver Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy and advanced statistics back that up.

The Vancouver Canucks' season has been a bit of a rollercoaster to say the least and while there are certainly players who have gotten off to a hot start, such as Kevin Lankinen, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser just to name a few, there are others who haven't played particularly well.

One of those players that hasn't played that well, especially on the defensive side of things is 30-year-old Carson Soucy, who's in the second of a three-year deal back in July 2023.

Advanced statistics not in Carson Soucy's favour this season

In a recent article on Canucks Army, Stephen Roget took a look at some of those advanced statistics to see if Carson Soucy's start to the season is as bad as the numbers show.

Heading into action on Saturday, Carson Soucy has the fifth-lowest Corsi rating in the entire National Hockey League among players who have skated in at least 100 minutes, sitting at 36.43% before tonight's game against the San Jose Sharks. The only four players that had a lower Corsi percentage than Carson Soucy were Ben Chiarot, Kaiden Guhle, Jack Johnson and future Hockey Hall of Famer, Patrick Kane.

"According to our friends over at NaturalStatTrick, of the players who have played at least 100 minutes thus far this season, Soucy's Corsi of 36.43% is the fifth-lowest in the league. He's ahead of just Patrick Kane, Ben Chiarot, Kaiden Guhle, and Jack Johnson. Three of those players play on teams with losing records, and the other is Jack Johnson. This isn't really somewhere where Soucy, a second-pairing defender on a team with a .611 record should find himself. And yet he does." Roget said.

Some other areas were Carson Soucy is struggling, according to Roget, is control of shots while on the ice, which is 28.95%, lowest of any player in the National Hockey League who have appeared in 100 or more minutes during the 2024-25 campaign. Soucy has a 31.97% expected goal rate, fifth-lowest in the NHL and lowest of any defenceman in the league. As for control of scoring chance, Soucy is 13th-worst in the NHL at 35.85%.

The Vancouver Canucks need Carson Soucy to pick things up quickly here as they rely on him quite a bit. The Viking, Alberta native plays second pairing role for the Canucks and sees time on the team's penalty kill, while averaging 19:05 time on ice per night this season.