Part IV in a series



It isn’t difficult to conjure up an image in your head of the NHL’s best snipers. You’ll think of Alex Ovechkin in his office on the power play, or Steven Stamkos one-timing top shelf and Auston Matthews scoring from all over the ice with an ease and confidence almost never before seen in the sport.



But what makes the NHL’s best shooters?



Typically, shooting and scoring go hand-in-hand, but not all the best shooters are the game’s best scorers. There is both an art and a science to scoring at the NHL level. It involves volume, velocity, precision and yes, a little bit of a luck on the other end. As we’ve learned in the analytics age, not all shots are created equally, even if they all count the same on the scoreboard.<div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="138"></div>



Throw in the idea that we have separate types of player classification categories available for scorers in our Daily Faceoff Archetype Rankings and the exercise becomes a little bit more difficult. Ovechkin and Matthews, along with Leon Draisaitl and the other prodigious scorers, are in the Franchise category and therefore are not eligible to be listed as ‘Shooters.’



Not all the NHL’s top scorers are pure Shooters. Some gobble up rebounds as Net Front Scorers, others create opportunity off the cycle and the wall as effective and rare Power Forwards.



So, what constitutes a Shooter? This player’s first instinct with the puck is to, well, shoot it. Using their elite shot, whether it’s through volume or by virtue of a high shooting percentage, this player has the uncanny ability to find daylight behind a goaltender or has a knack of getting shots through traffic.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="144"></div>



With that guiding light, and the help of five anonymous NHL front office executives, here are&nbsp;Daily Faceoff’s&nbsp;Top 20 projected Shooters for the 2022-23 season,&nbsp;with their league-wide rank from last season in these categories:



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Rk</td><td>Player</td><td>Pos</td><td>Age</td><td>Team</td><td>Goals</td><td>Shoot%</td><td>SAT/G</td><td>Rush Shots</td><td>Slot Shots</td><td>1xer</td><td>xG</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>David Pastrnak</td><td>RW</td><td>26</td><td>BOS</td><td>40</td><td>14</td><td>1</td><td>9</td><td>29</td><td>2</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Steven Stamkos</td><td>C</td><td>32</td><td>TBL</td><td>42</td><td>17</td><td>48</td><td>229</td><td>106</td><td>3</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Kyle Connor</td><td>LW</td><td>25</td><td>WPG</td><td>47</td><td>15.3</td><td>15</td><td>23</td><td>18</td><td>10</td><td>11</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Alex DeBrincat</td><td>RW</td><td>24</td><td>OTT</td><td>41</td><td>15.5</td><td>35</td><td>22</td><td>27</td><td>13</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Patrik Laine</td><td>RW</td><td>24</td><td>CBJ</td><td>26</td><td>15.1</td><td>18</td><td>26</td><td>97</td><td>18</td><td>87</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Jake Guentzel</td><td>LW</td><td>28</td><td>PIT</td><td>40</td><td>15.9</td><td>6</td><td>2</td><td>40</td><td>30</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Elias Pettersson</td><td>C</td><td>23</td><td>VAN</td><td>32</td><td>17.3</td><td>71</td><td>170</td><td>62</td><td>31</td><td>82</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Nikolaj Ehlers</td><td>LW</td><td>26</td><td>WPG</td><td>28</td><td>12.1</td><td>6</td><td>2</td><td>37</td><td>29</td><td>28</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Andrei Svechnikov</td><td>LW</td><td>22</td><td>CAR</td><td>30</td><td>11.6</td><td>17</td><td>28</td><td>66</td><td>123</td><td>70</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Timo Meier</td><td>RW</td><td>26</td><td>SJS</td><td>35</td><td>10</td><td>5</td><td>9</td><td>19</td><td>47</td><td>36</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Jason Robertson</td><td>LW</td><td>23</td><td>DAL</td><td>41</td><td>16.5</td><td>30</td><td>155</td><td>46</td><td>116</td><td>45</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Matt Duchene</td><td>RW</td><td>31</td><td>NSH</td><td>43</td><td>13.2</td><td>50</td><td>49</td><td>18</td><td>70</td><td>12</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Vladimir Tarasenko</td><td>RW</td><td>30</td><td>STL</td><td>34</td><td>12.9</td><td>49</td><td>75</td><td>23</td><td>74</td><td>17</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Jack Eichel</td><td>C</td><td>25</td><td>VGK</td><td>14</td><td>10.5</td><td>40</td><td>26</td><td>67</td><td>123</td><td>46</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>Brock Boeser</td><td>RW</td><td>25</td><td>VAN</td><td>23</td><td>13.2</td><td>31</td><td>160</td><td>27</td><td>28</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>Tage Thompson</td><td>C</td><td>24</td><td>BUF</td><td>38</td><td>10.9</td><td>24</td><td>24</td><td>37</td><td>41</td><td>59</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>Adrian Kempe</td><td>LW</td><td>26</td><td>LAK</td><td>35</td><td>11.5</td><td>29</td><td>8</td><td>79</td><td>33</td><td>61</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>Cole Caufield</td><td>RW</td><td>22</td><td>MTL</td><td>23</td><td>12.4</td><td>42</td><td>30</td><td>50</td><td>76</td><td>90</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>Josh Norris</td><td>C</td><td>23</td><td>OTT</td><td>35</td><td>18.8</td><td>55</td><td>186</td><td>31</td><td>5</td><td>27</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>Max Pacioretty</td><td>LW</td><td>33</td><td>CAR</td><td>19</td><td>11.3</td><td>9</td><td>39</td><td>59</td><td>12</td><td>30</td></tr></tbody></table><figcaption>Data powered by Stathletes</figcaption></figure>



LEGEND Goals: Goals scored in 2021-22 Shoot%: Individual shooting percentage SAT/G: NHL rank in shot attempts per game in 2021-22 Rush Shots: NHL rank in shot attempts produced off the rush per game in 2021-22 Slot Shots: NHL rank in shot attempts from the slot in 2021-22 1xer: NHL rank in one-timer attempts in 2021-22 (shots attempted immediately following a pass without shooter first establishing control of the puck) xG: NHL rank in the number of goals a skater was expected to have scored in 2021-22 given the quantity and quality of their opportunities.



Under Consideration (in alphabetical order): Viktor Arvidsson, Sam Bennett, Filip Forsberg, Jordan Kyrou, Brad Marchand, Jonathan Marchessault, William Nylander, Mikko Rantanen, Jeff Skinner, Tyler Toffoli.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="145"></div>



As you can see, the player with the best pure shot – perhaps Patrik Laine – didn’t find his way to the top of the list. Pastrnak led the entire league last season in shot attempts per game and was inside the Top 10 in three other categories, which is incredibly impressive considering 11 of the best forwards in the game are already in the separate Franchise bucket.



Among the most frequent questions discussed with hockey operations executives: Are both Matt Duchene and Filip Forsberg shooters? Is Jack Eichel a shooter or a power forward given his ability to enter the zone strongly with the puck? Is Viktor Arvidsson, one of the top volume shooters in the league, worthy of making the cut? You will find those answers above in the rankings.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="132"></div>



There was no shortage of tough calls. Given Boeser’s emergence as a net-front power play specialist last season, he warranted significant consideration for the Net-Front Scorer classification. Using data from Stathletes to help separate Shooters from Net-Front Scorers, the shooters typically had a major drop-off in shots from the slot compared to shots from the inner-slot, the more exclusive area on the ice closer to the net. They also generally fared much worse in deflections compared to one-timers, where the shooter is always looking to show off his wares and bring butts out of the seats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-daily-faceoff-archetype-rankings-series">Daily Faceoff Archetype Rankings Series</h2>



Part I: <a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/daily-faceoff-archetype-rankings-who-are-the-nhls-17-franchise-players/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Explainer / Franchise Players</a> Part II: <a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/daily-faceoff-archetype-rankings-clutch-is-code-word-for-selke/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Clutch</a> Part III: <a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/daily-faceoff-archetype-rankings-the-nhls-18-best-puck-distributors/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Distributor</a> Part IV: Shooter



Up Next: Power Forward



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="850" height="1000" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions.png" alt="" class="wp-image-87526" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions.png 850w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions-255x300.png 255w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions-768x904.png 768w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions-150x176.png 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions-300x353.png 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions-600x706.png 600w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DFO_Arch_Definitions-696x819.png 696w" sizes="(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px"></a></figure>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-recently-by-frank-seravalli">Recently by Frank Seravalli</h2>



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