Sheng Peng
Alex Wennberg might be the most underrated player on the San Jose Sharks.
“He’s an elite defensive center,” an NHL coach told San Jose Hockey Now recently.
Couple that with a 6-foot-2 frame and above-average offensive skills — the 30-year-old Swede has scored over 30 points seven times, topping out at 59 in 2016-17 — and you’ve got a truly valuable playmaker, a playoff-caliber third-line center at least.
He’s not a perfect player, but real compliment, he’s simply a player who you can win with.
So what makes him so good?
Wennberg is elite in both surprising and not-so surprising ways, which Stathletes’ micro-stats demonstrate.
Passing
We already know that Wennberg is a deliberate shooter — his 5.79 Shot Attempts Per 60 at 5-on-5 is third-lowest among all NHL forwards last year (of 373, 50-plus games) — but he’s also just as deliberate a passer.
While his selective shooting has been a problem (at least for a certain head coach), his choosy passing should be praised.
Per Stathletes, Wennberg is the seventh-most accurate passing forward in the NHL with a 79.7 Completion % at 5-on-5.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Brayden Point, and Nic Dowd lead the league.
These aren’t easy passes either.
The San Jose Sharks pivot is seventh with a 66.7 Cross-Ice Passes Completion % and 11th with a 76.0 Interior Passes Completion %.
According to Stathletes, a successful cross-ice pass is a “pass with control that crosses middle ice (OZ only)”.
Nick Foligno, Yanni Gourde, and Isac Lundestrom are the NHL’s best here.
A successful interior pass is a “pass with control where the receiver is closer to mid ice (OZ only)”.
Luke Evangelista, Samuel Helenius, and Cole Caufield lead the league in this category.
Wennberg is also helping San Jose get out of the defensive zone.
He’s 19th with a 95.8 Pass Completion % in the DZ.
Viktor Arvidsson, Troy Terry, and Emil Heineman pace the NHL in this area.
Wennberg also doesn’t lose his passing composure under pressure. Being under duress, of course, is the norm for a player for the last-place San Jose Sharks.
He’s third with a 79.7 Pass Completion % Under Pressure, just behind Helenius and Brodzinski.
Wennberg does this all without losing the puck.
Per NHL.com, Wennberg’s 1.69 Giveaways Per 60 in All Situations is second-best among San Jose forwards, behind only Luke Kunin.
For the turnover-prone Sharks, Wennberg’s puck management is impressive, especially for a pass-first center who carries the puck a lot.
Carrying
Underscoring that, Wennberg is 16th with 3.16 Sustained Carries Per 60 at 5-on-5 in the OZ.
A successful sustained carry is “where the puck is possessed for greater than four seconds in the offensive zone”.
Connor McDavid, Andre Burakovsky, and Nathan MacKinnon were the NHL’s best forwards in this regard.
Defense
Statistically, how is Wennberg elite defensively?
He’s fourth among NHL forwards with 1.93 Turnovers Forced Per 60 at 5-on-5 in the NZ.
These are steals and pass interceptions.
Nicolas Roy, Mark Stone, and Nick Cousins are top-three.
A lot of those turnovers forced were pass interceptions.
Wennberg is seventh with 1.58 Pass Interceptions Per 60 in the NZ.
Roy, Matthew Tkachuk, and Josh Doan pace the league.
Wennberg is 14th with 8.66 Puck Deflections Per 60.
David Kampf, Ryan O’Reilly, and Morgan Frost are the NHL’s best.
Wennberg is seventh with 4.33 Shot Blocks Per 60.
Brandon Tanev, Adam Henrique, and Noel Acciari lead the way here.
Wennberg is fifth with 23.29 Puck Recoveries Per 60 in the DZ.
These are all puck recoveries, loose puck and shot recoveries.
Ryan McLeod, Dowd, and Macklin Celebrini are ahead of everyone else.
Speaking of Celebrini, the San Jose Sharks look pretty good up the middle between him and Wennberg. Their question is filling out the rest of their line-up.