Pittsburgh Penguins

Conor Sheary is having one of the best offensive years in the analytics era
March 20, 2017, 12:55 PM ET [62 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
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The Pittsburgh Penguins have been one of the most fortunate franchises in the entire league with the kinds of offensive stars that they've been blessed to have. Pittsburgh's Mount Rushmore of Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin is as good as any other teams in the history of the sport.

For the last thirty years the Penguins have had the hard to get pieces in place. During this blessed era there have been peaks and valleys with the ability of filling out the supporting cast. The current Penguins are very fortunate that one of their low risk UFA signings has been Conor Sheary.

The season that Sheary is putting together is nothing short of spectacular. He is making a legitimate case to be considered an NHL first team all star on the left wing. His quality of teammate is undoubtedly high considering that his center is Sidney Crosby, but even with that in mind it shouldn't diminish what he's accomplished. There have been many wingers who have played with Crosby and Malkin over the years. None have had a bigger offensive impact than Conor Sheary's 2016-17 season. Not James Neal, Chris Kunitz, Patric Hornqvist, Bill Guerin, Pascal Dupuis, Phil Kessel, Jussi Jokinen, Ryan Malone, Ruslan Fedotenko, Petr Sykora, or Steve Sullivan.

Here are the best 5v5 individual seasons by a Pittsburgh Penguin since offensive rate stats were tracked.

source: imgur.com
*Stats were taken from Corsica Hockey

There's a whole lot of Crosby and Malkin with a cameo from Conor Sheary and Chris Kunitz. Making your way onto this list without the last name Crosby and/or Malkin is impressive. Having one of the top five even-strength seasons on the Penguins during this time frame is special. There have been many Penguins wingers to come through and get the benefit of being on a line with Crosby. None have had a more productive season than Sheary.

Conor Sheary's offensive brilliance in 2016-17 not only shapes up well compared to other Penguins, but it is one of the finest seasons in the analytics era (2007-present).

source: imgur.com
*Stats were taken from Corsica Hockey

At the current moment he has the 11th best season from 2007-17 in his ability to create 5v5 offense. You'll notice that the 2012-13 season makes up around 40% of the list and that is because of the limited number of games. Sheary has played in 51 games which is already three more than the entire 2012-13 season and the Penguins have 11 more to go. Based on how the Sheary-Crosby-Guentzel line is clicking I find it hard to believe that in those 11 games he is going to see a significant drop off in production.

Sheary is in elite company and while it remains to be seen if he can play at an elite level year after year the skepticism about his ability as a top six player in the NHL should have dissipated by now. He's a legitimately talented player.

He might not have had a lot of pedigree or fanfare as an undersized and undrafted college free agent, but he's certainly going to be a name the hockey community will know now. Conor Sheary has overcome quite a bit to become one of the budding star wingers in the NHL.