The Noon Number: 32.96

32.96 - The percentage of shots Jason Spezza takes (not including blocked shots) that miss the net, among the worst on the Ottawa Senators team.

Spezza has had 179 shots on net this season, and he's taken an extra 88 shots that went wide.

For the sake of comparison, Daniel Alfredsson has missed the net on just 25.2 per cent of non-blocked shots taken; he's fired 139 shots at the net, and had just 47 that went wide. Kyle Turris is the best on the Sens at hitting the net with regularity: He's missed with just 17.02 per cent of non-blocked shots taken, missing the net 16 times compared to 78 that have been fired at the net.

Zack Smith (36.07, obviously doesn't give a crap about hitting the net), Matt Carkner (40 per cent, but he's only got 20 non-blocked shots this season), and Brian Lee (56.67 per cent, which hilariously means that Lee misses the net more often than he hits it) are the only regulars with a worse missed-shots percentage.

If Spezza hit the net with the Turris' regularity, and maintained his current shooting percentage (14 per cent), he'd have 31 goals this season, instead of the 25 he has in reality. That's simply an abstraction based on current numbers, but it underlines an undeniable truth: Shots only matter when they hit the net, and if you hit the net more, you score more.

Spezza's having a terrific season, of that there is no doubt. But when he finds himself in a shooting position, he needs to find a way to hit the net.


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