Eric Staal was the leading scorer for the Carolina Hurricanes last season and he also averaged more points per game than any other Cane. But Staal's critics will point out that he seems to do his scoring in bunches. That is, he will load up on points in certain games when he is hot, but then will disappear for a number of games in a row.
After the jump, let's take a look at a report showing the scoring consistency of all the Hurricanes last season.
The following chart shows the player's name, the number of games he played, the points he scored, his points per game average, the games played when scoring a point, and finally the percentage of games played while scoring a point. The results have been sorted by that percentage.
| Player | GP | Total | Points | GP | % of GP |
| Points | per game | w/point | w/points | ||
| Staal | 70 | 69 | 0.99 | 43 | 61.4 |
| McBain | 14 | 10 | 0.71 | 8 | 57.1 |
| Jokinen | 81 | 66 | 0.81 | 45 | 55.6 |
| Whitney | 80 | 58 | 0.73 | 42 | 52.5 |
| Cullen | 60 | 40 | 0.67 | 31 | 51.7 |
| Sutter | 72 | 40 | 0.56 | 34 | 47.2 |
| Rodney | 22 | 11 | 0.5 | 10 | 45.5 |
| Pitkanen | 71 | 46 | 0.65 | 31 | 43.7 |
| Ruutu | 54 | 35 | 0.65 | 23 | 42.6 |
| LaRose | 56 | 28 | 0.5 | 20 | 35.7 |
| Samsonov | 72 | 29 | 0.4 | 25 | 34.7 |
| Tlusty | 18 | 6 | 0.33 | 6 | 33.3 |
| Cole | 40 | 16 | 0.4 | 12 | 30 |
| Corvo | 34 | 12 | 0.35 | 10 | 29.4 |
| Samson | 7 | 2 | 0.29 | 2 | 28.6 |
| Gleason | 61 | 19 | 0.31 | 17 | 27.9 |
| Boychuk | 31 | 9 | 0.29 | 8 | 25.8 |
| Carson | 54 | 12 | 0.22 | 12 | 22.2 |
| Kostopoulos | 82 | 21 | 0.26 | 18 | 18 |
| Brind'Amour | 80 | 19 | 0.24 | 17 | 21.3 |
| Dwyer | 58 | 12 | 0.21 | 11 | 19 |
| Ward, A | 60 | 11 | 0.18 | 11 | 18.3 |
| Harrison | 38 | 6 | 0.16 | 6 | 15.8 |
| Walker | 33 | 5 | 0.15 | 5 | 15.2 |
As you can see, not only does Eric Staal have the highest points per game average, he also has the highest percentage of games played while scoring a point.
We all know that the big center loads up on points when he gets hot, (he does hold the franchise record for hat tricks), but according to these results, he's also the most consistent scorer on the team, (regarding points earned per each game played).
Another myth busted.
Surprisingly enough, Jamie McBain came in second. Will he be able to keep up his numbers?
Not surprisingly, Jussi Jokinen came in third, with Whitney, Cullen, and Sutter rounding out the top six. (Regarding Corvo and Cullen, these numbers just include games played while with the Canes).
Bryan Rodney scored well in the few games he played, but the team might not need him now that they are stocked with offensive minded defensemen. Undoubtedly, the Canes would love to have him in Charlotte, but perhaps he's holding out for an NHL deal.
Jiri Tlusty spread his scoring out and according to these results was more consistent in scoring than Erik Cole.
You know what they say about statistics and those who purvey them, but we will continue to dig out stats for conversation sake during this long offseason.
(with help from Dobber Hockey)