Analytics with Alison: Kraken at Nashville | Oct. 14

Shot quality. High-danger chances. The "inside" of the ice.

These are concepts Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol has mentioned as being key to how his team will generate goals this season. But what does that mean?
Well, the Kraken were kind enough to provide us with two examples in their three-goal performance against Vegas!
Let's dig in.
First, what is a high-danger chance? While there can be some variance among coaches or tracking resources regarding some of the finer details, the core idea is a high-danger chance is a shot that comes off the stick somewhere in the areas where a player is most likely to score.
Location is the first key. The closer you are to the goal, the more likely you will be able to put the puck into the net.
So, the area right in front of the goal itself is most "dangerous." And even if you may not be directly in front of the net, but you are close, or, if you are in "the slot" - the lane of ice that extends directly up the middle of the rink from the mouth of the goal between the two faceoff circles - you still have a dangerous chance.
In addition to location,
if you can get a shot off a rebound
or a rush, your likelihood of scoring gets even a little greater. More on scoring chances
HERE
.
What does a high-scoring chance look like? There are few better examples than the first-ever regular-season Kraken goal scored by Ryan Donato.

What makes this goal happen? Donato has already put himself in front of the net - which we know is one of the most dangerous areas of the ice. He's used his body to create space. When Vince Dunn fires the puck towards the net and it bounces off Robin Lehner, creating the rebound, Donato is able to gather the puck, turn to the opposite side of the net (which Lehner isn't protecting) to pot the score.

Donato's location already made any chance he'd get dangerous. Next, Dunn added more danger by creating a rebound, because if a goaltender isn't in control of where the puck is going, it's harder for them to track. Then Donato added even more of a challenge for Lehner by going to where the goaltender wasn't, demanding the goaltender to move laterally quickly if they were going to make the save.
As a result, Donato's shot was the most dangerous opportunity of the game for Seattle. According to MoneyPuck.com, the chance had a 95.5 percent chance of being on net, and a 35 percent likelihood of becoming a goal.

Seeing Donato not only score, but score off a high-danger chance, is definitely a good thing. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, he was second only to Joonas Donskoi in terms of shot quality generated in all situations (0.31 expected goals).
In fact, all of Donato's shot attempts against Vegas came from the dangerous areas.

Another good thing? The Kraken's second goal. It came from the dangerous areas, too. Jared McCann's tally didn't just go in off a shot from the right spot, two passes from linemates Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz happened in some of the most challenging areas of the ice as the play developed.

Not every shot has to come from a dangerous area, and more than a few goals are created in different places on the ice.
It's also important to remember if you're looking up information on a game that different coaches, teams, and resources have different wrinkles in how they identify the "best" scoring chances in a game. But watch for creating high danger scoring chances to be a focus for the Kraken all season long.