After being written off by many as over the hill following a season in which he was limited to just 16 games with a hip injury, Alex Tanguay’s sharpshooting has the veteran in the middle of a resurgent year with the Colorado Avalanche.
The 35-year-old winger is second on the Avalanche with 15 goals and 38 points – both of which equal his totals for the last two seasons combined – while missing just two of Colorado’s 57 games this season. He is on pace to play in more than 70 games and score at least 20 goals and 50 points for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
Remarkably, Tanguay’s 15 goals have come on just 69 shots on net – ranking him 70th in the NHL in goals and 313th in shots. His league-leading shooting percentage (21.7 percent) is a full two and a half percentage points ahead of second place.
In contrast, the snake-bitten Nathan MacKinnon has just nine goals this season on 176 shots (5.1 percent).
This is nothing new for Tanguay, who holds the NHL’s top shooting percentage over the course of the last decade. He also led the league in shooting percentage (23.2 percent) in the 2005-06 season during his first stint with the Avs.
Despite his consistently high shooting percentage, Tanguay has been known as a pass-first player for his entire career. He is a cerebral athlete whose greatest weapon is often his patience. Never rattled, Tanguay creatively finds time and space, calmly protects the puck, and often waits for plays to develop or for the defense or goalie to take themselves out of position. Valuing puck possession, he doesn’t just release low-probability shots or force passes that risk turning the puck over. Instead, he patiently creates quality scoring opportunities and takes high-quality shots.
In his 15th NHL season, Tanguay is able to continue producing at a high-rate thanks to combining his off-the-charts hockey IQ with supreme talent. The 6-foot-1, 194-pound winger eclipsed the 800-point mark for his career in January.
With the Avs’ young nucleus regressing across the board this season, Tanguay’s rejuvenation and contributions have been vital as the club tries to keep it’s head above water.
It doesn’t matter who he plays with either, Tanguay has produced consistently despite skating with an assortment of different linemates this season. He leads the Avalanche with a plus-7 rating.
Nathan is a staff writer for Mile High Sports. He can be reached on Twitter at @TheRealNatron.