Struggling NHL Shooters Who Will Break Out of Their Slumps Soon

A year ago, Claude Giroux had a wretched start to the season, going goalless in his first 15 games. The lack of production was baffling; Giroux is a career 11.8 percent shooter and he'd put 31 shots on net, so at his career average rate he should already have scored four times. 

In Game 16, he scored his first of the year against the Edmonton Oilers. 27 more goals followed, as Giroux matched his career high in goal scoring. He'd end the year as a finalist for the Hart Trophy.

Giroux's great year wasn't predictable, but his slump coming to an end was entirely so; when guys with a proven ability to put the puck into the net are getting shots but not goals, it's generally only a matter of time. 

Which NHL shooters meet those criteria so far in the 2014-15 season? Read on for a list of excellent scorers who are still shooting the puck but aren't getting results, the guys whom we should expect to break out soon. 

Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks

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2014-15 Shooting: 25 shots, one goal (4.0 shooting percentage)

Career Shooting: 3,649 shots, 465 goals (12.7 shooting percentage)

What to Expect: Excluding the 2012-13 lockout season (where he lit the lamp 17 times in 40 games), it's been 15 years since Hossa failed to score at least 20 goals. He's had the occasional ugly slump over the years, including in last season's playoffs where he went just 2-of-75, but he's converting shots to goals at a third of his normal rate, and that's going to stop eventually.  

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche

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2014-15 Shooting: 24 shots, zero goals (0.0 shooting percentage)

Career Shooting: 265 shots, 24 goals (9.1 shooting percentage)

What to Expect: MacKinnon doesn't have a long list of goal-scoring seasons behind him the way Hossa does, but the 2013 first overall pick scored at nearly a goal-per-game pace in the QMJHL in his draft year and managed 24 as a rookie in the majors. It would be extremely surprising if the pucks don't start going in for him at some point soon. 

Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Lightning

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2014-15 Shooting: 26 shots, one goal (3.8 shooting percentage)

Career Shooting: 218 shots, 28 goals (12.8 shooting percentage)

What to Expect: Johnson is unique from previous players we've considered; unlike Hossa he's not a proven goal scorer with miles of road in the rear-view mirror, and unlike MacKinnon he doesn't have draft pedigree on his side. On the other hand, he was a 19.4 percent shooter in his final season in the minors and a 14.0 percent shooter the year before that. Going a little further back, he was a 50-goal man in junior hockey. He's probably much better than a 3.8 percent shooter. 

Shane Doan, Arizona Coyotes

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2014-15 Shooting: 23 shots, zero goals (0.0 shooting percentage)

Career Shooting: 3,465 shots, 354 goals (10.2 shooting percentage)

What to Expect: The 38-year-old Doan is starting to wind down; after scoring 25 or more goals in five consecutive seasons he's missed that mark in five straight years. Still, it's a little early to be worrying that his goal-scoring touch has entirely abandoned him, particularly when he's shooting the puck more than he has in several seasons. He'll get things turned around. 

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers

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2014-15 Shooting: 38 shots, two goals (5.3 shooting percentage)

Career Shooting: 1,023 shots, 121 goals (11.8 shooting percentage)

What to Expect: Giroux is on this list again, and once again he's a very good bet not to stay on it. It's not that he's a habitually slow starter, either; in 2011-12 he opened the year with goals in each of his first three games and in five of his first six. The 26-year-old is in the prime of his career, and it's possible we still haven't seen all that he's capable of. 

Matt Moulson, Buffalo Sabres

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2014-15 Shooting: 20 shots, zero goals (0.0 shooting percentage)

Career Shooting: 1,055 shots, 141 goals (13.4 shooting percentage)

What to Expect: Some have attempted to paint Moulson's struggles as inevitable, given his separation from Islanders' star John Tavares, but that ignores his production last season and prior to being united with Tavares. Moulson has scored 23 goals on 189 shots (12.2 shooting percentage) while not in an Islanders uniform. His shot rates have fallen off a bit, but he's a much better scorer than he's shown so far this season. 

Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues

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2014-15 Shooting: 30 shots, one goal (3.3 shooting percentage)

Career Shooting: 241 shots, 30 goals (12.4 shooting percentage)

What to Expect: Tarasenko's goal-scoring track record in the NHL isn't long, and as a result it's fair to wonder to some extent whether he's as good a finisher as he's shown in his early NHL career. One argument in his favour is that on nearly 600 shots in the (famously low-scoring) KHL he had 76 goals, good for a 13.2 shooting percentage. 

Chris Stewart, Buffalo Sabres

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2014-15 Shooting: 26 shots, zero goals (0.0 shooting percentage)

Career Shooting: 880 shots, 115 goals (13.1 shooting percentage)

What to Expect: The Sabres are the only team with two players on this list; as bad as the club is, its early-season results exaggerate the situation. Stewart has always been an extremely high-percentage shooter, but he hasn't shown that in his new organization; he's played 14 games in Buffalo and has yet to score his first goal. The thing the Sabres need to hope is that the pending free agent starts scoring goals sometime soon so as not to hurt his trade value. 

All statistics via NHL.com unless otherwise noted.