This is a real problem for a Predators team that prides itself in being scrappy, feisty, annoyingly fast and mercilessly aggressive at 5-on-5.
I feel like at times over the years we've been what could be seen as "annoyingly fast" in a chippy, hard-working way that results in frustration to play against rather than something that results in tons of offense and skill.When are we ever "annoyingly fast?"
There is definitely a serious underlying issue here, but I disagree with the author when he says the team hasn't been through a scheduling ringer or an abnormal number of back to backs. Three back to backs in the first 8 games including a long road trip out west, against all very good teams, and throw in a bout of food poisoning for good measure. Again, I'm not making any excuses, but these factors should also be considered as a contributing factor to their bad start.
I might also add that an Rsquared value of 0.3662 is not a very strong correlation, yet Yost uses this chart to prove that the first 8 games is "very" predictive about a teams season corsi score. Something fishy about that other chart he uses too.
If I went to my boss with that R2 number at work, it could be my last day on the job.
For science, you want to see .98 minimum. The ideal of .9999 is rarely achieved.
The data presented has too much scatter, that is why the value is so low. A hockey game is a lot different from a spectrophotomer with a set of well made standards. You can control stray light and the quality of your cuvettes. You can't control a neutral zone trap or a left wing lock or a goalie with a sinus infection coming on. You can try to adjust your team's game to the situation or make the other team adjust to yours like Red Auerbach of the Celtics. He was a master of that game.
The Preds had a tough schedule to start the season. Having players get the flu and food poisoning didn't help. That cost them at least one game. Make 2-5-1 into 3-4-1 and they don't look so bad.
Nothing has happened until 20 games have been played.