Around Hockey and the NHL

[DaBolts]

Montreal had a pretty good run IMO. Pretty sure they came close to winning the cup a few times.

Not this century.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

It was Virtanen that went high on Palat in our game earlier this month

Bolts play Perreault and the Jets tomorrow

 

[Stormbreaker]

Leafs get blown out tonight and are currently out of the playoffs. Florida now 3rd in the Atlantic with 2 games in hand. The next couple of months are going to be very interesting.

 

[JoVel]

This guy is great. No other ref in the league would come up with that stuff.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Leafs get blown out tonight and are currently out of the playoffs. Florida now 3rd in the Atlantic with 2 games in game. The next couple of months are going to be very interesting.

 

[Stormbreaker]

whoops

 

[LightningStrikes]

Pens look scary again.

 

[BowDownToVasilevskiy]

Pens look scary again.

I agree but even without Crosby they were still doing pretty good. Jarry has been insane and it looks like he is the starter over Murray now. You gotta think that the sweep last year doesn't sit well with Crosby and Malkin.

 

[DaBolts]

Leaves are now down to 10th in the conference. My faith in the hockey gods has been restored (for now).

 

[LightningStrikes]

Leaves are now down to 10th in the conference. My faith in the hockey gods has been restored (for now).

And tied in points with a two player team like Edmonton.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Leaves are now down to 10th in the conference. My faith in the hockey gods has been restored (for now).

They also lose their first round pick if it isn't top-10 because of the Marleau trade

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[DFC]

If Florida beats Chicago tonight, it will put them up 4 points over the Leafs, same amount of games played. It would also put them just one point behind us, but I'd be fine with that.

 

[LightningStrikes]

If Florida beats Chicago tonight, it will put them up 4 points over the Leafs, same amount of games played. It would also put them just one point behind us, but I'd be fine with that.

And the FloBros did win!

 

[Felonious Python]

8 pm on NHLN

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[Felonious Python]

WARNING: negative talk about online analytics community.

 

[The Macho King]

WARNING: negative talk about online analytics community.

So I think I'm pretty public about my... I don't know how to say it - distaste? Skepticism? I don't know - maybe just generally "not a big fan of" the way the publicly available analytics are used in player evaluations online. xG and WAR/GAR are touted as if they are the end all be all, when they're just derivatives of the same old shot data we've had access to for years for the most part (and don't get me started on the heat maps).

I've read articles from guys who actually do this stuff and the teams pay them, and they strike me as much more robust and actually measuring the right things, such as measuring shot danger not by where it took place on the ice but also preshot movement, velocity, trajectory (shots along the ice are less dangerous than shots going for the corners, for instance), and some even factor in shooter quality (giving up a Gourde one-timer is not the same as giving up a Stamkos one-timer). That stuff is intriguing as hell, I'm sure is more predictive, or at very least is better at measuring what is actually happening on the ice.

That's all just prologue to this -

The pissing match between "eye test" guys and "analytics" guys on HF and twitter and wherever else is really f***ing obnoxious.

 

[Felonious Python]

Interesting thread

 

[Felonious Python]

The NHL skills competition is tonight, but to me maybe the highlight of the whole event will be a 20-minute long women's 3-on-3 game today.

It's got a late start though. 9:30 pm ET on NBCSN.
NHL All-Star Skills 3-on-3 event to showcase women's game

 

[The Macho King]

The NHL skills competition is tonight, but to me maybe the highlight of the whole event will be a 20-minute long women's 3-on-3 game today.

It's got a late start though. 9:30 pm ET on NBCSN.
NHL All-Star Skills 3-on-3 event to showcase women's game

That's brutal scheduling - 9:30 on a f***ing Friday isn't showcasing the women. It's burying them and patting yourself on the back you're such a good ambassador for the women's sport.

Their game should be the main event. It's going to be way more interesting than watching a bunch of NHLers play half speed.

 

[Felonious Python]

That's brutal scheduling - 9:30 on a ****ing Friday isn't showcasing the women. It's burying them and patting yourself on the back you're such a good ambassador for the women's sport.

Their game should be the main event. It's going to be way more interesting than watching a bunch of NHLers play half speed.

It is more generous timing for the other time zones I suppose.

 

[Felonious Python]

Good comments on this tweet too.

 

[TeslaCoilFan]

Am SOOOO very glad the 'puck trail' was not seen on the US broadcast of the Women's 3 on 3 game.

I enjoyed most of the AS Skills competition because I'm weird that way.

Vasy was great as usual and even had one lovely 'behind the back' save.

 

[Felonious Python]

The main board was it's usual self during the 3-on-3. The sanctity of the NHL all-star skills competition was being ruined by letting female Olympic athletes compete. Bring back the purity of Ovechkin shooting while wearing a funny hat.

I don't get how no one saw it as a test balloon for a WNHL.

The way (I think) to maybe not lose too much money would be to cut roster size, like to 10 skaters (which they had) and possibly do 3-on-3. Of course, I've thought about this stuff a little. Women's hockey isn't built on physicality anyway, and they can do some nice stickhandling, so leaning into that makes some sense.