Iain Fyffe
Hockey fact-checker
That's true, but if intangibles create actual differences in the goals scored, they must show up somewhere. "Intangibles" are important and they matter, but it's the degree to which they matter which is up for debate.People talk about "intangibles" in hockey because they're actually important and they matter. So perhaps a purely statisics-based projection is not the best way to make predictions in hockey. I just don't think such a method works as well in hockey as it does in baseball. I like baseball too, but hockey is a completely different sport, a less stat-based sport. There are too many other factors that go into Ws and Ls that don't show up in stats.
For the Sabres projection specifcally, you haven't addresed the comment that they lost their #1 defenceman. Surely that will have some effect on them this season, and can explain why they are rated where they are?