bustaheims said:
Someone got paid to add that.
2019-2020 NHL Thread
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
Someone got paid to add that.
bustaheims
Active member
CarltonTheBear said:
"People these days seem to like new stats. We need to come up with some they'll love. Any ideas?"
"Something around powerplay goals and shorthanded goals?"
"Brilliant, you're hired!"
bustaheims said:
Like if they wanted to start keeping track of this stat, sure, whatever. Put it on the PP/PK reports page. It's just hilarious that it's on the main team stats one.
Kin
New member
Peter D. said:
This is, I think, one of the very valid criticisms of the analytics movement. So long as everything is a refinement of strategy into best practices, there will develop a sameness as each team tries to have a strategy that maximizes their effectiveness. That line of thinking may work for a bank but it makes selling entertainment tricky.
That said, there's a degree of that plaguing all sports. Part of what hockey's facing right now, what's unique to the way the game has changed, is that by eliminating enforcers and grinders and de-emphasizing the value of defensive forwards what we're left with is a game where anywhere from a third to forty percent of the game is played by players who are just less good versions of 1st and 2nd line players.
Hobbes
New member
But in part that's because the rules were changed to make it harder for those defensive forwards to affect the outcome of the game, and by making the enforcer role more detrimental to a team's likely success.Nik Bethune said:
The defensive forwards were somewhat phased out once they changed the way things like hooking, holding, slashing, etc were called, which was a direct attempt to stop the clutch and grab era which was even worse to watch than the current iteration.
The change on the enforcer side came partly from rules changes to eliminate things like bench-clearing brawls and the staged fights and partly the natural evolution once you eliminated the clutch and grab stuff...those 4th liners actually had to be able to play hockey instead of being Neanderthals with the ability to tie skate laces.
The current game IMO) is better than the clutch & grab era, but I do yearn for more of a game like the ones during the height of the Oilers dynasty. We saw a bit of that in the World Cup a few years ago when the NA Kids team was insanely entertaining to watch thanks to McLellan just letting the kids play however the hell they wanted, then sticking McJesus between Matthews and Scheifele. Those were probably the most entertaining games I can remember since Gretz and Mario were on the same line in the Canada Cup many, many moons ago.
Trouble is, the NHL's goal is to maximize revenue and profit, not maximize entertainment, and those aren't necessarily the same brand of hockey.
Andy007
Active member
Hobbes said:
I think that this also kind of goes back to what Nik was saying about the different styles of different teams. Playing ,say, a trap team in the clutch and grab era was definitely hard to watch but at least there were a lot of other non-trap teams that led to some interesting and exciting matchups. Right now it's just flat out dull.
OldTimeHockey
Active member
I wouldn't say that today's game is flat out dull. It's definitely over coached where you know what most teams are going to do in every situation but the talent level is perhaps higher right now than it's every been.
The speed of the game is perhaps the fastest it's ever been as well. Add to that, probably the best league wide goaltending and you are in the middle of what I would consider the best collection of hockey players(skill wise) that the game has seen.
Would it be nice to see teams run wild and play shinny? Perhaps, for about 5 games. Until you realize that you aren't the best shinny team out there and the coaches, rightly so, play a style that gives their team an opportunity to win hockey games with a slightly less talented team.
The speed of the game is perhaps the fastest it's ever been as well. Add to that, probably the best league wide goaltending and you are in the middle of what I would consider the best collection of hockey players(skill wise) that the game has seen.
Would it be nice to see teams run wild and play shinny? Perhaps, for about 5 games. Until you realize that you aren't the best shinny team out there and the coaches, rightly so, play a style that gives their team an opportunity to win hockey games with a slightly less talented team.
OldTimeHockey
Active member
Andy said:
The NHL tried to regulate the thinking out of the game. Instead, they've created a sport where the game is being "over thunk"
I went and watched an Atom AAA game this morning with 10 year olds. The players are very disciplined positionally. They also didn't show much imagination. Unfortunately this falls at the feet of coaches. they're coaching the imagination of the game. I'm guilty of it myself.
Phileas Fogg
New member
I'll hand it to the league, and say that the changes implemented since the clutch and grab era have made the sport much more enjoyable. I watch far more out of market games than ever before. I've never turned the tv off during a 3 on 3 OT, no matter who is playing. There's more creativity on display now than in seasons I've watched in decades past.
That said, my favorite hockey to watch, by far is the world juniors, simply because it's high level hockey with high stakes but with more error prone players = momentum swings.
That said, my favorite hockey to watch, by far is the world juniors, simply because it's high level hockey with high stakes but with more error prone players = momentum swings.
https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1208453591234686976
I don't really get why teams don't just announce this sort of stuff themselves instead of getting people like Dreger to parrot it. Like this is so clearly written by Gorton.
I don't really get why teams don't just announce this sort of stuff themselves instead of getting people like Dreger to parrot it. Like this is so clearly written by Gorton.
Kin
New member
I know that nobody ever wants to hear about how your fantasy team is doing but to tie it into the league at large my fantasy team's mediocrity has a lot to do with just how deeply unimpressive both of the big deal rookie forwards have been. Combined Hughes and Kakko have 10 goals this season.
I suppose the argument is that there's all sorts of valuable experience in this for them but if they're producing like 4th liners you can't help but wonder if dominating in Finland/some University and playing in the WJC wouldn't be better for their development.
I suppose the argument is that there's all sorts of valuable experience in this for them but if they're producing like 4th liners you can't help but wonder if dominating in Finland/some University and playing in the WJC wouldn't be better for their development.
bustaheims
Active member
Nik Bethune said:
Yeah. It doesn't really look like either of them were ready for full-time NHL duty this season. They're both victims of teams that thought adding them was enough to immediately take the next step in the rebuild process, and, well, it hasn't worked out that way.
https://twitter.com/BradyTrett/status/1209301352020496384
Tom Wilson vs. the Bruins. Don't know who to root for. Lots of dirty stuff in this clip.
At the end though when Wilson is trying to punch Pastrnak when the ref is between them... you're gonna tell me none of those punches inadvertently made contact with the ref?
Tom Wilson vs. the Bruins. Don't know who to root for. Lots of dirty stuff in this clip.
At the end though when Wilson is trying to punch Pastrnak when the ref is between them... you're gonna tell me none of those punches inadvertently made contact with the ref?
bustaheims
Active member
Clear hit from behind by Pastrnak - though, not a particularly hard one. He definitely let up some when he realized it was going to be directly into the numbers. However, he shouldn't have put the emphasis into it at the end, and that should lead to a fine. It probably won't, but it should.
Wilson's spear was bad. Sure DOPS will look at that. Pastrnak's sucker punch after the hit at the bench wasn't great, but will probably go unpunished. Wilson almost certainly hitting the linesman with some of those punches will also probably go unpunished, as it'll be tough to provide clear evidence on.
Wilson's reputation for being a dirty player is well known. Pastrnak seems to slide under the radar a lot, but he has some history of cheap shots/dirty hits.
Wilson's spear was bad. Sure DOPS will look at that. Pastrnak's sucker punch after the hit at the bench wasn't great, but will probably go unpunished. Wilson almost certainly hitting the linesman with some of those punches will also probably go unpunished, as it'll be tough to provide clear evidence on.
Wilson's reputation for being a dirty player is well known. Pastrnak seems to slide under the radar a lot, but he has some history of cheap shots/dirty hits.