Teams jumping on the advanced stats bandwagon

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Some of these are pretty good:

• No matter which player’s data you plug into his top secret proprietary formula, the result always just spells out BOOBIES on his calculator.

•He designed a fancy database to crunch the numbers on every major trade made by any NHL team over the past few years, but it keeps crashing whenever it gets to Winnipeg because it can’t divide by zero.

•When you jokingly ask him where his pocket protector is, he replies “Nobody I know has used a pen since 1993, but cutting-edge reference there, grandpa.”

• Every time he tries to type the word “analytics”, he gets four letters in and then starts giggling so hard he has an asthma attack.

Down Goes Brown: Signs you've hired a bad advanced stats guy

 

[Cobiemonster]

Some of these are pretty good:

• No matter which player’s data you plug into his top secret proprietary formula, the result always just spells out BOOBIES on his calculator.

•He designed a fancy database to crunch the numbers on every major trade made by any NHL team over the past few years, but it keeps crashing whenever it gets to Winnipeg because it can’t divide by zero.

•When you jokingly ask him where his pocket protector is, he replies “Nobody I know has used a pen since 1993, but cutting-edge reference there, grandpa.”

• Every time he tries to type the word “analytics”, he gets four letters in and then starts giggling so hard he has an asthma attack.

Down Goes Brown: Signs you've hired a bad advanced stats guy

Love the Winnipeg reference

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Opposition with the best Corsi.

Phaneuf is first among the D (I was surprised that BBB had him so low), but McClement is last among the forwards. But I suspect that a lot of Leaf fans that claim to watch every single game would have said the same thing as you, and have also inflated McClement's contributions in their mind as a result ("he's not so bad, he plays TOUGH minutes!").

I totally misread the damn exercise and what it was you were trying to display. It was Monday. Definitely makes more sense now that I look at it a second time.

 

[Canuck eh?]

It is my understanding from boards like this one that people outside of Toronto are perfectly fine with the ineptitude of the Maple Leafs.

Like I've said, I'm not arguing their usefulness, I'm arguing how many fans would ever adopt them as information they need to know in order to enjoy the game more. We're into the second decade of advanced metrics in baseball, and some of the biggest baseball fans I know, guys who travel to multiple MLB cities every summer, still can't tell me what exactly WAR is.

Why yes. Yes we are.

 

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Pulled this from another site and geez, there's lots of Calgary and Edmonton on the list.

Here are the worst 20 players by team and zone adjusted Corsi in 2013/14:

1 Carl Gunnarsson Toronto -263.56
2 Kris Russell Calgary -241.96
3 Chris Butler Calgary -235.16
4 Andrew MacDonald Philadelphia -232.18
5 Dion Phaneuf Toronto -228.36
6 Ladislav Smid Calgary -217.09
7 Justin Schultz Edmonton -213.2
8 Andrew Ference Edmonton -207.6
9 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Edmonton -198.2
10 Taylor Hall Edmonton -197.8
11 Nate Guenin Colorado -191.56
12 Rob Scuderi Pittsburgh -186.56
13 Gregory Campbell Boston -186.16
14 Brian McGrattan Calgary -182.56
15 Douglas Murray Montreal -180.68
16 Jan Hejda Colorado -179.16
17 Kevin Klein NY Rangers -175.49
18 Tanner Glass Pittsburgh -173.36
19 Sean Monahan Calgary -172.16
20 Brendan Sutter Pittsburgh -169.16

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Pulled this from another site and geez, there's lots of Calgary and Edmonton on the list.

Here are the worst 20 players by team and zone adjusted Corsi in 2013/14:

1 Carl Gunnarsson Toronto -263.56
2 Kris Russell Calgary -241.96
3 Chris Butler Calgary -235.16
4 Andrew MacDonald Philadelphia -232.18
5 Dion Phaneuf Toronto -228.36
6 Ladislav Smid Calgary -217.09
7 Justin Schultz Edmonton -213.2
8 Andrew Ference Edmonton -207.6
9 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Edmonton -198.2
10 Taylor Hall Edmonton -197.8
11 Nate Guenin Colorado -191.56
12 Rob Scuderi Pittsburgh -186.56
13 Gregory Campbell Boston -186.16
14 Brian McGrattan Calgary -182.56
15 Douglas Murray Montreal -180.68
16 Jan Hejda Colorado -179.16
17 Kevin Klein NY Rangers -175.49
18 Tanner Glass Pittsburgh -173.36
19 Sean Monahan Calgary -172.16
20 Brendan Sutter Pittsburgh -169.16

And people here bitched when the Leafs traded Gunnarsson.

 

[Phantomphan]

I'm confused. Why is anyone's enjoyment of a sport ruined or in any way diminished based on how someone else looks at the sport? I enjoy watching the games for the entertainment value and very rarely read anything about them in the paper or online. All the reporting offers very little insight, with a few exceptions, into the game that I couldn't come up with myself - or, more likely, couldn't care less about. All I know is that when the game is on tv, I sit in my basement with my favorite food and drink and enjoy the game. It's easy to ignore the blah-blah analysis and in between periods I'm elsewhere. Nothing to see then.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Pulled this from another site and geez, there's lots of Calgary and Edmonton on the list.

Here are the worst 20 players by team and zone adjusted Corsi in 2013/14:

1 Carl Gunnarsson Toronto -263.56
2 Kris Russell Calgary -241.96
3 Chris Butler Calgary -235.16
4 Andrew MacDonald Philadelphia -232.18
5 Dion Phaneuf Toronto -228.36
6 Ladislav Smid Calgary -217.09
7 Justin Schultz Edmonton -213.2
8 Andrew Ference Edmonton -207.6
9 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Edmonton -198.2
10 Taylor Hall Edmonton -197.8
11 Nate Guenin Colorado -191.56
12 Rob Scuderi Pittsburgh -186.56
13 Gregory Campbell Boston -186.16
14 Brian McGrattan Calgary -182.56
15 Douglas Murray Montreal -180.68
16 Jan Hejda Colorado -179.16
17 Kevin Klein NY Rangers -175.49
18 Tanner Glass Pittsburgh -173.36
19 Sean Monahan Calgary -172.16
20 Brendan Sutter Pittsburgh -169.16

Andrew MacDonald might be a bit skewed because of the minutes he got with the Isles, I'm sure those numbers had to be better once he got traded to the Flyers

It's a bit surprising to see Sean Monahan and Brandon Sutter on that list

The rest I'm not too surprised with

 

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Justin Schultz and the Oilers have yet to hammer out a new contract - I'm sure the Oil would like to go the bridge contract route. Personally, I'm hoping for a long term contract (6 years at 6 million per season like the rest of the young "stars" on the team).

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Andrew MacDonald might be a bit skewed because of the minutes he got with the Isles, I'm sure those numbers had to be better once he got traded to the Flyers

It's a bit surprising to see Sean Monahan and Brandon Sutter on that list

The rest I'm not too surprised with

Good enough to get him a $30 million contract!

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I'm confused. Why is anyone's enjoyment of a sport ruined or in any way diminished based on how someone else looks at the sport? I enjoy watching the games for the entertainment value and very rarely read anything about them in the paper or online. All the reporting offers very little insight, with a few exceptions, into the game that I couldn't come up with myself - or, more likely, couldn't care less about. All I know is that when the game is on tv, I sit in my basement with my favorite food and drink and enjoy the game. It's easy to ignore the blah-blah analysis and in between periods I'm elsewhere. Nothing to see then.

I'm with ya Phantom. My whole point is it is easy to see why advanced stats guys can be just as annoying as Glenn Healy and Mike Milbury.

 

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And people here bitched when the Leafs traded Gunnarsson.

It could be interesting to re-visit this in a year's time and compare Gunnarsson's numbers with Polak's numbers though.

 

[DragonfromTO]

And people here bitched when the Leafs traded Gunnarsson.

Gunnar had a tough year (banged up and all), but there are a couple of things worth mentioning. One is that those numbers are zone adjusted but not adjusted for quality of competition. Gunnar actually did play some of the toughest minutes in the league.

BEHIND THE NET: Corsi QoC (Defense)

Plus there are systemic team effects there, Randy gonna Randy and all. When compared to their teams when they were on the bench, the guy they got in exchange for him (Polak) was even worse.

BEHIND THE NET: Corsi Relative (Defense)

 

[DragonfromTO]

I'm with ya Phantom. My whole point is it is easy to see why advanced stats guys can be just as annoying as Glenn Healy and Mike Milbury.

It sort of seemed to me that you were also saying (or at the very least implying) that any stats they cite can't tell us anything that we can't get from watching anyway.

 

[Phantomphan]

I'm with ya Phantom. My whole point is it is easy to see why advanced stats guys can be just as annoying as Glenn Healy and Mike Milbury.

I'm sure they can be. Easy to ignore, tho. Pre-game, between period analysis and post-game is pretty much irrelevant. Unless you are into the stats and analysis stuff.

 

[dare2be]

And people here bitched when the Leafs traded Gunnarsson.

It's no wonder the Pens were able to get rid of Orpik and not Scuderi.

Also, for a 3rd liner, I haven't really had much complaint about Sutter, so I guess my eye test has failed me.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

It sort of seemed to me that you were also saying (or at the very least implying) that any stats they cite can't tell us anything that we can't get from watching anyway.

No, because I don't believe that even for basic stats.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

It's no wonder the Pens were able to get rid of Orpik and not Scuderi.

Also, for a 3rd liner, I haven't really had much complaint about Sutter, so I guess my eye test has failed me.

Who he's playing 3rd line with probably serves as a better explainer...

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Gunnar had a tough year (banged up and all), but there are a couple of things worth mentioning. One is that those numbers are zone adjusted but not adjusted for quality of competition. Gunnar actually did play some of the toughest minutes in the league.

BEHIND THE NET: Corsi QoC (Defense)

Plus there are systemic team effects there, Randy gonna Randy and all. When compared to their teams when they were on the bench, the guy they got in exchange for him (Polak) was even worse.

BEHIND THE NET: Corsi Relative (Defense)

Not even arguing whether the guy is better or not. It just made me laugh how many people lost their collective shit over a swap of third pair guys.

 

[DragonfromTO]

No, because I don't believe that even for basic stats.

Then what was the opposition to my Grabovski example about?