March 10, 2011
Dropping The Puck
You Don't Need To Be a Nerd

by Kent Wilson

This week at Dropping the Puck, we look at Drew Doughty's "disappointing" year, a new radio show making waves in Alberta as well as a couple of impressive statistical studies.

Quisp of Jewels From the Crown knocks down the notion that Drew Doughty is having a poor season with a blow-by-blow comparison of his results from this year versus last year.

Doughty is mostly the same across the board at even strength. The main reason his production is set to drop from the 59 points he managed in 2009-10 is his power-play output. Last season, he scored 4.31 PPP/60, which was the best rate amongst regular blueliners on the club. This season, his efficiency has dropped to 2.51 PPP/60 for whatever reason.

Doughty is not the only King to suffer from his particular malady this year: Anze Kopitar, Jarret Stoll, Justin Williams and Ryan Smyth are all scoring at lower rates with the man advantage.

Eric T. demonstrates how statistical analysis can actually be quite accessible in this post on Broad Street Hockey.

In his straightforward study, Eric plots goal differential versus wins and determines that one goal in terms of GD is worth about 1/3 of a point in the standings. The information is clear, easily understood and simply presented. The importance of the post is not only the interesting data, but that one need not be a statistician or "nerd" to understand—or even conduct—this sort of analysis.

Over at Oilers Nation, Oilers uber-blogger Allan Mitchell (aka Lowetide) has been started a new weekly radio show on Edmonton radio the TEAM1260. The show is in its formative stages but is already pushing nuanced, quantitative analysis into the mainstream. Click here to listen to fellow Hockey Prospectus author Jonathan Willis and myself discuss various issues surrounding Flames and Oilers with Mitchell.

Finally, an extensive look at passing patterns from a recent New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators game by geoffbok over at Behind the Net. Geoff sat down with a tablet to record successful and failed passing attempts for each team during the game, as well as chart the paths and zones the passes occurred.

This type of in-depth observational analysis may be the next step in determining how teams truly drive scoring and possession. Be sure to bring a beverage to read this article, because it's a long one.