SB Nation User Blog: gotsparkly

Stretch - Ongoing

gotsparkly — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:02:21 -0000

Stretch - Ongoing

I know you guys don't like OFB very much, but this article made me smile. Stretch hasn't hung up the pads - quite the opposite.

Name That Player (Facebook Quiz)

gotsparkly — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:16:34 -0000

Name That Player (Facebook Quiz)

For those of you with Facebook, this was kind of a fun quiz. Some of the ones they chose are obvious, some ... not so much.

HNIC Likes the Caps, Too

gotsparkly — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:46:49 -0000

"With the Capitals, there's a buzz not just at the rink, but even at our meetings throughout the week and obviously much of that has to do with Ovechkin. He's just so dynamic visually that you're debating how much time you're going to have one of your isolation cameras on him, or how many graphics you'll have for him, keeping in mind that it will be more than most other players in a typical week, so there really is a buzz and a lot of focus on him, but it's not often that he disappoints." -- Hockey Night in Canada producer Doug Walton

Aucoin Recalled, Too

gotsparkly — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:03:23 -0000

Aucoin Recalled, Too

My guess is that Perreault is a no-go for tonight.

Canada's Prospective D - By The Numbers

gotsparkly — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:19:56 -0000

Inspired by this discussion over at PPP, I went to the trouble of hitting up NHL.com's stat pages and Behind the Net for a little bit of argument fodder. And if that inspiration was the desire to defend Mike Green's defensive skillz from a bunch of ignoramuses, well, who can blame me?

Boy did I walk into a world of interesting numbers.

Knowing that I was looking for guys who were good in all situations, I compiled a spreadsheet (found here) of all the Canadian D-men in the discussion for Canada's Olympic team, their current +/-, and their TOI, GF/60, GA/60, and +/- at 4v5, 5v5, and 5v4. Just for fun and because someone brought up the name, I tacked in Jeff Schultz for good measure.

PPP's picks for the Canadian Olympic team, in short, are: Chris Pronger, Shea Weber, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Robyn Regehr, Dan Boyle, and Drew Doughty. Let's take a look at each situation individually, keeping in mind that the TOI / G for each situation is intended to show how much that player is relied on for that situation for their team.

4v5 (Penalty Kill)

The average +/- for all of these guys 4v5 came up to a tad under -6 - expected for a PK situation. What I didn't expect was to see both Chris Pronger (-6.77) and Robyn Regehr (-9.03!) fare relatively badly in this stat, and Robyn Regehr to be absolutely brutal. Calgary is right in the middle of the pack for PK% at 80.4%, so there's no excuse for Regehr there. Pronger gets more of a pass there; PHI's PK% in general at 78.0% isn't so hot. Knowing Philly, though, I was a little surprised to see him not be on the ice for any SH goals so far. Niedermayer (-9.45) is even worse.

Mike Green's right in the middle of the pack at -5.86, but he doesn't see as much time on the PK as others in this discussion, and certainly he's above average. Jeff Schultz at -5.25 fares reasonably well in the group of OK PKers.

Duncan Keith (-1.95) and Jay Bouwmeester (-2.87) absolutely shine here - they're their teams' go-to PKers and for good reason. Both have surprisingly good SH GF/60, meaning that a PK can be a shorthanded threat when they are on the ice. These guys would be Canada's primary PK'ers.

5v5 (Even Strength)

Oh hai there, Jeff Schultz (+2.26 +/- / 60). Don't you just look nice smoking absolutely everybody else on this list. Your partner Green (+1.78) doesn't look so bad either, given that the average is +.44 for all of these guys.

Jay Bouwmeester's a good ES dude, too (+1.24). Chris Pronger (+.86) isn't a slouch either, and neither is Drew Doughty (+1.1). But Regehr (-.13) and Weber (-.25), you guys have some catching up to do at ES if you want a ticket to Vancouver. Everyone else is middle of the pack.

Oh, and ... Niedermayer (-.53) isn't so lovely here either.

5v4 (Power Play)

Average +/- / 60 for all of these guys: +6.08.

Think Mike Green's a PP specialist? He sees far more PP ice time than anyone else on this list, and has the second/best +/- / 60 of everyone at +7.98. (The only one better is Duncan Keith(+10.55), and at 2:17 / G, I have to think somewhat limited sample size. Still, Keith's no slouch here.) That .8 GA/60, though ... hm. Shorties against are bad, Ray, but look on the bright side - a lot more shorties happen for other people than you.

Chris Pronger also gets plenty of PP time and is no slouch (+7.82). Same for Dan Boyle (+7.55). Regehr has decent numbers (+7.64) but doesn't see much time on the PP. Niedermayer is actually reasonable here, although there are better at +6.79.

J-Bo (+4.84) -- well, let's just say that his PP isn't his strong point. Same for Shea Weber (+4.68).

Interestingly, Jeff Schultz is right in the middle of the pack at +7.06, but he only sees 20 ticks / game of PP ice time, so limited sample size ahoy. I think we can safely throw that tidbit out :)

Conclusions

So. Based on all of this, who do I have to take to Vancouver with me if I'm Steve Yzerman? Here's my list, in no particular order, based solely on numbers:

Jay Bouwmeester - absolute beast on PK and ES. PP, not so much, but that's okay, I think Canada can find scoring on its PP. Just a hunch.
Duncan Keith - he's your go-to special teams guy, but not too shabby at ES.
Chris Pronger - ♫ A little bit of nasty on your team ♫, plus decent stats on PP and at ES. He's not the best at anything, but he's good at all of them.
Dan Boyle - he's got all three. Can't ask for more.
Drew Doughty - again, young he may be, but he's strong in all three situations.
Brent Seabrook - ditto Dan Boyle, though he doesn't spend a lot of time on the PP either.
Mike Green - His ES is very strong, as is his PP, but whether he works depends on whether Yzerman is willing to play fast and furious and let him jump into the play. Put him in if Canada is struggling on the PP or on ES breakouts.

No, I wasn't seriously saying send Jeff Schultz, I was just giving the haters something to think about in this analysis. Sorry, Scott Niedermayer - when you're below the middle of the pack in 2 out of 3 categories, I can't justify including you. Same for Robyn Regehr - hitting does not an effective defenseman make.

Whew. Please don't throw too many rotten tomatoes - I'm not a genius at this and I welcome all thoughtful commentary, including how I can make this a deeper and more meaningful analysis.

UPDATE: I have added Relative Corsi (the difference between Corsi when the player is on the ice and when the player is off) for each player for each situation. It's intended to show whether and by how much the player in question adds to or subtracts from the situation in question. Hopefully this takes care of the argument of QualTeam / QualComp and the relative team strength problem in one fell swoop.

The numbers are eye-opening to say the least. I'm still digesting the numbers (and I have real work to do), so I'll post my thoughts on these a little later today. One thing does jump out at me, though - who's got positive Corsi in all three situations?

Let's Start A Chant

gotsparkly — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:31:50 -0000

There have been a lot of pixels on the Rink lately devoted to cheers and chants ... or more specifically, the ones that either the Rats don't like or the ones that are used inappropriately (there have been a good smattering of both lately). While there has been some discussion of what we do like from college / minors and other stadiums, that's been drowned in comments of a critical and disapproving nature.

Without getting into a discussion of who is or isn't overly uptight about such things, my momma taught me that when you're faced with something you don't like or don't approve of, you've got two choices: b**** about it or do something about it. For all the complaints about the "All Your Fault" chant, at least they're doing something besides making random noise. So, if we don't like what they're doing, then maybe we should do something ourselves. Both of the Rink's previous initiatives to make our opinions known (red poncho love, Free Alex) have been well-received by the media, so why not try it?

I personally like the "who cares" chant after an opposing goal and will join it myself at the next game. But I'd like to see us start one of our own instead of just complaining about other people's. Here's a few ideas, and I'd love to see yours contributed in the comments.

When an opposing player goes into the penalty box, they need to be showered with a little (verbal) love. Maybe a "you can't do that *clap, clap, clap clap clap* or a "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye".
Last minute of a game, if we're up by more than one goal, or after an empty-net goal that ices the game, pull out your keys and shout "Start the bus! Start the bus!" while shaking them.
We need a goal song or a goal chant of some kind. I don't have a lot of ideas here - anyone? Bueller?
I don't have a problem with sing-songing the goalie's name when we're up or tied - as long as it's the right goalie.
Anything else you guys can think of?

Have Red, Will Travel: Caps @ Devils 11/14

gotsparkly — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:20:36 -0000

I know we've got some Rinkers up in the New York City / New Jersey area. I need to get out of Dodge for the weekend, so I'm going to shoot up to Newark, rock Caps red at Prudential Center on Saturday night, and pray I'm not horrible luck for the Caps this season. Are any other Rinkers going to be there, and if so, do you want to meet up somewhere for beverages / chow / chatter. etc., either before or after the game?

(EDIT: Changed the name of this post because I liked it better.)

The Real NHL Suspension Flowchart

gotsparkly — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:59 -0000

The Real NHL Suspension Flowchart

Down Goes Brown gets the real goods from Colin Campbell. This season's suspensions and non-suspensions, now explained.

RT @dchesnokov: Rus Nat team coaches confirmed that Khabibulin, Varlamov, Eremenko and Koshechkin...

gotsparkly — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:45:51 -0000

RT @dchesnokov: Rus Nat team coaches confirmed that Khabibulin, Varlamov, Eremenko and Koshechkin are flighting for the 3rd G spot in Van

- tuvanhillbilly's Twitter

You Make the Call: Scuderi on Chimera

gotsparkly — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:11:26 -0000

Last night, Rob Scuderi sent Jason Chimera skates-over-teakettle during the Kings-Jackets game. Video of the hit is available on Puck Daddy, and I won't steal his hit counter from him, so go here and watch. That's okay, I'll wait till you get back.

Scuderi was not called for a penalty, but the Jackets were outraged and Derek Dorsett jumped off the bench and went after Scuderi; Chimera ended up pulling two officials to the ice trying to get to him. Chimera ended up with a 10 minute misconduct, Dorsett with a too-many-men-on-the-ice bench minor and a game misconduct for leaving the bench.

Per the NHL rulebook, rule #45:

45.1 Clipping - Clipping is the act of throwing the body, from any direction, across or below the knees of an opponent.

A player or goalkeeper may not deliver a check in a “clipping” manner, nor lower his own body position to deliver a check on or below an opponent’s knees.

An illegal “low hit” is a check that is delivered by a player or goalkeeper who may or may not have both skates on the ice, with his sole intent to check the opponent in the area of his knees. A player or goalkeeper may not lower his body position to deliver a check to an opponent’s knees.

Moreover, because Chimera was injured - he was lucky it wasn't worse AFAIC - if this rule is invoked, Scuderi hits the showers.

45.3 Major Penalty - If an injury occurs as a result of this “clipping” check, the player or goalkeeper must be assessed a major penalty (see 45.5).

45.5 Game Misconduct Penalty - A game misconduct penalty must be assessed anytime a major penalty is applied for injuring an opponent by clipping.

I doubt intent to injure - I'm not sure Scuderi fully had his balance on this one. But, all the same....

UPDATE 10/27/09 - NHL.com reports that Scuderi has been fined for the hit, but doesn't say the exact fine.

Poll

You make the call: Is this a clean hit?

Yeah, stop your whining

8 votes

Nope, Scuderi got away with one here

39 votes

Throw the book at him!

5 votes

Other (please comment)

1 votes

53 votes | Poll has closed