Earlier, I introduced on The Nations Network a new way of looking at a player’s plus/minus rating, specifically to do with on-ice shot differential, in an effort to learn more about teams and players. This month, somewhat regularly, I will break down types of players and teams in an effort to localize player…
The scene: After a hard-fought prospects game at one of the many preseason tournaments sprouting up across North America, a progressive coach brings a player into his office to discuss the fighting major the player earned the night before in the second period of a 5-1 hockey game. “Oh, hey, it’s good to…
Earlier, I introduced on The Nations Network a new way of looking at a player’s plus/minus rating, specifically to do with on-ice shot differential, in an effort to learn more about teams and players. This month, somewhat regularly, I will break down types of players and teams in an effort to localize player…
Earlier this week, I took to the Nations Network to further analyze a player’s plus/minus rating, specifically to do with on-ice shot differential, in an effort to learn more about teams and players, sharing a theory I have with “high event” hockey players.
M There may not be a player in hockey whose positive on-ice performance is painted in such a negative due to his contract than Scott Gomez. Gomez is going to be 32 in December and makes a staggeringly Sather-esque $7.4M a season to be a serviceable two-way forward for the Montreal Canadiens. He scored…
A principle problem of mainstream hockey talk revolves around finding the right value for a defensive player. Evaluating a player’s defensive attributes, unfortunately, falls into some pitfalls on the surface. It is absolutely impossible to watch every game and judge each player well defensively, which causes some problems when it comes to handing…
Every so often, an analyst will talk about how a certain player deserved a “three star” nominee because he won two or three big faceoffs. Even more so often a coach will send out two centremen in a high-leverage situation to win a key, late draw. The question is whether this tactic has a…
In light of Russian hockey journalist Dmitry Chesnokov tweeting that “[Nikolay] Zherdev’s Russian agent says the player is considering only NHL offers at this point,” you have to think that either a) the player is mulling a series of offers or b) no team has put forth a serious offer to the player.
Niclas Bergfors. Tyler Kennedy. Torrey Mitchell. Scott Gomez. Martin Hanzal. Scottie Upshall. Nikolay Zherdev. Peter Regin. Michael Frolik. What do all nine of these players have in common?
When the Philadelphia Flyers signed Jaromir Jagr, my initial reaction was that it was just another crazy transaction from Paul Holmgren, who has been the summer’s most talked-about General Manager.
(Cam Charron continues to look at general NHL issues for us here at the Nations. This week, he investigates the Sharks new top-four defense rotation and wonders if it’s one of the best in the league)
The trade that sent Brett Lebda to the Nashville Predators is an intriguing one for two reasons, and the strategy behind the deal for both teams is one that we may see more often as rich teams attempt to maximize their spending money and lesser teams attempt to maximize the value they get from their…
