Rob Vollman's Blog, page 2
December 30, 2017
Year-End Odds and Ends
As 2017 comes to an end, who was the player of the year? According to a Twitter poll, it's a close, three-way race between Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, and Sidney Crosby. I'm not sure who the "Others" could be, except maybe a goalie like Sergei Bobrovsky, or someone being a homer for Auston Matthews or something.
Who do I think is the player of 2017? Well, Crosby did with the Stanley Cup, the Conn Smythe and the Maurice Richard. McDavid won the Hart, the Art Ross, was a First Team All-Sta...
Who do I think is the player of 2017? Well, Crosby did with the Stanley Cup, the Conn Smythe and the Maurice Richard. McDavid won the Hart, the Art Ross, was a First Team All-Sta...
December 21, 2017
Best goalie of all time, plus more
Having played his 160th game, Connor McDavid now qualifies for the full $45,000 NHL pension when he retires. I'm sure that puts his mind at ease concerning his financial future.
The Greatest Goalie
Goalie shots and saves, which was previously only available back to the 1983-84 season, is now available all the way back to 1955-56. That allows us to finally compare modern greats like Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek to earlier legends, like Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito.
Since the history of league-av...
The Greatest Goalie
Goalie shots and saves, which was previously only available back to the 1983-84 season, is now available all the way back to 1955-56. That allows us to finally compare modern greats like Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek to earlier legends, like Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito.
Since the history of league-av...
December 18, 2017
Rating the Blue Lines
One week ago, for no particular reason, I ranked each team's goaltending based on a weighted average of their NHL and AHL save percentages over the past 3-and-a-bit seasons. This week, again for no particular reason, I plan to do the same thing for the blue lines.
This presents a whole new challenge, because there's no single stat equivalent to a goalie's save percentage with which you can attempt to rank defensemen. The closest I can think of is a player's Corsi, but it's nowhere as useful fo...
This presents a whole new challenge, because there's no single stat equivalent to a goalie's save percentage with which you can attempt to rank defensemen. The closest I can think of is a player's Corsi, but it's nowhere as useful fo...
December 13, 2017
My first Facebook Live Q&A
As you can tell from the button on the left side of the website, I recently created a Facebook page as another way to keep up to date on my books, articles, conferences, and so on. To help launch this new page, I held a live video Q&A at 8:30pm Eastern on Wednesday, December 13.
Now if you missed it (which you did, because only three people joined in), here's the video feed. Once the word gets out some more we can try again, and maybe have some trivia, and some contests, maybe some guest star...
Now if you missed it (which you did, because only three people joined in), here's the video feed. Once the word gets out some more we can try again, and maybe have some trivia, and some contests, maybe some guest star...
December 12, 2017
Ranking Each Team's Goaltending
Today, for no particular reason, I'm going to rank each team's goaltending.
Those who keep up with the Hockey Abstract books are familiar with our quick-and-dirty ranking of NHL teams that is achieved by taking a weighted average of each goalie's NHL stats over the past three seasons, and combined the starter and the backup in a 3-to-1 ratio. That does the job at a high level, but I'm going to go a little deeper here today. Not a lot deeper, just a little.
Specifically, I took that same weighte...
Those who keep up with the Hockey Abstract books are familiar with our quick-and-dirty ranking of NHL teams that is achieved by taking a weighted average of each goalie's NHL stats over the past three seasons, and combined the starter and the backup in a 3-to-1 ratio. That does the job at a high level, but I'm going to go a little deeper here today. Not a lot deeper, just a little.
Specifically, I took that same weighte...
December 7, 2017
Odds and Ends for December
First of all, you'll notice some new ways to follow my work on the left side of my website. I've added a GoodReads page for those who enjoy my books, a LinkedIn company profile for those who want to connect with me professionally, and a Facebook page to keep up to speed on my updates through social media.
Plus, I'll be kicking off my new Facebook page with a live Q&A on Wednesday, December 13 at 8:30 Eastern time , so you really won't want to miss that.
You'll also notice that player usage chart...
Plus, I'll be kicking off my new Facebook page with a live Q&A on Wednesday, December 13 at 8:30 Eastern time , so you really won't want to miss that.
You'll also notice that player usage chart...
November 22, 2017
A look at defensemen, and more
Who is the current Norris favourite? There's still a couple of hours left in my Twitter poll so you can participate if you hurry, but the early results point strongly to Karlsson, and surprisingly far away from Doughty.
Getting more into the details, Travis Yost of TSN took an interesting look at how defensemen are being used this season, and had some interesting findings.
His work also appears to confirm that more teams are adopting the Predators model of relying more heavily on their top de...
Getting more into the details, Travis Yost of TSN took an interesting look at how defensemen are being used this season, and had some interesting findings.
His work also appears to confirm that more teams are adopting the Predators model of relying more heavily on their top de...
November 12, 2017
Odds and Ends
I think the Vadim Shipachyov story is the most recent turn of events recently. Three months ago, the Vegas Golden Knights gave him a contract with a big bonus and a $4.5 million cap hit, believing him to be the franchise's first No. 1 centre. Turns out, Cody Eakin is the team's first No. 1 centre, and Shipachyov didn't even make the team. That is such a strange turn of events. Were they make a horrible misjudgment three months ago, or a horrible one today? Either way, it's a fascinating story...
November 7, 2017
Finding Vegas an AHL goalie
The Vegas Golden Knights have already lost Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban, and Oscar Dansk to injury, shortly after trading Calvin Pickard away to the Toronto Maple Leafs (oops!).
At the moment, they are using Max Lagace in nets, who is backed up by 19-year-old Dylan Ferguson. I think they can do better than that.
To find a better goalie, I grabbed all the AHL goaltending data from 2005-06 through 2016-17, and specifically highlighted those goalies active in the AHL today. Rather than compar...
At the moment, they are using Max Lagace in nets, who is backed up by 19-year-old Dylan Ferguson. I think they can do better than that.
To find a better goalie, I grabbed all the AHL goaltending data from 2005-06 through 2016-17, and specifically highlighted those goalies active in the AHL today. Rather than compar...
September 15, 2016
Complete List of Hockey Analytics Data Resources
Whether you're looking for standard information or something fancier, about teams or individual players, overall or in a specific aspect of the game, about the NHL or another league, in table format or in charts, the following list of links is intended to be a complete account of all known sources of hockey analytics data.
Only data resources are included below, not analysis, and only those whose data is kept active. The list only includes data that can be viewed online, not those that requir...
Only data resources are included below, not analysis, and only those whose data is kept active. The list only includes data that can be viewed online, not those that requir...
