Some geekery, some paranoia, and an apology

First of all, congratulations to OtF user smashville - the FanShot that he submitted last week about the proposed Tennessee tax on athletes that would specifically exclude the NFL got picked up by a number of the top sports blogs around, like Deadspin & The Big Lead, resulting in a pretty huge traffic bump. When you write up a FanShot or FanPost, it has an opportunity for that kind of visibility as well, so jump on in and contribute to the conversation!

After the jump, some morning news & notes, including a mandatory news segment for any of you who wonder about the applicability of hockey stats geekery...

Playing The Numbers — In Hockey : NPR

Former NHL general manager Mike Smith talks with NPR's Weekend Edition about his company that analyzes hockey statistics and advises clubs. My dream is obviously to give him some competition... and it wouldn't seem to be such a far-fetched dream. What he discusses (at least during the interview) is all stuff that's been replicated to a large extent in the hockey blogs (such as Behind the Net, and Time On Ice among many others).  The biggest obstacle at this point is probably making the personal connections with the appropriate people (GM's) to get a seat at the hockey operations table for a quantitative analyst, to just provide another line of inquiry and help the entire staff come up with more robust, well-reasoned recommendations.

Faceoff Ratios - mc79hockey.com

Last week we touched on the issue of which players take predominantly defensive zone faceoffs vs. offensive zone ones, and this morning Tyler looks at the 2007-8 Edmonton Oilers team results to get an idea of how much that shift in workload might affect a player's overall performance. In particular, Radek Bonk, Vern Fiddler and Jerred Smithson are noted for taking lots of defensive draws for Nashville, while Steve Sullivan got plenty of offensive opportunities.

Good for Business - Tom Benjamin’s NHL Blog

The hockey blogosphere's consummate conspiracy theorist thinks the refs are likely biased in favor of the home team, want to keep scores close, and extend playoff series.

TheSpec.com - Should have had NHL OK in 2007: Balsillie

In a filing with the Arizona court, Jim Balsillie says "I regret that I did not seek NHL permission before" selling season ticket deposits in Hamilton, prior to actually purchasing the Nashville Predators back in 2007. Sorry, pal, apology not accepted!