hits Stories - On the Forecheck
The Stars, Caps & Funny Math In The Scorer's Box
Tomes have been written about the problems with home scorer bias and home scorer errors, especially as pertains to the NHL's RTSS statistics. Edmonton's official scorers are notorious for over-counting (making up?) giveaways: The league leaders in giveaways are none other than your Edmonton...
Mike Gillis: "We Are Not Done Yet"
What an eventful Draft Day for Canucks fans! With no second of third round picks in this year's draft, Gillis traded away Vancouver's first round pick (25th overall) plus Steve Bernier and Michael Grabner to the Florida Panthers for D Keith Ballard and RW Victor Oreskovich. Mike has already touched...
Hey Rob Blake!
Remember when you and the Avalanche were pummeling the Canucks on the scoreboard and you decided to drop the gloves with Jarkko Ruutu? Ah well, you got your ass beat. Happy retirement! In all seriousness though, what a great player Rob Blake was. Mean and feisty too. A freight train. And a...
Oilers' hitting game 2008-10 - Part One: the blue
There's no denying that hockey is a physical game, but that aspect of the game has proven extremely difficult to capture in a meaningful statistical way. The NHL has recorded Hits for the past number of years, albeit in a very haphazard manner. As with virtually any category tracked through...
Oilers' hitting game 2008-10 - Part Two: on the front line
"Take the hit to make the play," goes the old saying, words that are invariably spoken in approving tones. It's central to the game of hockey that players - the admirable ones at least - are willing to pay a price on the receiving end of things, every bit as much as on the giving. I have an old...
Beating Up on the Little (or Big) Guys
The question of tall players hitting short players and whether these hits should be called as head shots came up in the SB Nation discussion list. So I started wondering if there are any consistent trends around size differentials in hits. First, there's a league-wide bias: taller players hit...
Open-Ice Hits
Most hits occur along the boards. No big surprise there. But how many hits is "most"? I classified any hit inside the red area below as an open-ice hit: Approximately 75% of all hits occur within 10 feet of the net or the boards, while less than 5% happen in "open-ice." After the jump, the...
Cal Clutterbuck: Worldwide Leader in Hits?
Cal Clutterbuck was credited with 356 hits last season, which set what some commentators are calling a "single-season record." Set aside for a moment that hits have only been officially collected in a handful of generally non-consecutive seasons, what exactly is a "hit"? We know what goals are -...
NHL Top 10's - A YouTube Compilation
It's a slow news day so....for your viewing pleasure: -Top 10 Preseason goals of all time. (Guess who's #1?) -Top 10 All Star Game goals. That Messier goal from Gretzky at GM Place should have ranked higher methinks. A dandy. No doubt on the #1 pick though. -Top 10 NHL goals of all time. No...
Who's hitting who among NHL teams
I haven't taken a look at the Hits that the NHL tracks in quite a while, firstly because I suspect (but haven't validated) that there's a good deal of scoring bias in various arenas, and also the notion that hits may not be of any particular value in winning hockey games. I've decided to take...
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