A lot of news this off-season about the possibility of Matt Duchene getting traded. Most teams in need of a top 6 center would at least entertain the idea of making Colorado an offer. One of the names that has surfaced – along with Duchene’s – is Alex Galchenyuk in Montreal. There have even been … More Duchene vs Galchenyuk Player Deep-Dive
The Anaheim Ducks hit the 100 point mark in the regular season (finished with 105 points) before losing to Nashville in 6 games in the Western Conference Finals. While the Nashville D-corps gets most of the hype as the league’s top unit, Anaheim is no slouch. In fact, a 1A/1B designation might be needed. Let’s … More Puck moving defensemen series: Anaheim Ducks
The Kings had a disappointing season in 2016/17. They racked up 86 points and failed to reach the post-season. Led by Jonathan Quick in goal, the Kings have keyed in on strong team defense as an identity. Today we explore their blue line and which off-season changes may have an impact next year. Note: For … More Puck moving defensemen series: Los Angeles Kings
We’ve wrote a bunch about how our puck moving metric can be used to break down different team’s defense groups and compare ability across the league. This can be helpful in helping teams identify undervalued players on other teams, determine potential fit (e.g., 2nd/3rd pairing, defense style), etc. Here we look at identifying breakout candidates … More Using our puck moving metric to identify breakout candidates
After racking up 102 regular season points, the New York Rangers were eliminated by the Ottawa Senators in 6 games in round 2 of the 2016/17 Stanley Cup playoffs. How did their D stack up this past year? Let’s examine. ***Note: for detailed methodology and other deep-dives, feel free to check out write-ups here. Rapid … More Puck moving defensemen series: New York Rangers
To date, we’ve focused primarily on puck movement ability by defensemen. Puck movement is a critical skill in today’s NHL and merits the emphasis and value that many teams place on it. That said, there’s still value in a player’s ability to go out, face the top opposition, and minimize the scoring chances that they … More Defensive ability: How our new metric brings additional context to evaluating defensemen
Analytics are helpful in that they help you ‘catch’ key trends or insights that are not necessarily ‘catchable’ by the human eye. While obviously not the only part of the equation, analytics are one of many useful tools that should at least be considered in the evaluation of players. It becomes especially interesting to look … More Examining the Keith Yandle trade: What did Glen Sather see at the time?
The Preds racked up 94 regular season points before making a memorable Stanley Cup run that fell just short. It’s widely known that the strength of this team is it’s blue line – we explore. ***Note: for a detailed overview of our methodology, you can check out our puck movement metric (here) and our approach … More Puck moving defensemen series: Nashville Predators
Overview of QoC Quality of Competition (QoC) is an important metric in hockey (in any sport, really). It’s a measure of the level of competition you face. It becomes increasingly important when trying to compare players who face different levels of opposition; i.e., the rationale being it’s easier to play against a 3rd line consistently … More Revisiting Quality of Competition (QoC)
The free agent crop on defense isn’t as strong as in past years. However, the 2017 expansion draft has created a unique opportunity. With Vegas looking to deal players for picks, they have a bunch of defensemen who could be available as well. We took a quick look at 6 intriguing names (both good and … More Free Agent Primer: 6 intriguing defensemen who may be available
Cerebral Puck 