KAIZEN
Wanye
May 09 2012 03:04PM
A little over a year and a half ago the Nation Network added NHLnumbers.com - a leading salary reference site online - into the fold. Since then the team has been hard at work rebuilding the site, retooling the machinery that powers things behind the scenes and are now ready to go forward with the second stage of the plan.
It's slow going to be sure - but we are gradually making headway in what we consider to be one of the most important jobs in building the Nation Network: contributing to the community of stats folks and giving them new tools and new resources to continue building an important part of following the NHL in the year 2012.
BACKSTORY RE: STATS
One of the big debates on all of the Nation Network sites surrounds the importance of statistics in the NHL analysis. Some folks think that insight provided by number crunchers is of little value in the coverage of the good ol' hockey game.
"People who put a lot of faith in statistics haven't played the game" the thinking goes. "I ain't never seen no statistics that can quantify the value of a hard nosed player, or a guy that is good in the room."
POINT: COUNTERPOINT
Others will tell you that stats - and in particular the new and emerging advanced analytics - provide a whole new level of insight. They will say that the NHL is more of a science than an art and science requires better data if it is to move forward and that better data leads to better results.
Personally we believe that advanced stats are a very important part of the analysis of the game. Don't get us wrong, they aren't everyone's cup of tea to be sure. But the fact that there are a whole new mess of ways to conclusively prove that Jordan Eberle is an emerging superstar in the NHL warms us to our very core.
The problem with many advanced analytics in their early days is that there has been little interest by the MSM to raise the bar in this field. No real large scale commercial effort has gone into making an improvement in how advanced stats are collected, explained, displayed and interpreted to us average joes.
No real resources have gone into consistently producing high quality writing on the topic, no resources have been put into better data collection or put into a site that can raise the bar for advanced analytics in the NHL.
This is what we plan on NHLnumbers.com becoming through a series of painful but constant steps in the right direction.
BRAVE NEW WORLD
If the movie Moneyball has taught us anything it is that Jonah Hill is more than capable of taking on dramatic roles early in his stellar career. If it taught us anything else it's that Brad Pitt is aging like a fine wine and that he runs no risk of losing his Sexiest Man Ever title anytime soon.
If it taught us any other thing it's that people in baseball used to look at stats besmirkingly then the Athletics brought out long division and went on to win 15 World Series titles in a row* We don't want to be one of those old scouting dudes sitting around the table waiting for Brad Pitt to tell Jonah Hill to speak.
No, we want the Nation Network to be on the cutting edge of helping advanced stats wherever it can - pushing it from the shadowy corners of the internet where all the smart kids hang out into the light of day where the rest of us peasants can gain some further insight into the game we love.
GOOD INTENTIONS
And so we begin the summer of adding writers to NHLnumbers.com to compliment our current "numbers folk" type-contributors who are doing great work already. And we are pleased to announce that Derek Zona from the Copper n Blue will be heading up the new initiative.
Zona and Nation Overlord Kent Wilson have been hard at work building bridges and will be revealing more than 10 other high profile contributors that will be joining the fold over the summer.
When we saw the list of folks willing to come write about "stats" we nearly went through the "roof." The group of people coming together to work on this site speaks volumes about the state of the blogosphere going into the 2012-13 NHL season.
Things are starting to take shape and a constant stream of analysis will now flow forth from NHLnumbers.com. From there we have additional plans to continue development over the summer and fall and we will see where things go from here.
Until then have a read. Unless you are like us and don't believe in math. Then don't.
Totally.
* Or something. We were busy texting in the theatre when the movie started to get all "mathy" on us.
Do I feel a negative props button coming? Lifetime props? A separate "wtf props" button for madjam or DSF?
Thanks for the opportunity. This should be a fun time. Are we allowed to drink and write?
Walking on water is WAY easier when it's a frozen ice rink. Makes the whole water into wine thing a bitch though.
Do I feel a negative props button coming? Lifetime props? A separate "wtf props" button for madjam or DSF?
Well I...errr...uh...
YOU SONOFABI...
*Snaps #10 lead pencil in half. Throws pencil shards across the room.*
Soooo Horcoff's contract. That's a whopper huh?
That's just Robin Brownlee being proactive. If you can't sign up he doesn't have to ban you eh ;)
JESUS IS WRITING HERE NOW TOO?
*faints*
I absolutely hate that tattoo. Put on some socks.
We need a new article so that friggen foot stops attacking my retinas everytime I bring up the site.
Cool, I like Zona's stuff. He should be a good addition.
PS When I click on any of the links at the top of this article, they take me to NHLNumbers instead of back to oilersnation. Is that intended?
Thanks for all of the work that has gone in to NHLNumbers.com - it's been my resource for salaries for a while now. I actually found the Oilersnation site by clicking the banner after having used NHLNumbers for a while. Imagine my surprise, an Oilers fan, to find such an amazing blog site on the other side. Props to all of you. You've made the last couple of seasons slightly more bearable.
@StHenriOilBomb
That's good to hear.
You'll be glad to know we plan to expand the site significantly going forward.
Sometimes curiousity gets the better of me and I think about how many more pyramids the ancient Egyptians would have built if they had access to MS Paint.
I also wonder if we will be able to comment on Pollz at this shiny new stats-riddled site.
*strokes chin while aimlessly basking in the wonderment of commenting on Pollz*
Zona? Jesus. Nice.
ZONA!
Brilliant addition.
Allowed? Pfft. You're encouraged.
Looking forward to reading about Zona starts!
David S wrote:
and that differs from every other day how?
If we weren't allowed to drink and write, I wouldn't be allowed to write.
"Write drunk, edit sober." - Ernest Hemingway
"giving them new tools" - hehehehe, that's what she said.
We are making some changes to the back end right now please forgive any problems in the next few minutes.
@Oil Kings 'n' Pretty Things
Yeah the switch will cause some bugs temporarily.
It works again! This doesnt feel any different at all...
That's what she said....
↑ @Wanye
RUN! RUN! TEMPORARY BUGS!
so i don't have a virus and i should be re-directed here when I go to nhlnumbers?
How about the quote thing?
Wait. What? This article is cross-posted on nhlnumbers.com???
Well don't I look like quite the flaming idiot.
Did they work the bug out of the system that disabled the reply button? Really feeling the need to let peeps know how much i love them.
Moneyball has to have had an impact on the game of hockey as well. Not much of a baseball fan but love that movie.
Is there another way to write?
Also loving the placeholder Oodle Noodle banner ad we use internally from like 2007. Industry standard sizing be damned!
I am definitely glad to hear!
Any thoughts of expanding the Free Agents page? The old website allowed visitors to see potential free agents for future seasons.
Also, on a side note... why can't I create an account on Oilersnation? I filled the form and got nothing in my email to confirm my account. Now I fill out the form and it says that my email is already used. I try to sign in and reset my password but no account information is found.
@ Chris81
If we are into talking a few bugs, I haven't been able to reply in a while except this 1970 way of doing it as such.
Hopefully it's encouraged.
On a slightly more serious note, is every Nation sister site going to make us re-up in order to comment? I thought our membership would transfer over.
Not a huge stats guy myself but I do like to read some of the analysis and even *blushes* occasionally post a comment or two.
@Jesus
Haha! Jesus, you so awesome!
So, umm... can we talk about those sins I did last night?
Hemingway is the only way.
Every writer alive agrees with you
@Chris81,
hope you are in no rush. i've had the same problem and the same question for over a year and still nadda. i suppose to go along with today's announcements about NHL numbers and for the stats geeks....that's around 365 days or 12 months or 52 weeks*
*margin of error high.
on the nerd front. i hope that the stats are mixed with a healthy dose of reality. i only say this because i see so many stats guys winning hockey pools etc.
ps. i like the stats info. not a hater...yet.
It's pretty neat* that Flames Nation and Canucks army have new articles. I guess it's understandable since the Flames made the Playoffs** and The Canucks are still playing***
*by "neat" I mean crappy
**HAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!
***golf
Hi Robert,
Long time, no posts by me (as contributor or just commentor).
So very nice analysis but I still wonder if the gambling defense of the Jets had more of an effect that you have shown. I wonder if you cut the numbers differently it could prove the defense was at fault in more cases.
In any event, I agree that about 2 to 2.5 M/year makes sense for him (over 1 to 2 years) with hopes he starts to peak in the last year of the deal (but not too much or Jets will have to pay big to keep him).