NHL12 - Be a Gm Quirks
Kent Wilson
September 13 2011 12:59PM
EA Sports released their much anticipated NHL12 today. Reviews and reports of game play/mechanics have been trickling in on my twitetr feed today, some of which I have decided to share. Apparently EA has gotten quite clever with this iteration and the "Be a GM" game mode hides some rather idiosyncratic quirks and pitfalls.
Player types: The offensive liability
Cam Charron
September 13 2011 09:21AM
Earlier, I introduced on The Nations Network a new way of looking at a player's plus/minus rating, specifically to do with on-ice shot differential, in an effort to learn more about teams and players.
This month, somewhat regularly, I will break down types of players and teams in an effort to localize player talents and figure out exactly what certain teams need. There's definitely more to a hockey player than simply being "good" or "bad" and by how much, so today I will profile the defensive forward.
Phil Kessel's Clutch Points
Pension Plan Puppets
September 13 2011 07:41AM
"Guys, I'm pretty good. Deal with it."
If you mention Phil Kessel to a Leafs fan there is so much that you might hear in response. What likely won't get top billing is that he's one of nine NHLers to hit 30 goals each of the past three seasons, that he has the 16th most goals in the NHL over that period, and it sure as hell won't be that mathematical simulations can show that Kessel's not a streaky goal scorer.
More likely, it'll be that he piles up his points onc the result is no longer in doubt. Which made me wonder, just how his points broke down last year. So after the jump, I have a graphic.
There shouldn't be fighting in prospect games
Cam Charron
September 12 2011 10:52AM
The scene: After a hard-fought prospects game at one of the many preseason tournaments sprouting up across North America, a progressive coach brings a player into his office to discuss the fighting major the player earned the night before in the second period of a 5-1 hockey game.
"Oh, hey, it's good to see you showed up. I wanted to call you in here with regards to that fight that you had last night in our prospects game.
In Praise of Pessimism
Danny Gray
September 12 2011 08:59AM
Many of the articles I’ve written over the summer have focused on how our opinions or beliefs about hockey are formed. I have largely focused on the influence of biases and other cognitive issues on the individual level. With the increasing popularity of message boards and the comment section of Leafs Nation or Pension Plan Puppets, our ideas are influenced by other individuals and the group itself. It turns out that when coming to a consensus as a group a single individual can change the entire group’s opinion.
