Game #35 Scoring Chances: CAR @ TOR, Dec. 28/10 (4-3 Loss)
Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 20536
2010
KADRI’S PATH IS HIS, AND HIS ALONE
As a highly touted forward, when you play seventeen consecutive NHL games without scoring a single goal, something’s gotta give. In a related story, Nazem Kadri has been returned to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. His time with the big club has been, to completely understate it, disappointing. But this hiccup in his career…
Post-Lockout “Average” Goaltending
Looking at save percentages I wanted to get a feeling for what an average goaltender can do post lockout. A lot of people think anything above .900 is fine for a goaltender but Craig Anderson’s .900 puts him in 37th place among goaltenders that NHL.com lists. Their list is for goaltenders who have made or on pace…
Leafs vs Hurricanes – Game #2 of Losers Bracket Week
Whereas the week prior was West Coast Waffle Week, let this upcoming stretch of games be known as Loser Bracket Week. Including the win over the league worst New Jersey Devils in front of a crowd of dozens on Sunday, the Leafs have four straight games against teams currently out of the playoffs picture. New Jersey,…
LEAFS’ NEXT 16 WILL DECIDE IT ALL
The Christmas break is over so, after 34 games, the time is now for your Toronto Maple Leafs. Although some Poindexter with a calculator will likely try and prove me wrong, if the Leafs are going to make a bold move up the standings, it will have to be in over the next 16 games….
Game #34 Scoring Chances: TOR @ NJD, Dec. 26/10 (4-1 Win)
Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 20520
Size Has No Impact On Faceoff Percentage: 2009-10 Data
A question that has come up a few times is whether big players tend to have an advantage when taking faceoffs. There is a certain logic to the idea that they do: after all, bigger, stronger players should be able to outmuscle their smaller counterparts in the faceoff circle. The data, however, suggests something…
The Word “Stress” – Meaningless For Professional Athletes?
Meandering around the internets the other day, I came across a compelling article by Steven Reiss, an Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Ohio State University. It was his opening statement that caught my attention:
ZoneStarts and ZoneFinishes through 33 games
With the holidays coming up and the Leafs not playing again until the 26th, I thought this would be a good time to take a little look at how the Leafs’ players are faring in regards to ZoneStarts and ZoneFinishes. Within this post are a couple of graphs for forwards and defencemen that I feel…
Leafs’ Chance Takers (Christmas break update)
Here’s an up-to-date table that shows the number of Scoring Chances that came off the stick of each Leaf player thus far in the 2010-11 campaign. I’ve listed their total count and then the number of chances they had at 5-on-5 and 5-on-4. I have no data from the Nov. 18 game against New Jersey.
Losing The Room
I’ve noticed a funny thing about teams with problems: pretty much every time, there’s a rather large outcry from a certain segment of the fanbase that the head coach has lost the room, can’t motivate his players, is too critical, is too soft, or something else of that nature. Ron Wilson is not an exception.
RON WILSON IS NOT GUIDING THE BOAT
To borrow from the sport of rowing, Ron Wilson is a coxswain. That’s all he is. That’s all any NHL coach is. They are in command of the boat. They make tactical decisions. They provide feedback to the crew. They encourage and motivate. Coaches are simply coxswains. Nothing more and nothing less. And Ron Wilson…