There are a startling amount of similarities between Blackburn Rovers and the Edmonton Oilers. Both are located in small northern cities. Recent runs of incredible awfulness. (Oilers: 30th, 30th and 29th in past three years; Rovers: just relegated to the Championship.) Ownership located in faraway lands. (Vancouver and India.) Initial efforts to sign big name players. (Marian Hossa and Ronaldinho.) Management fronted by comically inept guy named Steve. (Tambellini and Kean.) Lack of familiarity with league rules. (Rovers’ owners are rumoured to have been surprised to learn about promotion and relegation after buying the team and the...

In the spring of 2010, I did a post about Ovechkin and WOWY, a Tangotiger concept where you look at how people do with and without certain players to try and tease out something about their impact. Through the end of that season, Ovechkin’s impact was pretty clear: he was a Corsi monster. When he was on the ice, it tilted significantly towards the other end. Big Corsi generally means big goal diference, which means wins and all that good stuff. Ovechkin was a star. Since that time, Ovechkin’s suffered through two years of bad boxcars. He played 79 games in 2010-11, scoring 32-53-85 and 78 games this year, scoring 38-27-65. ...

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 30146 Team Period Time Note PIT Opponent EAS 1 19:28 Goal 28 9 26 29 44 58 87 25 26 28 30 47 68 5v5 PIT 1 17:56 48 5 11 24 29 37 48 6 10 13 30 48 93 5v5 PIT 1 17:10 PP 87 14 26 29 58 71 87 5 27 28 30 44 5v4 PIT 1 16:20 PP 58 18 26 29 58 71 87 5 14 24 30 44 5v4 PIT 1 15:48 58 2 11 18 29 58 71 6 25 27 30 47 48 5v5 EAS 1 15:18 5 2 11 24 29 44 48 5 17 21 24 26 30 5v5 EAS 1 7:13 PP 93 4 27 29 44 46 17 19 28 30 44 93 4v5 EAS 1 7:02 PP 28 4 27 29 44 46 17 19 28 30 44 93 4v5 EAS 1 6:59 PP Goal 19 4 27 29 44 46 ...

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 30145 Team Period Time Note PHI Opponent PHI 1 19:29 Post 5 5 14 27 30 44 47 9 14 29 44 58 71 5v5 PHI 1 18:05 48 5 10 13 17 30 48 5 11 24 29 48 58 5v5 EAS 1 16:50 87 5 24 28 30 44 93 2 25 27 29 47 87 5v5 PHI 1 10:49 28 5 19 28 30 44 68 2 9 24 29 37 87 5v5 EAS 1 7:07 48 5 14 21 25 30 93 14 29 44 48 58 71 5v5 PHI 1 5:47 SH 24 14 24 25 30 44 14 26 29 58 71 87 4v5 EAS 1 5:07 PP Goal 26 5 6 10 17 30 48 4 11 25 27 29 44 5v5 PHI 1 3:26 PP 28 17 19 28 30 44 93 4 24 27 29 44 5v4 PHI 1 2:25 PP Goal 19 19 28 30 44 48 68 11 24 29 44 ...

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 21229 Team Period Time Note EDM Opponent VAN 1 18:42 13 28 40 58 83 89 1 3 14 23 25 33 5v5 VAN 1 18:25 10 13 28 33 40 94 1 3 14 23 25 33 5v5 VAN 1 17:58 10 20 25 33 40 94 1 6 7 17 29 40 5v5 VAN 1 17:15 16 25 33 40 54 55 1 2 7 8 17 40 5v5 VAN 1 16:01 PP 6 10 13 40 94 1 3 14 23 25 33 4v5 VAN 1 16:00 PP 6 10 13 40 94 1 3 14 23 25 33 4v5 VAN 1 15:21 PP 15 20 28 40 58 1 2 3 7 20 25 4v5 VAN 1 15:04 15 20 25 28 40 58 1 2 3 7 20 25 5v5 EDM 1 13:46 28 6 14 15 28 40 89 1 6 26 27 29 36 5v5 EDM 1 11:59 94 6 10 20 33 40 94 1 6 14 25 29 33 5v5 VAN 1 5:45 ...

I feel like my bonafides as an anti-gratuitous violence guy are pretty well established. I’d be fine if the NHL ditched fighting. I’ve advocated in favour of banning headshots from hockey since virtually the day I started writing this website. So it’s a bit unusual for me to look around and see that I’m nodding in agreement when reading what guys like Jeff Marek and Jason Gregor have to say about an issue of violence in hockey. As you may have heard, Raffi Torres ran into Marian Hossa last night. Hard. If you knew nothing about Raffi Torres except what you’ve read today, you’d probably think he was...

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 30144 Team Period Time Note PIT Opponent EAS 1 19:29 PP 19 4 11 24 29 44 17 28 30 44 68 93 4v5 EAS 1 18:44 PP Goal 28 5 9 12 29 58 17 28 30 44 68 93 4v5 PIT 1 16:22 Goal 71 2 9 29 37 47 71 10 24 25 30 48 68 5v5 PIT 1 13:19 9 2 4 9 26 29 87 5 24 25 30 36 93 5v5 PIT 1 12:19 PP 26 2 14 26 29 71 87 6 8 14 24 30 5v4 PIT 1 11:55 Goal PP 2 2 14 26 29 71 87 6 8 14 24 30 5v4 EAS 1 9:36 36 2 11 12 29 46 47 6 13 24 30 36 93 5v5 EAS 1 7:21 PP 58 14 26 29 58 71 87 5 27 28 30 44 5v4 EAS 1 6:04 PP 68 4 9 11 29 19 28 30 48 68 3v4 EAS 1 5:44 PP 68 4 9 11 29 19 28 30 48 68 ...

Imagine a coach who made no effort whatsoever to match lines. He just hurled guys over the boards regardless of who the other team put out, although he did make some effort to get his better players on the ice more than his lesser players. We’ll call him Pat Quinn. Now, imagine his team just played the same team over and over. The other team wasn’t making any effort to match lines either; they were just tossing their guys over the boards but, again, trying to play their better players more than their lesser players. Over time, we’d expect that each team’s players would have time against the other team’s...

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 30143 Team Period Time Note PIT Opponent PIT 1 18:21 11 7 11 24 29 48 58 10 14 17 25 30 44 5v5 PIT 1 18:02 11 7 11 24 29 48 58 6 10 13 17 30 48 5v5 EAS 1 15:31 25 9 29 44 58 87 5 19 25 30 48 4v4 EAS 1 12:22 PP 14 24 27 29 44 17 19 30 44 48 68 3v5 EAS 1 11:41 PP Goal 48 11 27 29 44 17 19 30 44 48 68 3v5 EAS 1 8:15 Goal 48 4 12 27 29 44 45 6 10 13 17 30 48 5v5 PIT 1 4:43 Goal 18 2 5 18 29 71 6 25 30 48 68 4v4 EAS 1 4:20 Goal 24 5 7 9 29 48 13 24 25 30 48 4v4 EAS 1 1:33 PP 19 4 9 11 29 44 10 19 24 25 27 30 4v5 EAS 1 1:13 PP 17 5 7 11 24 29 ...