Saturday, March 03, 2007

 

Housekeeping

Edmonton draft choice watch: their own 1st-rounder could be as high as 7th, or as low as ~15th.

**On the heels of Wednesday's post, wondering if 3-point OT/SO games induce teams to lock it down if they're tied in the 3rd, I took a quick look at the numbers I have. You're probably aware Overall scoring is down this year; correcting for EN and SO goals, it's down 4.3% by my abacus. By period, relative to 2005/06:
Translation: if scoring had dropped in the 3rd by the same amount as in the 1st/2nd (e.g. 3.4%), we would have seen about 53 more 3rd Period goals this season over the 956 games played thru February.

It's a bit too big of a sample size (and difference) to be considered random, so either 3rd period PPs have declined disproportionately this season, or (and/or?) teams are adapting to the incentives provided by the points structure, and playing more conservatively in the 3rd period to protect (A) their 1 point and (B) their ~50/50 shot at a 2nd point.

Is this a problem? I dunno. It certainly could be, if it gets worse. Or, maybe I'm just out to lunch. I am comparing this season to last season, where the same incentives were in place (they were just newer). It's tough -- probably unwise -- to compare it to pre-lockout years, because the rule changes (or something) had a substantial effect on period-by-period scoring distribution. (Last season, relative to '03/04, the scoring increase in P2 was 30% smaller than the scoring increase in P1 and P3 -- my guess is that the elimination of the two-line pass made it tougher to get a decent line change, but less so in the 2nd as it was already tough to do so on the long change).

Comments:

Flames PK is still showing serious signs of suckage, but the PP is now 8th in the league, 4th in the WC.
 


Canucks are +15 in wins (incl. SO) and +7 in GD. If the Canucks were a stock, it might be time to sell.
 


Canucks are +15 in wins (incl. SO) and +7 in GD. If the Canucks were a stock, it might be time to sell.

Man, that makes me happy. Now Flames fans know what it was like to watch their team in 03/04.
 


In case Sacamano cares to know, a one Mr. R. Dvorak has scored a goal this day.
 


Man, that makes me happy. Now Flames fans know what it was like to watch their team in 03/04.

Or the Oil during last year's playoffs.
 


Canucks are +15 in wins (incl. SO) and +7 in GD

Yeah, that's a concern. If only they played teams in the NE division instead of the NE division :-)
 


errr... that second NE should be NW, heh.
 


I've noticed a few more OTs this season (not statistically significant) and also noticed that OTs increases as the season progresses (pretty significantly).

However a difference of 53 on a sample of ~2000 goals is not significant due to the fact that one standard deviation = sqrt(2000) or better stated: mean (2000G/Season) = variance (2000 G/season). That being said it's worth watching...
 


Well, in terms of the number of goals scored in third periods, I think 53 is a sufficiently small number. It was stated right in the post to be a 6.3% drop.
 


Heya Javageek, since you seem able to do this kind of thing...

Is there a trend for more overtime and shootout games after nights and periods of inactivity. For instance the first night back after the All-Star break, Christmas break, deadline day, or nights immeidately following nights where there are very few games played.

I'd appreciate if you'd look ito because I am not smart.
 

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