Monday, December 17, 2007

Carry the five, divide by six and find the square root of a victory


From crunching bodychecks to number crunching in the NHL...

It's a complicated looking little system, but for hockey fans who want more than just the goals, assists and penalty minutes there's new way of determining just which teams are monsters and which are slugs.

On the Globe and Mail's website is an interesting if slightly intimidating little collection of data which will take many of us back to Grade 12 algebra, and if that wasn't your best year, perhaps like I you might want to just take everyone at their word.

Culling material from three scientific ratings packages, the Globe's Alan Ryder pays homage to the number crunching abilities of Jeff Sagarin, Ken Massey and Andy Dolphin. Three guys that clearly understood the new math while the rest of us scratched our heads and wondered where the answer sheets were.

Using their detailed information they provide a fascinating look at the abilities of the 30 NHL clubs, using a number of factors not normally considered by the less cerebral of us.

In the end though, it seems that the Standings still may be all we need to know about which teams have the best depth and best record, all three suggest that Ottawa and Detroit are the power players for 2007-08.

Something that we probably don't need to spend much time in Math class to figure out, but it's always nice to have the scientific back up to go with our gut feelings.

Jeff Sagarin--NHL ratings
Ken Massey--Massey Ratings
Andy Dolphin--Dophinism

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