The Steigerwald Files

Those who know me know that there is nothing I like more about the NHL than games being accompanied by the reasoned, unbiased contributions of a Steigerwald.

Not being as plugged in to the wider Pennsylvania media as I clearly should be, I was unaware that I was missing out on the startling journalistic insight of the brother of the more famous loathsome homer broadcaster revered Penguins announcer until the recent firestorm created by this well-researched opus on the struggles of Alexander Ovechkin, a gutsy column in taking a critical view of a hugely popular figure in the Pittsburgh region.

After admirably defending his position in a dominant and rational performance during his radio interview of Puck Daddy critic, Ryan Lambert, more unpublished Steigerwald notes on a selection of Washington Capitals have now entered the public domain...

Tom Poti
Percentage of NHL games missed in seasons prior to Barry Bonds' retirement: 9.5%
Percentage of NHL games missed in seasons after Barry Bonds' retirement: 39.5%

Alexander Semin
The season before the Vancouver Olympics, the guy beats Marc Staal to a bloody pulp, shocking the hockey world with his immense physical gifts. Now tell me, how many fights have you seen him in since then, huh?

Nicklas Backstrom
I hear whispers that he is from Europe. Unlike some of these guys ripping me on their blogs, I'm old enough to be pretty sure that a couple of World Wars started in Europe. Now that doesn't make Backstrom a genocidal maniac, I accept that, but it's not a stretch to think he could've thrown a grenade or two in Poland, right?

Joel Ward
He apparently oversleeps and misses a team meeting. On 23 November. Coincidentally, 200 crimes were committed in the District of Columbia on 22 November and 23 November. I'm told the kid had a tough upbringing. I'm just telling you the statistics. Draw your own conclusions.

John Erskine
Born in Kingston. I've been around a while, met a few Jamaicans. They like a smoke, know what I'm saying? How many of these special smokes do you reckon you can get with a $1.5m contract? Think he might have enough to spare for a few friends? Just putting it out there...

Matt Hendricks
Think about this. His father, Jimi was a successful recording artist in the late 1960s. I was around at that time. A lot of wacky stuff going on, being consumed back then. I don't have any proof of his boy getting involved in funky stuff like that, but he's from that culture, right? Been around the scene. Not outrageous to join the dots on that one.

Dave Steckel
OK, I know this guy's no longer on the Capitals, but my friend Damien Cox tells me he's a great faceoff guy, hard worker. Really admires the guy as a player. But did you hear any mention of this so-called "global financial crisis" before he took Crosby out like he did? Not a single word! None of my production team here have either. That's clearly not just message board talk.

Roman Hamrlik
Guys I speak to in the locker room have told me this guy was born in a place called "Czechoslovakia". Go look on a map for this place. Do it right now. You won't find it. Now I'm not saying I've seen the guy's immigration papers or anything, but I wouldn't stamp his passport if it were my job. If you are an American patriot too, you would do the same.

The Pain Game 2011/12 - Part Two

Injury stats update – November 2011

This is my second look for the 2011/12 regular season at which teams have been hit hardest by injuries by trying to place a value on the games missed by players due to injury/illness.

The concept again - multiply each game missed by a player by his 2011/12 cap charge, then take the aggregate of these figures for each team and divide by 82. This indicator of value lost to a team by injury/illness is called CHIP (Cap Hit of Injured Players).

Alternatively...

Again, for a different indicator of player "value", I've also illustrated a similar metric based on TOI/G alongside the CHIP numbers.  Clearly, neither cap charge nor TOI/G are perfect measures of player value, since each have a number of limitations and inconsistencies, but they provide a decent comparison and the results do vary somewhat.

A quick summary of the alternative metric:

• TOI/G replaces cap charge as the measure of value in the calculation
• For goalies, TOI/G has been worked out as Total Minutes Played / Games Dressed For* - i.e. a goalie playing every minute of 75% of the games, zero in the rest, would end up with a TOI/G of 45 minutes (or close to it, once you factor in OT and so on).  [*Actually, "Games Played by Team - Games Missed by Goalie" - I'm not inclined to disentangle any three-goalie systems or minor-league conditioning stints.]
• This arguably overstates the worth of starting goalies somewhat, but it's simple and you could equally argue that a workhorse goalie is the hardest position to replace, so it's fair for them to have a much higher TOI/G figure
  
• Where a player hasn't played all year (several examples at this point of the season) or where a player fairly clearly has a reduced TOI/G figure due to getting injured in their only game or one of very few games, I've used TOI/G from last season (or further back if necessary)
• For each player, multiply games missed by TOI/G to get (for a more palatable name) Cumulative Minutes of Injured Player (CMIP)
• Take the aggregate of CMIP for the team and divide by games played by the team to arrive at AMIP (Average Minutes of Injured Players) - it feels more understandable expressing this metric as an average per game (whereas CHIP is a running total)

The figures...
The table below shows:

• Total CHIP for each team over the 2011/12 regular season (through games played on 30 November), as well as the distribution of CHIP by position
• The player who has contributed most to the team's CHIP figure
• The number of players with a CHIP contribution of over $250,000 (think of it as being equivalent to a $1m player missing 20 games or a $4m player missing five games)
• AMIP for each team over the same period (e.g. an AMIP of 40:00 could be seen as the team missing two 20-minute per game players for every game this season)

 

10 second analysis...

The Penguins slip from top spot following November's Resurrection, passed by the Canadiens, who should have a decent chance at staying there for a while now Andrei Markov has had a third knee surgery on his second knee surgery.

Four Canadian teams in the top seven - most of the injuries presumably occurring from visor-less players fighting each other in a barn while being hectored by Don Cherry.  Calgary's appearance in the bottom four presumably testament to their players' ability to suck it up and play badly hurt.

The next lists are the top 30 individual CHIP and CMIP contributions:

I expected Gomez to be much higher on these lists, since he's not been seen on the ice for two or three years.  James Reimer's worth to the goalie-rich Leafs is probably more accurately reflected in his CMIP figure than his more modest CHIP contribution.

Where does it hurt?
This is another update of the crude injury-by-location analysis. Again, I’ve just used the descriptions found in the player profiles on tsn.ca, so the figures will encompass all the inaccuracies and vagueness within them. It should give a broad indication, if nothing else, though.

Finally, a look at the Evasiveness Index.  This is basically the proportion of injury instances for each team that have been described as either "Undisclosed" or the helpfully pointless "Upper/Lower Body" in the same TSN profiles.  I have made no judgement about whether the many instances of "Illness" (i.e. concussion) or "Flu" (i.e. concussion) should also be included.

Notes/Disclaimers

• Figures exclude a few minor-leaguers / marginal NHLers (perhaps an arbitrary judgement on my part in some cases) who are or had been on the NHL club’s IR since pre-season. Generally, if a minor-leaguer gets called up and then injured in an NHL game, his games missed will then count towards the CHIP though.  I try to exclude minor-league conditioning stints immediately after/during a period on IR from the man-games lost figures (but can't guarantee I get it right every time)
  
• There are undoubtedly a few inaccuracies and inconsistencies in there - I do the best I can with the information out there. Some corrections are picked up month-to-month too
  
• The cap figure doesn't really correlate very well to the "worth" of a player in some cases, e.g. where rookie bonuses are included this year, where players are seeing out an old (underpaid or rookie) contract or where players are horrendously overpaid
• Also, for any player who was acquired on re-entry waivers (e.g. Sean Avery), the cap hit will only reflect that for their current team, i.e. 50% of the player’s full cap hit (shared between his current and old teams)
• I've once again stuck a full team-by-team listing of games missed and CHIP/CMIP numbers by each player on the web HERE
• Injury/games/TOI info courtesy of tsn.ca and nhl.com - man-games lost info more than likely does not exactly match up with the "official" figures released by individual teams
  
• Cap info courtesy of capgeek.com

NHL Road Trip 2011

More like a homestand than a road trip this year (bar one trip to the minors), but here is my usual comprehensive, analytical coverage of what promised to be the Rangers' six game losing streak.

Game #1: Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 New York Rangers

• After finding my seat easily despite apocalyptic warnings about the layout of the partially-renovated Madison Square Garden, I find myself sat right behind somebody with the unfortunate appearance of a homeless Barry Melrose.
• I then witness the impressive feat of a man managing to dump a beer over his own head after stumbling on the stairs.
• The Rangers controversially opt to introduce the players individually at the home opener - not something that has occurred every year, mostly for boo-related reasons.  Accordingly, nobody gets booed (yet).
• Apparently, a huge pro-Avery, anti-Tortorella banner is unveiled somewhere in the crowd.  Either I completely miss it, or it was behind me.  (Apparently, the banner was subsequently banned by the tolerant MSG staff.)
• Against type so far this season, the Rangers actually put together a decent first period to lead 1-0, also having two other efforts chalked off for reasonably marginal contact with a very shaky looking Jonas Gustavsson in the Leafs' net.
• While I did not feel the need to test any of the new facilities, I can only assume the bathrooms and concessions are of the highest standard since I was seemingly the only person in my section to leave their seat fewer than 18 times a period to visit the concourse while play was in progress.
• Entirely not against type so far this season, the Rangers decide to exploit a very shaky looking Jonas Gustavsson in the Leafs' net by giving him practically no work at all the rest of the way, while Henrik Lundqvist allows a few weak goals for the first time in a while, despite also stopping two Phil Kessel breakaways.
• Patient and moderate as they are, a sizeable chunk of the home fans use the late third period to start a "We want Avery" chant, seizing the opportunity to remind everyone that a lack of defensive depth and completely dysfunctional start from most of the point producing forwards can only be corrected by the return of a 3rd/4th line forward who scored three goals last year and the coach doesn't trust.
• The Leafs' fourth goal from noted sniper Mike Brown with six minutes to go sees the New Transformed Exits brought to you by Chase at Madison Square Garden adequately tested for the first time.

Next up: An afternoon game against hated rival, the superstar-laden Ottawa Senators.  I can hear the booing already.

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Game #2: Ottawa Senators 5-4 (SO) New York Rangers

• An unseasonal October snowstorm means dangerous conditions have to be navigated on my journey to the game - dopey 5th Avenue tourists wielding umbrellas in the manner of a blindfolded Dan Carcillo.
• I'm seated directly in front of one of the press boxes, tonight featuring legendary former Leafs GM, John Ferguson Jr, now scouting for the Sharks.  I successfully sell my hot dog to him for $300.  Not sure why I need a no-trade clause though.
• Line-up news: MSG fan favourites, Erik Christensen and Wojtek Wolski are rewarded for their consistent work ethic and gritty play with the assignment next to Marián Gáborik for at least one shift (and probably one shift).
• A predictably terrible first period from the Rangers sees them heavily outshot and 1-0.  One relatively quiet and quickly aborted "We want Avery" chant results.
• Not for the first time (nor the last), the between periods puck shooting contest sees the participant mercilessly booed for his repeated failures.  He still has a better than 50% chance of playing on the Rangers top line for the rest of the game though.
• Momentum shifts after Zenon Konopka pleases his many fantasy owners by getting five plus a game for performing his own renovation of the MSG glass using Artem Anisimov's face as raw materials (though the hit was actually not that bad, if at all).  The Rangers shock the world by putting away two (two) PPGs on the major penalty.
• Despite another patchy performance at best, the Rangers work themselves into a 4-1 lead with eight minutes left in the game, the third goal by Gáborik from a great pass by Derek Stepan being the pick of the bunch.
• Despite...something, the Rangers then work themselves into a 4-4 tie with three minutes left as, shockingly, the strategy of panicking and spending the rest of the game chasing the puck in their own end fails to pay dividends.
• Milan Michálek scores the only goal in the shootout, the building erupts with joyous emotion.

Next up: An easily winnable game against perennial Western Conference doormat, the San Jose Sharks.  Right here on Versus!  Let's hope Milbury is in a Swedish prison wearing a visor attendance.

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Game #3: San Jose Sharks 2-5 New York Rangers

• Right off the opening faceoff, Brandon Prust and Ryane Clowe "tangle".  Approximately 10 minutes of pirouetting and helmet punching ends with the pair almost landing on top of Pierre McGuire in his usual spot licking Mike Richards' shoes between the benches. 
• News of Sean Avery's impending recall and the Rangers not actually losing at the time make the (mostly failed) attempts to start the "We want Avery" chant more confusing than ever.
• Ryan McDonagh: 1-0.  Scott Gomezhahahahahahahahahahahaha.
• Brandon Dubinsky and Derek Stepan somehow exploit Colin White's legendary footspeed to make it 2-0 in the first; the Rangers looking strangely competent.
• However, it's tied midway through the second period, the tying goal by Logan Couture coming at the end of a shift of six or seven minutes of the crack Jeff Woywitka-Steve Eminger pairing being trapped in their own end by the Sharks' top line.
• Not tied for long as, befitting of a player who looks like Joe Sakic for one game every two months (Joe Sakic's wife for the rest), Erik Christensen makes two great passes on goals by Ryan Callahan and Artem Anisimov.
• In the final minute of the second period, Callahan makes a spectacular stretch/dive from behind the net to poke home a rebound and give the Rangers the unassailable three-goal lead that has not been assailed by a Rangers opponent in, oh...two days.
• The third period is largely a non-event.  Shame.
• In front of me tonight:
  
  • Firstly, your typical MSG BlackBerry Man.  Not even a glance towards the ice during the entire first period.  Doesn't return to his seat for the third.
  • Replaced in the third by a fan in a Patrick Marleau jersey wearing an "Occupy Madison Square Garden" sign around his neck.  Loses marks for not sitting with a friend in a Jeremy Roenick costume holding a bag of guts.
• After the game, Joe Thornton bizarrely (given he was fairly anonymous in defeat) decides to call the Rangers the softest team the Sharks played on their road trip.  With the two teams not meeting again this season (neither team has a chance of winning the Western Conference Final series), this appears to be Jumbo Joe's Halloween equivalent of knocking on the Rangers' dressing room door and running away.

Next up: Logistics and apathy permitting, a two games in one day odyssey spanning a morning (!) AHL clash in Bridgeport, CT - now not featuring the star Avery attraction - and an evening (zzz) dull-fest in tropical Newark, NJ.

---

A travel snafu prevented my planned attendance at the Devils-Leafs game in the evening.  I hope Marty Brodeur's return performance was as amusing for those in person as it appeared to be on TV.

Game #4: Connecticut Whale 3-4 (OT) Bridgeport Sound Tigers

• A 90-minute train journey from Manhattan for an 11am faceoff.  Not my usual kind of trip.
• The reason for the early start: Some sort of schoolkids promotion.  So, a few thousand kids in the stands make the atmosphere one part hockey game, nine parts Justin Bieber concert.
• A completely indecipherable P.A. system and unfamiliarity with many of the players will make it tougher than normal to keep up.  And to know when the building is being evacuated.
• Line-up news:
  
  • The Whale are now Avery-less (must've been publicised somewhere), but still feature recent Ranger demotions Tim Erixon, Kris Newbury and Mats Zuccarello-Aasen.  The mini-Fishsticks include Nino Niederreiter and the overwhelmingly talented Trevor Gillies.
  • Kevin Poulin versus Cam Talbot in net - no start for Chad "Dos Nueve" Johnson (apparently "Tres Cero" in the minors)
• Why does the typeface on Calvin de Haan's nameplate say: dE HAAN?
• The Whale's first goal (Jonathan Audy-Marchessault from Mats Zuccarello-Aasen and Tim Erixon) smashes the record for most letters combining on a goal I've seen.
• Gillies (who doesn't appear to even get a regular shift at this level) takes an appropriately dumb penalty, leading to the stuff of nightmares: Wade Redden as the PP quarterback.
• The between period T-shirt toss produces a painfully shrill noise.
• A fight between Micheal (sic) Haley and Stu Bickel is broken up almost as soon as it starts, while doing so, the linesman presumably screaming "Won't somebody please think of the children?!"
• The Whale take a 3-1 lead early in the third, the goal (Jonathan Audy-Marchessault from Mats Zuccarello-Aasen and John Mitchell) smashing the record for most letters combining on a goal I've seen, if falling just short on the syllables equivalent.
• Showing impressive dedication to becoming Rangers, the Whale then blow their lead over the last 11 minutes and lose in OT, the Tigers' Tim Wallace completing his hat-trick on the winner.

Next up: Back to MSG for yet another intense clash for the Rangers against a hated divisional rival, the Anaheim Ducks.

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Game #5: Anaheim Ducks 1-2(SO) New York Rangers

• Back in the cheap moderately less obscenely expensive seats for this one.  Hence, not surrounded by corporate no-shows / BlackBerry idiots.
• Instead, I'm sat next to somebody who talks loudly non-stop for the entire game, none of which is about the game or hockey generally, except for: "I ****ing hate the ****ing Montréal Canadiens.  Not only are they from Montréal, but they are ****ing Canadians."
• After a pretty poor game between the two teams in Stockholm four weeks ago, much of this one is similarly uneventful, the Ducks mustering only two shots in the first period.
• The Rangers open the scoring through the increasingly Paul Coffey-like Jeff Woywitka, before the moustache-free George Parros is again engaged in a not-at-all-staged fight on the restart, the Bahama Bomber, Andre Deveaux taking the place that Mike Rupp filled in Stockholm and proving less like a Parros punchbag.
• It's tied after 40 minutes thanks to Bobby Ryan wiring a screened wrister high past Henrik Lundqvist.
• A more eventful third period sees the Ducks carry most of the play, Ryan Callahan missing a shorthanded breakaway with no Duck skater within 60 feet of him (his only breakaway/shootout move failing him), and both goalies playing well.
• A fairly crazy OT session somehow ends without a winner, before the completely unexpected sight of Marián Gáborik (2-for-19 career record coming in) scoring in the shootout and Bobby Ryan this time not fanning the final attempt past Lundqvist.

Next up: Having not played a Canadian team for an incredible stretch of two games, the Rangers face the ****ing Montréal ****ing Canadiens.  Will the MSG crowd get the chance to shower the usual acclaim on returning hero, Scott Gomez?

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Game #6: Montréal Canadiens 3-5 New York Rangers

• Beaucoup trop de partisans des Habitants ici.
• I'm surprised to see that somebody actually purchased one of these monstrosities:
  
  
  (Meaning the style of jersey.  Nobody would be stupid enough to pay lots of money for an actual Gomez, right?)
• Bad news for the Canadiens Rangers is that Gomez is still injured and will not play.  The Rangers do ice the best two players involved in the Gomez trade: Ryan McDonagh and No Gomez.
• An interesting start, as Mike Blunden flattens a speeding Brandon Dubinsky by the Habs' bench, sparking a huge get-together.  "Clean" hit from Blunden, had it not been for the fact that he jumped off the bench early to make the hit.
• After Ryan Callahan and Blunden fight and a separate one between Mike Sauer and Petteri Nokelainen (the latter two receiving game misconducts), we emerge with a 5-on-3 PP for two minutes to the Rangers, on which Erik Christensen capitalises.
• Well into the game, we finally see a shift for returning hero, Sean Avery.  First time I've heard grown men squeal with excitement at MSG.
• The first period ends 3-0 Rangers, the third goal a particularly good one, a shot block by Dan Girardi leading to a rush the other way, capped by a great pass from Derek Stepan to a streaking Michael Del Zotto to beat Carey Price.
• As expected, the Habs score early in the second period and pull to within a goal midway through the period on a 5-on-3 PP of their own, courtesy of Brian Gionta's wonky sense of balance as much as anything worth penalising.
• After surviving more than one shot off the post and some dangerous rushes from the apparently not-dead-yet Erik Cole, things become more comfortable for the Rangers as Brad Richards wires one past Price late in the second.
• The game tightens up considerably in the final frame, but a frantic finish is ensured once Gionta get his customary goal against the Rangers with two minutes to go.
• Captain Callahan eases nerves with the empty-netter, the puck amusingly being followed into the goal by Garden crowd favourite, P.K. Subban, spinning on his derrière.

Next up: The homestand and my trip ends with the visit of Dystugien Bufflin and the Jetlanta Thrasherpegs.

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Game #7: Winnipeg Jets 0-3 New York Rangers

• Predictably, far fewer Jets jerseys in the crowd than there were Canadiens jerseys last night.  The fans must have opted to spend all their ticket money to sit under a leaking ceiling on Long Island.  Understandable choice.
• During the anthems, somebody unfurls a banner reading: "2012 END FED RON PAUL".  I'm not heavily into U.S. politics, but it seems odd that Ruslan Fedotenko's contract status would be such a prominent issue for Republicans.
• After the excitement of last night's game, it seems back-to-back games for both teams is showing.  The first period is unremarkable, notable only for one crazy sequence in Marty Biron's goalmouth in which the puck is stopped on the goal-line two or three times and ends up with every player on the ice bar Jets goalie Ondřej Pavelec either in or right around the crease.  Dustin Byfuglien does a passable impression of an NFL fullback leaping over the pile at the goal-line, but cannot force the football to break the plane.
• The second period is almost equally unremarkable, notable only for Derek Stepan's PP goal to open the scoring.
• A bit more interesting in the third.  Three quick Jets penalties, give the Rangers the opportunity to get booed for failing to score on an extended 5-on-3 PP.  (Actually not that bad a PP - Pavelec mostly responsible for the lack of scoring.)  Then Marián Gáborik converts on a 2-on-1 rush led by the recently excellent Derek Stepan.
• Late Jets pressure is pretty sporadic and Gáborik seals the game in the last seconds with a lob wedge backhand empty netter.  Biron earns his first shutout as a Ranger and continues his strong start to the season.
• Signs of the tenuous strength of the financial support provided by Winnipeg fans are revealed when two of them duck the fare barriers at the crowded subway station rather than face the outrageous $2.50 cost.

So, another winning record for the Rangers during my trip.  They look a far better team than the one that struggled throughout the majority of the seven-game international road trip that preceded the homestand, if still a bit fortunate to earn as many points as they did.

Still a few questions to be answered too, such as:

• When will Marc Staal recover and return to the line-up?
• Will Dan Girardi die of exhaustion if that doesn't happen soon?
• When will "Sausage Boss by Andrew Carmellini" finally open at MSG?

The Pain Game 2011/12 - Part One

Injury stats update – October 2011

This is my first look for the 2011/12 regular season at which teams have been hit hardest by injuries by trying to place a value on the games missed by players due to injury/illness.

The concept again - multiply each game missed by a player by his 2011/12 cap charge, then take the aggregate of these figures for each team and divide by 82. This indicator of value lost to a team by injury/illness is called CHIP (Cap Hit of Injured Players).

Alternatively...

Again, for a different indicator of player "value", I've also illustrated a similar metric based on TOI/G alongside the CHIP numbers.  Clearly, neither cap charge nor TOI/G are perfect measures of player value, since each have a number of limitations and inconsistencies, but they provide a decent comparison and the results do vary somewhat.

A quick summary of the alternative metric:

• TOI/G replaces cap charge as the measure of value in the calculation
• For goalies, TOI/G has been worked out as Total Minutes Played / Games Dressed For* - i.e. a goalie playing every minute of 75% of the games, zero in the rest, would end up with a TOI/G of 45 minutes (or close to it, once you factor in OT and so on).  [*Actually, "Games Played by Team - Games Missed by Goalie" - I'm not inclined to disentangle any three-goalie systems or minor-league conditioning stints.]
• This arguably overstates the worth of starting goalies somewhat, but it's simple and you could equally argue that a workhorse goalie is the hardest position to replace, so it's fair for them to have a much higher TOI/G figure
  
• Where a player hasn't played all year (several examples at this point of the season) or where a player fairly clearly has a reduced TOI/G figure due to getting injured in their only game or one of very few games, I've used TOI/G from last season (or further back if necessary)
• For each player, multiply games missed by TOI/G to get (for a more palatable name) Cumulative Minutes of Injured Player (CMIP)
• Take the aggregate of CMIP for the team and divide by games played by the team to arrive at AMIP (Average Minutes of Injured Players) - it feels more understandable expressing this metric as an average per game (whereas CHIP is a running total)

The figures...
The table below shows:

• Total CHIP for each team over the 2011/12 regular season (through games played on 31 October), as well as the distribution of CHIP by position
• The player who has contributed most to the team's CHIP figure
• The number of players with a CHIP contribution of over $250,000 (think of it as being equivalent to a $1m player missing 20 games or a $4m player missing five games)
• AMIP for each team over the same period (e.g. an AMIP of 40:00 could be seen as the team missing two 20-minute per game players for every game this season)

 

10 second analysis...

No great surprise to see the Penguins again lead the way, though I've still got no idea who they've been missing. Their CHIP figure so far is a full $1m ahead of the highest figure at the same point last year, for comparison.

The old men of Detroit have had the first injury-free month that I can remember.  (Note: I'm not counting Jan Muršak's current IR stint as he's arguably not an established NHLer - see below for tenuous reasoning.)

Also worth noting that the top three team CHIP figures have already surpassed Carolina's 2010/11 figure for the whole season.

The next lists are the top 30 individual CHIP and CMIP contributions:

 

The usual goalie bias is evident in the CMIP figures.  Regular fixtures Markov, Connolly, Poti and Hemsky already making their mark this year.

Where does it hurt?
This is another update of the crude injury-by-location analysis. Again, I’ve just used the descriptions found in the player profiles on tsn.ca, so the figures will encompass all the inaccuracies and vagueness within them. It should give a broad indication, if nothing else, though.

Notes/Disclaimers

• Figures exclude a few minor-leaguers / marginal NHLers (perhaps an arbitrary judgement on my part in some cases) who are or had been on the NHL club’s IR since pre-season. Generally, if a minor-leaguer gets called up and then injured in an NHL game, his games missed will then count towards the CHIP though.  I try to exclude minor-league conditioning stints immediately after/during a period on IR from the man-games lost figures (but can't guarantee I get it right every time)
  
• There are undoubtedly a few inaccuracies and inconsistencies in there - I do the best I can with the information out there. Some corrections are picked up month-to-month too
  
• The cap figure doesn't really correlate very well to the "worth" of a player in some cases, e.g. where rookie bonuses are included this year, where players are seeing out an old (underpaid or rookie) contract or where players are horrendously overpaid
• Also, for any player who was acquired on re-entry waivers (e.g. Sean Avery), the cap hit will only reflect that for their current team, i.e. 50% of the player’s full cap hit (shared between his current and old teams)
• I've once again stuck a full team-by-team listing of games missed and CHIP/CMIP numbers by each player on the web HERE
• Injury/games/TOI info courtesy of tsn.ca and nhl.com - man-games lost info more than likely does not exactly match up with the "official" figures released by individual teams
  
• Cap info courtesy of capgeek.com

NHL Premiere 2011 in Stockholm

My usual précis (French word, meaning "list compiled by lazy writer unable, unwlling to construct paragraphs") of the NHL's latest Europansy expedition, following on from my attendance at games in Stockholm in 2009 and Prague last year.  This year, a team I'm actually bothered about!

New York Rangers 2-3 (OT) Los Angeles Kings, 7 October 2011

• What is Swedish for "Far too many Crosby jerseys?"
• In contrast to the policies put in place by the draconian concourse police in Prague, again I am actually free to enter the lower bowl during warmups without creating a major security crisis.
• Unlike last time in Stockholm, there is no game night presentation to speak of and no sign of the internationally acclaimed Bullet or Backyard Babies to provide live music pre-game, presumably victims of the European financial crisis. A scheduling clash with his Unicef humanitarian endeavours in a foreign land again robs us of an appearance from Scandic beats colossus, Basshunter.
• An wholly unreasonable 100kr once more secures me (suckers me?) a match(es) programme, once more almost entirely in Swedish, bar what will stay unread forewords from the charasmatic Messrs Bettman and Fehr.
• Despite the language barrier, I'm fully on board with the sentiments of the Canadiens' season preview:
  
  
• For the player introductions, large crowd reactions for Henrik Lundqvist, Tim Erixon and Mats Zuccarello-Aasen on the Rangers side, only really anything for former SEL player, Anže Kopitar for the Kings.
• Notionally a Kings home game in the record books, but despite the presence of the team mascot, the Rangers' P.A. announcer and a significant disparity in fans make it sound otherwise. There are even a couple of half-hearted airings of the "Potvin sucks" chant.
• Among the crowd and featured on the big screen at various points: Mats Sundin (similar ovation to two years ago), Markus Näslund (similar strangely disinterested expression as two years ago), Ulf "Reason why Potvin sucks" Nilsson, Kent Nilsson, Anders Hedberg and Mattias Norström.
• As far as the game goes...the Kings dominate the first period completely but the Rangers somehow escape at 1-1, mostly thanks to Lundqvist.  Kopitar, the best skater all game, scores off a Callahan giveaway ending up with roughly 27 Rangers face down on the ice, our glorious leader tying it up from a bad angle.
• Marián Gáborík shovels one home in the third at the end of a great shift by Brad Richards, earning him an assist and already the title of most successful UFA signing in franchise history.
• As is customary, NHL Commissioner of Respect and V.P. of Public Sobriety, Mike Richards scores against the Rangers to tie it up late, mostly thanks to Michael Del Zotto failing to tie him up late.
• Ryan McDonagh takes a slightly careless offensive zone penalty in OT, with more than a little help from a world class dive from Willie Mitchell, whose leg functionality is somehow directly and completely related to the muscles in his left shoulder.  Jack Johnson scores the winner, Brandon Dubinsky and his obliterated stick express mild consternation at the referee's penalty call.  Meh.

 New York Rangers 1-2 (SO) Anaheim Ducks, 8 October 2011

• A more visible and audible block of Ducks fans in attendance than was seen from the Kings contingent, but still a heavily blue colour to the crowd.
• Clear from the player introductions that even Swedes like Teemu Selanne.
  
• After the Zambonis exit prior to the start and the teams line up for the anthems, from above, the wide expanse of gleaming white surface reflecting the house lights is always an impressive sight. Then Ryan Getzlaf puts his helmet back on and we're ready to go.
• As well as some of the ex-players we saw yesterday, we see former Ranger Jan Erixon (father of current Ranger Tim Erixon, who is son of former Ranger, Jan Erixon), the bloke out of Roxette, who earns a surprisingly enthusiastic response, and the Swedish soccerball squadron, apparently fresh off a rivalry match-up against Findusland in the EuroSoccerPansy play-in tournament.
• I'm sat a mere three rows behind the Swedish TV announcers, including Calle Johansson (Washington Capitals fans: Google "Calle Johansson").
• As advertised, the Ducks top line of Andrew Cogliano, Andrew Gordon and veteran Devante Smith-Pelly prove tough to stop, Cogliano opening the scoring off a well-Emingerneered rush.
• Getzlaf and Gáborík manage to upset each other off the play for some reason. One benefit of the relatively benign atmosphere in the arena is the unexpected ability to hear from the second tier Getzlaf call Gáborík a "pizza shed" (I think) across the benches.
• Not much at all to note from a pretty useless game - nice to hear a couple of awesome Lundqvist saves elicit a big crowd response, but probably a sign that the game is going the wrong way.
• Brad Richards saves a point late in the third after a quiet game, before opting to leave the puck at center ice for his SO attempt.  The Ducks win in sudden death thanks to Bobby Ryan majorly whiffing on the puck, the change up beating Lundqvist.

Burning Questions - Western Conference

Arriving unexpectedly within a week of the Eastern Conference preview - timing Matt Cooke would call "a damn hurry" - presenting...er, the Western Conference:

Anaheim Ducks
Why is there all this talk about the anticipation over the long-awaited return of the veteran winger with the $4m cap hit to the Canadian city where he was so beloved, when the schedule says that the Ducks and Jason Blake don't even play in Toronto this year? 

Calgary Flames

Does the close proximity of the words "no movement clause" to the words "Curtis Glencross" elicit the same confusion in everyone else as it does with me? 

Chicago Blackhawks

Will universally popular new recruit Dan Carcillo finally prove that he is not dumber than he looks in the only possible way - by tattooing "Nah, I looks dummah" on his forehead? 

Colorado Avalanche

Might there be one or two flaws apparent in Greg Sherman's strategy of adding Shane O'Brien to Ryan O'Reilly and Ryan O'Byrne in the hope of making the Colorad O'Avalanche the most attractive destination when much-coveted Irish sniper, Alex O'Vechkin, hits free agency in 2021? 

Columbus Blue Jackets

Will James Wisniewski seize the opportunity to be a #1 defenseman, or will he blow it? 

Dallas Stars

Will the suffering of the fans through an almost-inevitable non-playoff season be compensated to some degree by the optimism given by the bushel of prospects and picks acquired in the Brad Richards trade at last year's deadline? 

Detroit Red Wings

Is Mike Commodore's sentiment in not cheapening the game by associating his jersey with a consumer electronics brand shared by newly-named team-mate Jakub Kindle? 

Edmonton Oilers

OMG RNH > MPS LOL WTF? 

Los Angeles Kings

Is the Drew Doughty contract impasse due to Dean Lombardi's unwillingness to pay him more than Anže Kopitar or his nagging doubt that Mike Richards' offer to take him to a Christian book reading evening to celebrate the eventual contract signing isn't all that it seems? 

Minnesota Wild

Can we assume this was the trade to a non-contending, cold-climate NW Division team that Dany Heatley has been looking for his whole career? 

Nashville Predators

Should the NHL fear another lockout when Brian Burke relents and accepts Ryan Ellis as a sweetener for having to take on Shea Weber's contract in exchange for Jay Rosehill, Joey Crabb and a napkin autographed by Lonny Bohonos? 

Phoenix Coyotes

By replacing Ilya Bryzgalov with Mike Smith, can we expect reports on the Coyotes to feature the phrase "huge losses" even more than normal? 

San Jose Sharks

Can Doug Wilson continue to pry the most successful parts out of the Minnesota franchise by acquiring the rights to Jacques Lemaire and the year 2003? 

St. Louis Blues

Does Nikita Nikitin possess the best smoking-related name in the NHL since Zdeno Ciger? 

Vancouver Canucks

What will the fans' reception be like at the home opener, when the team shows up there for the first time since Game Five of the Cup Final?

Burning Questions - Eastern Conference

The month of September means it's Burning Questions time in the NHL (except for Vancouver fans, where questions about burning stuff get asked in June).  So, here is the Eastern Conference - with a guarantee that somewhere less than 100% of last year's material has been re-used.

(Publishing note: As is customary, due to time-zone differences, the Western Conference equivalent will likely not follow for another 2-3 months.)

Atlanta Thrashers

How is the season ticket drive going?

Boston Bruins

Is Brad Marchand hampering his chances of being signed before training camp by his insistence on repeatedly punching Peter Chiarelli in the face during contract negotiations?

Buffalo Sabres

Will Terry Pegula be forced to hire more personal security staff to deal with the daily onslaught of individuals wanting to shake his hand and express their overwhelming joy about his ownership of the team, or will Ville Leino and Christian Ehrhoff eventually leave him alone?

Carolina Hurricanes

Will the notoriously potty-mouthed Paul Maurice be able to find a more acceptable way of shouting Justin Faulk's name on the bench if he makes the team?

 "FAULK, OFF!"

Florida Panthers

Will Matt Bradley have a higher opinion of Alexander Semin's playoff production once he discovers every one of his new teammates suffers a 100% drop off in scoring after the regular season ends?

Montreal Canadiens

After closing their case against Zdeno Chara's size, will the local police find something more worthy of investigation, such as the theft of $51.5m by Scott Gomez?

New Jersey Devils

What are the chances coach DeBoer misinterprets Marty Brodeur's usual request to "put mousse in the goal every night"?

New York Islanders

In the unlikely event of Trevor Gillies missing 19 games through suspension again, which player(s) will seize the opportunity to make up the deficit of 38 seconds of aggregate ice-time?

New York Rangers

Is the start of the multi-million dollar renovation of Madison Square Garden connected in any way to Bruce Boudreau's complaints about the building during the playoffs, or was the Dunkin' Donuts stand integrated into the away bench in the original construction plans?

Ottawa Senators

Is the holding of 20th anniversary season celebrations just an elaborate ruse to ice a more competitive line-up by inviting members of the stellar 10-win team of 1992-93 back to Ottawa?

Philadelphia Flyers

Will ECHL 2nd Team All-Star Michael Leighton make his season debut in Game One or Game Two of the Flyers first round playoff series?

Pittsburgh Penguins

Will the headaches, nausea and irritability eventually subside, or will I still be subjected to Steigerwald and Errey broadcasting on far too many occasions?

Tampa Bay Lightning

Can evil genius Guy Boucher again create the illusion that Dwayne Roloson is a dominant NHL goalie in the second half of the season by playing the entire first half of the season with five sheets of slightly damp toilet paper dangling from the crossbar instead?

Toronto Maple Leafs

Should fans be worried by Brian Burke's comment that iron-man Tim Connolly is "going to get new legs" in Toronto, given the historical lack of success for amputees at the NHL level?

Washington Capitals

During games against the Islanders, will Tomáš Vokoun attempt to distract Evgeni Nabokov by burning $50 $10 bills in front of him?

Winnipeg Jets

Does the franchise risk tarnishing its proud association with the military by promising Dustin Byfuglien a test-drive in a nuclear submarine?

Stanley Cup Final 2011: A Viewer's Guide

So your team has (yet again) not made it as far as the Stanley Cup Final? So jaded by the long grind of playoff hockey that you can't summon the energy to write an intro different to the one you used last year?

If you have nothing better to do, why not use my viewer's guide? Score along at home during the series and if you break 30 points, a multi-million dollar prize will head your way. At least that's what Chris Drury and Shawn Horcoff told me...

(I accept no responsibility for the consequences if you instead turn this into a drinking game. Watching a few playoff games is no excuse for drunken debauchery. At least that's what the Montreal Police Department told me...)

• Man in garish, fluorescent green outfit performing tired, attention-seeking act next to road team penalty box during game (2 pts)

• Man in garish, fluorescent green outfit performing tired, attention-seeking act next to Ron MacLean during Coach's Corner segment (1 pt)

• Versus or NBC displaying on-screen graphic to illustrate where Canada is (5 pts)

• Versus or NBC displaying on-screen graphic to illustrate where Sidney Crosby is (10 pts)

• Denis Leary dropping F-bomb accidentally-on-purpose during mid-game interview with rink-side reporter (6 pts)

• Mike Emrick failing to mention which US college was attended by Ryan Kesler, Jeff Tambellini, Chris Higgins, Rich Peverley, Tim Thomas, the goal judge, his hotel receptionist etc... (8 million pts)

• Eddie Olczyk's forced chuckle (2 pts)

• "Good active stick" (-5 pts)

• Jeremy Roenick clearly articulating a thoughtful, rational point during post-game coverage (100 pts)

• Jeremy Roenick scribbling "JR needs a wee wee" using his virtual crayons during post-game coverage (40 pts)

• Each CBC shot of Bruins President of Looking Angry in Executive Boxes, Cam Neely (1 pt) 

• Each CBC shot of Maple Leafs President of Looking Angry in Executive Boxes Even Though My Team Isn't Taking Part, Brian Burke (0.1 pts)

• Tom Brady watching the game while holding a goat (7 pts)

• Funny looking bald guy shouting and getting up close to Bruins players during timeout (10 pts)

• Claude Julien struggling to muscle past Pierre McGuire and/or Darren Pang to diagram a play for Bruins players during timeout (20 pts)

Coach Julien is not usually happy to be interviewed during the game

• Adrien Plavsic (0 pts)

• Jim Hughson or Mike Emrick calling the winning goal in OT to clinch the 2011 Stanley Cup (1 pt)

• Jim Hughson or Mike Emrick finally calling the winning goal in OT to clinch the 2010 Stanley Cup (88 pts)

• Andrew Ference raising the Cup over his head in triumph (5 pts)

• Andrew Ference lowering his pants around his ankles in triumph (15 pts)

• After the final game, Mark Recchi immediately bringing the end to a long, dinstinguished career, by announcing the retirement of the patch of hair above his forehead (43 pts)

Throwing games in the NHL

[If the title led you to believe this would be an analysis of the team-building strategy of the Pittsburgh Penguins, I apologise.  It's not.]

The aftermath of the post-game torrent of giveaway paddles/clappers/rally drums launched by Tampa Bay fans onto the playing surface - and ever so accidentally in the general vicinity of one or two Boston Bruins players - last night has brought with it the usual furious, yet measured and consistent, response from NHL HQ today.

The Lightning organisation and the retaliating Nathan Horton have both been left reeling from the respective heavy fine and suspension laid down by the league.

Far from being rare, of course there have been many instances of unusual objects being discarded onto the ice at hockey arenas over the years.  Here is just a small selection:

Octopi

As every hockey fan knows, Detroit Red Wings fans have been lobbing octopi on the ice during the playoffs since the 1950s, the eight arms originally signifying the number of wins necessary to win the Stanley Cup. Recently the NHL has begun to frown upon the ritual, a crackdown on eight animal limbs hitting the playing surface first instituted by Colin Campbell in response to Sean Avery spilling the contents of Martin Brodeur's KFC bargain bucket during the 2008 playoffs.

A wooden bench

In January 2000, irate at a missed call, New Jersey Devils coach Robbie Ftorek opted to throw part of the team bench onto the ice. The Devils' well-established run-and-gun system allowed the bench to seamlessly fit in on a line with John Madden and Jay Pandolfo, chalking up a creditable +12 rating over the balance of the season, before signing a lucrative but ultimately disastrous free agent deal with the New York Rangers that summer.

Plastic rats

In one of several short-lived crazes aping Detroit's octupus tossing, during one of their team's regular marches to the Stanley Cup Final in 1996, Florida Panthers fans took to littering the ice with plastic rats whenever the Panthers scored, apparently instigated by the story of Scott Mellanby killing a (real) rat in the dressing room. The practice is also thought to have inspired the recent throwing of plastic dogs after every Michael Vick touchdown in Philadelphia.

Confetti

The Vancouver Canucks faced criticism this week for allowing confetti to be showered onto the ice after clinching the Western Conference championship, the sight of players consequently being forced to skate very slowly to avoid injury only bringing back bad memories of Mats Sundin's time in the city.

Waffles

After famously throwing waffles onto the Air Canada Centre ice to express his displeasure at the Toronto Maple Leafs' loss to the Atlanta Thrashers earlier this season, die-hard fan Joe Robb avoided criminal charges but was forced to carry out five hours of community service and is now banned from ever again watching the Atlanta Thrashers play at Air Canada Centre.

Rubber snake

Following an internet-led campaign, a Keith Yandle goal in a 2010 playoff game against Detroit resulted in one Phoenix Coyotes fan flinging a rubber snake onto the ice. Originally believed to be motivated as a riposte to the Red Wings' octopus tradition, it later emerged that the sacrifice of a hairless, predatory and cold-blooded object merely symbolised the rejection of Jim Balsillie's as the team's potential owner.

Hats

The throwing of hats on the ice after a player scores a hat-trick goal has long been embraced by players and fans alike, a tradition only threatened by league spokesman Sidney Crosby's complaints during a 2009 playoff game about the sheer volume of hats being thrown in his direction by the Capitals' Dave Steckel.

A glove

In the final minute of a tied December 2008 game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning, popular Flyers forward Scott Hartnell attempted to thwart a breakaway by Ryan Malone by throwing his glove towards the Lightning player, resulting in a penalty shot being awarded and missed, thus astonishing Flyers fans under the age of 40, who had never before seen the glove of a Flyers player prevent a goal.

Tennis balls

The annual college match-up between Dartmouth and Princeton includes the ritual of Dartmouth fans hurling tennis balls onto the ice after their team's first goal of the game. The continuation of that tradition at Madison Square Garden for each goal scored by star New York Rangers forward and Dartmouth alum, Hugh Jessiman, is believed to have extinguished the entire stock of tennis balls in Manhattan.

NHL Awards - meet the contenders

Somewhat lost in the excitement of the playoffs over the last couple of weeks have been the announcements about the nominees for the various NHL awards (those that are voted on).

Once again, these are to be handed out in a faintly embarrassing lavish ceremony in Las Vegas in June attended by whoever comes up first on Bettman's "Best Rock of the 80s" iPod playlist some of the entertainment industry's biggest names and Eric Weinrich and Darcy Wakaluk many legends of the game.

Here is a quick rundown of the main awards and those in the running:


Hart Memorial Trophy

Supposed to be awarded to: The player adjudged most valuable to his team
In practice, normally awarded to: The player with the most points and/or who happened to get hot in the last month of the season

Corey Perry (Anaheim)
Aiming to become the first MVP since Bobby Clarke in 1975/76 to rack up 100 penalty minutes in the season, thus creating the instant quiz question: "How the hell did Chris Pronger go a season without getting 100 penalty minutes?"

Daniel Sedin (Vancouver)
There is simply no other player like him.

Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay)
Put the team on his shoulders and carried them, the team promising to return the favour during a planned off-season trip to Disneyland.

James Norris Memorial Trophy

Supposed to be awarded to: The defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position
In practice, normally awarded to: Nicklas Lidstrom

Zdeno Chara (Boston)
Neutralised the offense of Max Pacioretty and Ryan Callahan more effectively than any other player in the league could manage.

Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit)
Continued to defy conventional wisdom by putting up the first minus season of his career despite playing much less often in front of Chris Osgood.

Shea Weber (Nashville)
First Norris Trophy nomination for a player with an Irish name since Sandis O'Zolinsh in 1997.

Vezina Trophy

Supposed to be awarded to: The goaltender who is adjudged to be the best at this position
In practice, normally awarded to: The goaltender who is adjudged to be at least as good as Jim Carey and Jose Theodore turned out to be

Roberto Luongo (Vancouver)
Strong performance attributed to playing 12 inches deeper in his crease and Dustin Byfuglien playing 600 miles deeper in the Eastern Conference.

Pekka Rinne (Nashville)
Hoping to become the first Finnish goalie to pick up some hardware since Brian Burke sent Vesa Toskala to Canadian Tire to collect his new lawnmower.

Tim Thomas (Boston)
Rewarded for breaking Dominik Hasek's long-standing NHL record for most saves made while looking like an inebriated octopus playing Twister.

Calder Memorial Trophy

Supposed to be awarded to: The player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League
In practice, normally awarded to: The player selected as the most proficient in what might be his third year of competition in the National Hockey League after what might be no or several years of competition in another professional league

Logan Couture (San Jose)
Consistent scorer over the long NHL season after being a less consistent scorer over the 40 NHL games he played last year.

Michael Grabner (New York Islanders)
Impending impressive season and his many suitors triggered Dale Tallon to start the Panthers' annual fire sale before Game #1.

Jeff Skinner (Carolina)
Highly promising rookie campaign means Jim Rutherford will surely look to re-acquire his services from other teams three or four times over his career.

Frank J. Selke Trophy

Supposed to be awarded to: The forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game
In practice, normally awarded to: The forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game while having the offensive ability to score at least 50 points

Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit)
Incredibly, was not on the ice for a single goal conceded by the Wings during any of the 26 games he missed through injury.

Ryan Kesler (Vancouver)
Strong in all the areas the voters look for in determining the best defensive forward, most importantly in scoring a lot more goals than last year.

Jonathan Toews (Chicago)
Credited with significantly reducing the Hawks' goals against over the course of the season due to his suggestion to the coaching staff that Marty Turco should maybe start fewer games.

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

Supposed to be awarded to: The player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey
In practice, normally awarded to: The player who missed the most games through injury the season before

Ray Emery (Anaheim)
Despite showing up for his first practice a personal best four months late, beat enormously long odds to become the more sympathetic character of the Ducks' goalie tandem alongside Dan Ellis.

Daymond Langkow (Calgary)
Displayed remarkable commitment, bolstering Calgary's lack of depth at center during his 78-game absence by matching Matt Stajan's production.

Ian Laperriere (Philadelphia)
Showed huge determination in his personal quest to prove that the Masterton Award is not a "Comeback Player" award by not coming back at all.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

Supposed to be awarded to: The player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability
In practice, normally awarded to: The player adjudged to have had the fewest penalty minutes when the voters quickly skim down the list of top 20 scorers five minutes before the deadline to send in their ballot

Loui Eriksson (Dallas)
Only 8 penalty minutes for the Swedish forward, meaning he only lost patience and speared Steve Ott once every 20 games.

Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit)
Six-time winner, perennial All-Star and future Hall of Famer demonstrated admirable restraint by not throttling Versus reporters referring to him as Nicholas Lindstrom at the All-Star Game.

Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay)
Voters were apparently convinced by his claims that he had nothing to do with Guy Boucher's scar.

Jack Adams Award

Supposed to be awarded to: The coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success
In practice, normally awarded to: The coach adjudged to have coached a team to a position somewhere between 5th and 8th in the conference

Dan Bylsma (Pittsburgh)
Led the league in the all-important media-friendly statistical category of Most Appearances in High-Profile Documentary While Swearing Fewer Times Than Bruce Boudreau.

Barry Trotz (Nashville)
Steered an offensively-challenged line-up to a playoff berth and calmly handled controversial mid-season addition of Randy Moss.

Alain Vigneault (Vancouver)
Coached his team to a 54-19-9 record in undoubtedly one of the American Hockey League's strongest divisions.

General Manager of the Year Award

Supposed to be awarded to: Brian Burke
In practice, normally awarded to: The top National Hockey League General Manager

Mike Gillis (Vancouver)
Backed his belief that extra goalscoring was not necessary for his team by acquiring the likes of Dan Hamhuis, Keith Ballard and Chris Higgins.

David Poile (Nashville)
Veteran GM has refused to waver in his position that Coach Trotz's neck has never been on the block.

Steve Yzerman (Tampa Bay)
Earned high praise from the Canadian media for showing superb prowess in the areas of being Steve Yzerman, not being associated with the previous ownership and somehow managing to find a better goalie than Mike Smith.

The Pain Game - 3-year analysis (2008/09 - 2010/11)

Nothing much more than a data dump of aggregate figures here, having compiled three years' worth of stuff now.

Analyses of individual seasons (including explanations of the figures and their limitations) are at the following links:

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

 Firstly, a ranking of teams by aggregate CHIP over the last three seasons (click to enlarge):

The same figures grouped by division:

The largest ten and smallest ten CHIP figures by a team in a single season over the last three:

The largest ten CHIP figures accumulated by a player in a single season over the last three:

The Pain Game 2010/11 - end of season wrap

Injury stats update – end of season awards

This is the final update for the 2010/11 regular season looking at which teams have been hit hardest by injuries by trying to place a value on the games missed by players due to injury/illness.  (Last month's analysis is HERE.)

The concept again - multiply each game missed by a player by his 2010/11 cap charge, then take the aggregate of these figures for each team and divide by 82. This indicator of value lost to a team by injury/illness is called CHIP (Cap Hit of Injured Players).

Alternatively...

Again, for a different indicator of player "value", I've also illustrated a similar metric based on TOI/G alongside the CHIP numbers.  Clearly, neither cap charge nor TOI/G are perfect measures of player value, since each have a number of limitations and inconsistencies, but they provide a decent comparison and the results do vary somewhat.

A quick summary of the alternative metric:

• TOI/G replaces cap charge as the measure of value in the calculation
• For goalies, TOI/G has been worked out as Total Minutes Played / Games Dressed For* - i.e. a goalie playing every minute of 75% of the games, zero in the rest, would end up with a TOI/G of 45 minutes (or close to it, once you factor in OT and so on).  [*Actually, "Games Played by Team - Games Missed by Goalie" - I'm not inclined to disentangle any three-goalie systems or minor-league conditioning stints.]
• This arguably overstates the worth of starting goalies somewhat, but it's simple and you could equally argue that a workhorse goalie is the hardest position to replace, so it's fair for them to have a much higher TOI/G figure
  
• Where a player hasn't played all year (several examples at this point of the season) or where a player fairly clearly has a reduced TOI/G figure due to getting injured in their only game or one of very few games, I've used TOI/G from last season (or further back if necessary)
• For each player, multiply games missed by TOI/G to get (for a more palatable name) Cumulative Minutes of Injured Player (CMIP)
• Take the aggregate of CMIP for the team and divide by games played by the team to arrive at AMIP (Average Minutes of Injured Players) - it feels more understandable expressing this metric as an average per game (whereas CHIP is a running total)

The figures...
The table below (playoff teams highlighted in yellow) shows:

• Total CHIP for each team over the 2010/11 regular season
  
• The player who has contributed most to the team's CHIP figure
• The number of players with a CHIP contribution of over $250,000 (think of it as being equivalent to a $1m player missing 20 games or a $4m player missing five games)
• AMIP for each team over the same period (e.g. an AMIP of 40:00 could be seen as the team missing two 20-minute per game players for every game this season)
  

For a further breakdown, the following table also shows the distribution of CHIP by position for each team:

10 second analysis...

After a late surge that surely nobody could have seen coming, given the scandalous lack of media coverage, the Penguins clinch the title of Most Benign Videos of a Player Appearing at Practice Released to the Public Most Injured Team in the NHL 2010/11.

The plucky Rangers saw their chance of an unprecedented worst-to-first run dashed by Ryan Callahan's inability to break himself on a Zdeno Chara slapshot quite early enough in the season and Glen Sather's unfathomable decision not to tack another million per year on Derek Boogaard's bargain contract.

At the other end of the table, Carolina's rather massive separation from the field only made my amusement at their Game 82 wipeout increase, when their colour analyst (colour: orange) Tripp Tracy decided to claim injuries were a major factor in the team's failure to make the playoffs within two minutes of the game ending.

Despite the cluster of non-playoff teams towards the top of the CHIP table, I'm still not that convinced there is much of a correlation with performance overall - of those teams, only really the Devils' failure could be argued as being much of a surprise.

Not sure how the injured Penguins forwards have been rated as having more value than the long Drury/Boogaard absences for the Rangers, but then I never claimed the system was perfect.  And where would the Senators, Leafs, Wild and Islanders have been without the costly injuries to Leclaire, Giguere, Harding and a bunch of minor league goalies respectively?

Now I have three years' worth of the data (2008/09 analysis and 2009/10 analysis), I will consider doing a post with some sort of wider annual comparisons.  For now, worth noting that the league-wide aggregate CHIP figure of around $234m is higher than each of the last two years - though increases in average contract size may well play a part in this.

The next lists are the top 30 individual CHIP and CMIP contributions:

Andrei Markov follows up a strong 13th place finish in 2009/10 to just hold off Captain Clutch for the individual CHIP title.  Surely cause for celebration in Montreal.  Stay away from parked cars, Andrei.

Mark Streit's season-long presence in the press box would have been a crushing blow for the Islanders.  Had he not had his credentials revoked by the team in November, of course.

Players who missed all 82 games: Sauer (Phoenix), Mueller (Colorado), Harding (Minnesota), Sheppard (Minnesota), Salvador (New Jersey), Streit (NY Islanders), Laperriere (Philadelphia), Bitz (Florida).

Where does it hurt?
This is another update of the crude injury-by-location analysis. Again, I’ve just used the descriptions found in the player profiles on tsn.ca, so the figures will encompass all the inaccuracies and vagueness within them. It should give a broad indication, if nothing else, though.

And as an extra, further final bonus, a final look at the Evasiveness Index.  This is basically the proportion of injury instances for each team that have been described as either "Undisclosed" or the helpfully pointless "Upper/Lower Body" in the same TSN profiles.  I have made no judgement about whether the many instances of "Illness" (i.e. concussion), "Flu" (i.e. concussion) or even "Boogaard Shoulder" (i.e. concussion) should also be included.

Carolina uncharacteristically blew their chance of victory here by deciding to disclose a couple of injuries down the stretch.  Greg Sherman clearly has a lot to learn, or too much time on his hands, managing to disclose each one of 46 different injuries to 29 different players.  Not including Peter Forsberg.

Notes/Disclaimers

• Figures exclude a few minor-leaguers / marginal NHLers who are or had been on the NHL club’s IR since pre-season. Generally, if a minor-leaguer gets called up and then injured in an NHL game, his games missed will then count towards the CHIP though.  I've tried to exclude minor-league conditioning stints immediately after/during a period on IR from the man-games lost figures
  
• There are undoubtedly a few inaccuracies and inconsistencies in there - I do the best I can with the information out there. Some corrections are picked up month-to-month too
  
• The cap figure doesn't really correlate very well to the "worth" of a player in some cases, e.g. where rookie bonuses are included this year, where players are seeing out an old (underpaid or rookie) contract or where players are horrendously overpaid
• Also, for any player who was acquired on re-entry waivers (e.g. Sean Avery), the cap hit will only reflect that for their current team, i.e. 50% of the player’s full cap hit (shared between his current and old teams)
• I've once again stuck a full team-by-team listing of games missed and CHIP/CMIP numbers by each player on the web HERE
• Injury/games/TOI info courtesy of tsn.ca and nhl.com - man-games lost info more than likely does not exactly match up with the "official" figures released by individual teams
  
• Cap info courtesy of capgeek.com