Great write-up. I like some of the changes you've made to the structure - lots of interesting little factoids, instead of one long narrative. Very readable, and very enjoyable.
One comment on Mangiapane, and the 'spreadsheet lineup'... if the fancy stats say he should be int he lineup, then the fancy stats are doing it wrong IMO. He has been bad. His stat line for the season now:
8 games: 0 goals, 0 assists, -5. He has played 84 minutes of hockey on the 2nd best team in the NHL and is -5. To put that into perspective, let's compare him to the minus leader on the team, Neal.
Neal..........: -12, TOI 687 minutes, that's a minus for every 57 minutes of ice-time
Mangiapane: -5, TOI 84 minutes, that's a minus for every 17 minutes of ice-time
In other words, if you dress Mangiapane, you are basically starting the game down 1-0.
No possession stats can save or justify that.
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