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Old 08-09-2021, 12:17 PM   #295
Enoch Root
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Join Date: May 2012
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Quote:
Not only do they account for quality of teammates, it's actually listed right on the card along with quality of competition. Short version is Nurse plays with the best players against the opposition's best players
It states quality of competition, but that is not the same as accounting for it.

Who you play with matters a lot. Who you play against matters a lot. How you are utilized matters a lot.

And the problem with comparing players, using charts like this is that no two players are being put in the same position. Who Nurse plays with, who Nurse plays against, and how he is utilized, is completely different than who Jones (for instance) plays with, against, and how he is utilized. Even if Jones is also playing 'with the best players, against the best players'.

We get these nice charts with lots of numbers to compare - this guy is good at this but sucks at that, while that guy is better at this but worse at that - and we assume that they are comparing the same things. But they are not.

That is why we get surprises from players like Tanev when he moved to the Flames. His numbers sucked in VAN, but then they were great in CGY. Why? Is it because he suddenly figured out how to hockey? Or is it because his situation and utilization changed?

I have been arguing this for years - hockey stats are inherently flawed because who you are on the ice with, and against, is everything. It's a team game. And even though they try to account for this, they do not and cannot.

You aren't going to have good stats if your line gets its proverbial head pounded in every shift.

(none of this applies to Nurse specifically, just making a point)
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