5 Minutes for Data

Hey, I hope everyone is having an excellent start to their summer. I'll be back all summer with analysis. Let's start off with some playoff recap. First, I want to take a moment to appreciate the Final we just witnessed. After going through what I believe was ten years having four different teams win championships, we were finally able to watch the Stanley Cup be lifted by a new team, one that has undoubtedly had its fair share of struggles over the years. Now, let's get down to the data. I want to start by examining how Alex Ovechkin's play helped bring his team to success. I am focusing on him, as he was the Conn Smythe winner. Although this might be subjective, Ovechkin is his team's captain and franchise player. Therefore, let's look deeper into his play. All statistics are courtesy of  Natural Stat Trick . First, although this stat is used to consider how "lucky" a team is with a certain player on the ice, PDO, can be useful. Put simply, PDO i...

Hello, After a long time off, I am returning to my weekly blog posts. I am finished with school, so I'm excited to take a deep dive into the data of the NHL playoffs and, most importantly, as a Rangers fan, the NHL draft. I will post later this week, so please continue to follow this blog. I greatly appreciate your taking the time to read my content. Lastly, I want to congratulate Alex Ovechkin on winning his first Stanley Cup. His reaction is why I love this amazing sport. Best, Jonathan

Hey, thanks for taking the time every week to read my content! Unfortunately, I'm pretty bogged down with school this weekend, so I'm going on a short hiatus. Stay tuned as new content will come in the coming weeks! Please check it regularly on Fridays, as I plan to post during the week whenever I'm available. Thanks, Jonathan.

I was in London this week for my spring break and, unfortunately, I came back with an unwanted souvenir, a minor cold. This week's analysis is going to be much shorter than usual as I am not feeling well enough to do an in-depth post. As I said in my first post, I wish to find a relationship between statistics and success, specifically, and most obviously, in the playoffs. For this week's post, I want to test the famous quote from football coach Paul "Bear Bryant, "Defense wins championships."  Therefore, I want to test GF% versus number of wins. This statistic is to test whether a larger ratio between the number of goals scored and given up has any determination in a team's success during the playoffs.   In other words, whether a team needs to have an overwhelming offense to bring home the glory or just needs to keep themselves marginally in front of their opposition. My analysis is below: I'm going to attach screenshots below. In short, I have a p-valu...

I understand that these 4 players are not the primary focus on the Ranger's rebuild, the prospect and picks are. However, these players are the most comparable, as they are on the same playing field. I plan on doing an in-depth analysis closer to the draft of the Ranger's future assets, or as I have learned this semester in financial accounting, the Ranger's accounts receivables. One thing to note about this term, which is very apt for hockey is the uncertainty presented associated with it. Picks and prospects mean nothing when they don't create results. So for now, let's focus on those currently in the NHL.  Now that we have seen the two play with their new teams for roughly a week and a half, I want to break down their play. I am writing this on March, 1st in reaction to not only Vlad Namestnikov and Ryan Spooner's contributions to the Ranger's scrappy win against the also-rebuilding Canucks, but also in response to, as of 11:30pm, J.T. Miller's two as...

Hi, my name is Jonathan, and I'm a freshman at NYU Stern School of Business. As a lifelong New York Rangers fan, I have seen my team tease me with success in the playoffs before bowing out to better teams. A few years ago, NHL started an advanced statistics page looking at two of the most notable advanced hockey statistics, Corsi and Fenwick. I began to notice that teams with a higher percentage of shots during a game, specifically those over 50%, usually had more playoff success. That, along with the Michael Lewis' Moneyball, introduced me to the power of using statistics and science to achieve success in sports. As a result, and at the recommendation of my regression statistics professor and data-analytics-industry-veteran, Lucius Riccio, I created this blog to explore this relationship. Specifically, how hockey statistics can lend a hand to team development and ultimately, and most importantly, playoff success. Since I am still scratching the surface of this field, please be...