Hockey blog providing critical analysis on trends and stats for the Calgary Flames, NHL, and more.
The Calgary Flames got off to a shaky start against the Vancouver Canucks, but after the first period, they came out ablaze in the second and never looked back. Johnny Gaudreau, Mikael Backlund, and Elias Lindholm scored three straight goals in the second frame. In the third, Mark Giordano added a power play goal and … Continue reading Flames Visual Recap 3: Flames comeback with a torching second period, win second straight over Canucks
The Calgary Flames picked up their first win of the 2020-21 campaign, winning with a 3-0 shutout over the Vancouver Canucks. Jacob Markstrom stopped all 32 shots against him, while the Flames got three power play goals from Sean Monahan, Dillon Dube, and Matthew Tkachuk. Check out these data visualisations to see how the Game … Continue reading Flames Visual Recap 2: Markstrom shuts out Canucks, Flames get first win of the year
Hockey is officially back. The NHL has kicked off its 2020-21 regular season and there will be hockey every single day for over 100 days, knock on wood. One part of The Win Column's offseason improvements was to generate automated plots with R to visualise Flames games. One of the plots depict shot locations, which … Continue reading R Tutorial: Creating an NHL rink using the Tidyverse
The NHL is set to return to competitive action this week. Teams are either winding down their training camps, or in some unfortunate cases are back in quarantine. Undoubtedly, there are many challenges associated with starting a regular season while the pandemic is yet to be under control. As spectators, we can only hope those … Continue reading NHL North Division 2021 travel breakdown
The Calgary Flames have seen plenty of ups and downs in the past five years, both on and off the ice. In terms of their on-ice product, they've had one of their best franchise performances in 2018-19, just one season removed from missing the playoffs. This past season, they might have tended closer to what … Continue reading Visualising the luckiest Calgary Flames in the past five seasons using expected goals
The San Jose Sharks have one of the NHL's longest tenured general managers in Doug Wilson (only the Nashville Predators and David Poile have had a longer such executive relationship). Since being named the Sharks' GM in 2003, Wilson has seen the team win a Presidents' Trophy in 2008-09, make the Stanley Cup Finals in … Continue reading Visualising the development of San Jose Sharks draft picks made by Doug Wilson
The Detroit Red Wings have now had two NHL Entry Drafts led by Steve Yzerman and the Yzerplan. Just two years removed from the end of the Ken Holland era, the makeup of the Red Wings still very much have Holland's influence all over the team, and we can look back into his recent draft … Continue reading Visualising the development of Detroit Red Wings draft picks made by Ken Holland since 2008
The Edmonton Oilers are now two drafts removed from Peter Chiarelli's influence. As the last two NHL entry drafts have had current general manager Ken Holland at the Oilers' helm, his fingerprints are starting to show in the Oilers' prospects system. Still, Chiarelli's impact on the Oilers will still be felt for years to come. … Continue reading Visualising the development of Edmonton Oilers draft picks made by Peter Chiarelli
The 2020 NHL Draft saw the Vancouver Canucks add five prospects to their system, selecting a player each from the third round through to the seventh. After this draft, Jim Benning's tenure as general manager has brought in 48 draft picks since his arrival in 2014. Of the 43 draft picks made in prior years, … Continue reading Visualising the development of Vancouver Canucks draft picks made by Jim Benning
The Tampa Bay Lightning have won the 2020 Stanley Cup. The NHL was completely successful in its Return to Play plan, and managed to see a unique postseason played through in its entirety in just two bubbles. While the end of September most years marks a time where everyone awaits the start of the regular … Continue reading 2020 NHL Playoffs goals by game state and scorer: Stanley Cup Final
