Carol Schram: Vancouver Canucks Willie Desjardins at Conference, NHL to Seattle Alive? Some words from Willie Desjardins at last week's coach's conference in Toronto, and a new breath of hope for an NHL franchise in Seattle?

Governments are hard pressed to spend tax dollars on billionaires toys but I think it'd be a win for the city as a whole (with the spin-offs) to get both an NHL and NBA franchise. Carolina would be a good candidate for relocation as it would take three years to build an arena and get through all the red-tape!

Carol….nothing leaking out on why Juolevi isn't signed yet?

Governments are hard pressed to spend tax dollars on billionaires toys but I think it'd be a win for the city as a whole to get both an NHL and NBA franchise. Carolina would be a good candidate for relocation as it would take three years to build an arena and get through all the red-tape!

Carol….nothing leaking out on why Juolevi isn't signed yet?
- Leftcoaster

I think 3 years is the right window to get through the red tape and build more hockey interest in northwest USA. Vegas might be the catalyst for more hockey fans in the area, particularly if the team is going to be as competitive as the NHL is hoping. I hoped Portland would be considered since they have an arena, but I would wait for Seattle as well

Good topics CS

Leadership

Redemption.

Training

I think the team wants to prove the hockey world wrong

I used to be a big Sonics fan, and travel to Seattle from time to time to watch the Seahawks and Mariners. Unless you have a death wish, you cannot troll Seattle folks by mentioning Sonics, Durant, Westbrook, etc. You can purchase guns with a pack of cigarettes and Doritos there. My point is that Seattle will have to sort out its basketball issue first before hockey is considered.

Can we start the Edler for Schenn campaign now and make Juolevi our top pair Dman or do we wait until next Tuesday

Where's The Kuze when we need him.

Vancouver Canucks Willie Desjardins at Conference, NHL to Seattle Alive? Some words from Willie Desjardins at last week's coach's conference in Toronto, and a new breath of hope for an NHL franchise in Seattle?
- Carol Schram

Why are you people talking about giving Seattle an NHL franchise, so soon after the death of Joe Hall?

My goodness, you people are cold-hearted.

Good topics CS

Leadership

Redemption.

Training

I think the team wants to prove the hockey world wrong
- VANTEL

It also sounds like Willie is more pumped for this season, hopefully he can take a few chances here and there and go outside his comfort zone this season.

It also sounds like Willie is more pumped for this season, hopefully he can take a few chances here and there and go outside his comfort zone this season.
- NorthNuck

WD should take chances.

If Benning was to fire WD he would be taking that big bullseye off Desjardins back and putting it on his own.

WD should take chances.

If Benning was to fire WD he would be taking that big bullseye off Desjardins back and putting it on his own.
- VANTEL

Exactly. Hopefully he is able to break out of his safe zone of coaching this year and we'll see more exciting hockey.

Governments are hard pressed to spend tax dollars on billionaires toys but I think it'd be a win for the city as a whole (with the spin-offs) to get both an NHL and NBA franchise. Carolina would be a good candidate for relocation as it would take three years to build an arena and get through all the red-tape!

Carol….nothing leaking out on why Juolevi isn't signed yet?
- LeftCoaster

I am not an insider, but if you look at the contracts for the first 4 picks this year they're all above $3.2M AAV. Then Tkachuk signed for 1.85M. I'm thinking OJ wants $3M and JB wants $2M. There is no rush, they can send him back to London to lift weights this year without "losing him" and even if it costs $3M for the following 3 years, thats a huge piece of the puzzle for the future.

My guess is he signs for 2.7 -- a number i pulled from Ek's primary source, my ass.

Great Blog Carol. Your ability to find something to write about something everyday even on no news days are on par with Dean Koontz and his ability to made Odd Series a franchise. Bravo.

Also Vantel, I know the Edler trade proposal was a troll attempt, I for one would love to see Edler traded. I think he is a great player and highly underrated in this market and due to lack of media coverage is not getting the respect he deserves, but my sole reason for wanting him gone is the (frank)ing drop pass while breaking out on PP. FFS try shooting it into a corner instead everyone in a while.

I am not an insider, but if you look at the contracts for the first 4 picks this year they're all above $3.2M AAV. Then Tkachuk signed for 1.85M. I'm thinking OJ wants $3M and JB wants $2M. There is no rush, they can send him back to London to lift weights this year without "losing him" and even if it costs $3M for the following 3 years, thats a huge piece of the puzzle for the future.

My guess is he signs for 2.7 -- a number i pulled from Ek's primary source, my ass.
- Max.Betts

What is EK doing in your ASS?

In the background i'm listening to TSN 1040 on TV. Just said something about analytics. I do believe analytics has a place in the game but about as much as plus minus does.

Things analytics don't tell you is when the player is scoring his goals, first period or last period, just after the other team scores. When the game is tied.

Shot supression - where are those shots coming from? The slot, actually scoring chances or are they coming from the perimeter because teams are too scared to go to the net.

Shots for - did a player cross the blue line and hit the goalie in the middle of the chest from 25 feet or was it a one timer from the hashmarks.

In Elders defense, I'm sure the drop pass is preferred by the Sedins and the coaching staff. I doubt Edler is doing it on his own

In the background i'm listening to TSN 1040 on TV. Just said something about analytics. I do believe analytics has a place in the game but about as much as plus minus does.

Things analytics don't tell you is when the player is scoring his goals, first period or last period, just after the other team scores. When the game is tied.

Shot supression - where are those shots coming from? The slot, actually scoring chances or are they coming from the perimeter because teams are too scared to go to the net.

Shots for - did a player cross the blue line and hit the goalie in the middle of the chest from 25 feet or was it a one timer from the hashmarks.
- manvanfan

Anybody that forms their opinion primarily on analytics is an idiot, plain and simple. The eye test and good old fashioned stats are still the most valuable tools in evaluating a players ability. Precisely why people shouldn't criticize EG before watching him in a Canucks uniform for at least a month.

Anybody that forms their opinion primarily on analytics is an idiot, plain and simple. The eye test and good old fashioned stats are still the most valuable tools in evaluating a players ability. Precisely why people shouldn't criticize EG before watching him in a Canucks uniform for at least a month.
- CanuckDon

Sbisa's analytics make him look like Bobby Orr

Sbisa's analytics make him look like Bobby Orr
- VANTEL

Well analytics are right in Sbisas case

Great Blog Carol. Your ability to find something to write about something everyday even on no news days are on par with Dean Koontz and his ability to made Odd Series a franchise. Bravo.

Also Vantel, I know the Edler trade proposal was a troll attempt, I for one would love to see Edler traded. I think he is a great player and highly underrated in this market and due to lack of media coverage is not getting the respect he deserves, but my sole reason for wanting him gone is the (frank)ing drop pass while breaking out on PP. FFS try shooting it into a corner instead everyone in a while.
- Linden_4_Capt

The drop pass is a set play, I highly doubt Edler sets the plays up for the team….you can blame that one on the coaches not the players.

Good topics CS

Leadership

Redemption.

Training

I think the team wants to prove the hockey world wrong
- VANTEL

They're gonna need more bullets

Why are you people talking about giving Seattle an NHL franchise, so soon after the death of Joe Hall?

My goodness, you people are cold-hearted.
- Atomic Wedgie

Well if Seattle gets one Toronto's gonna want one too that one never gets old and it just keeps on giving!

Anybody that forms their opinion primarily on analytics is an idiot, plain and simple. The eye test and good old fashioned stats are still the most valuable tools in evaluating a players ability. Precisely why people shouldn't criticize EG before watching him in a Canucks uniform for at least a month.
- CanuckDon

Certain people will just never be happy in general. I can't say I really liked the trade but at the same time I understand why JB made the trade. EG fills a hole on Van's D and that was just the price of filling that hole.

Trading Edler actually makes sense if the team doesn't want to compete now, his value would help build towards a better future. But we all know the Aquilini family wants the team to be competitive, those are Linden and Bennings orders….so they follow them.

Sbisa's analytics make him look like Bobby Orr
- VANTEL

I feel like Sbisa has been more of a scape goat. He's not the greatest and he does make too much money but I think he's still a serviceable D man. I think he's capable of 20 points a season. Not more then that though Going to have 2 hits and 1 blocked shot per game. That's enough for a 3rd pairing for me.

In the background i'm listening to TSN 1040 on TV. Just said something about analytics. I do believe analytics has a place in the game but about as much as plus minus does.

Things analytics don't tell you is when the player is scoring his goals, first period or last period, just after the other team scores. When the game is tied.

Shot supression - where are those shots coming from? The slot, actually scoring chances or are they coming from the perimeter because teams are too scared to go to the net.

Shots for - did a player cross the blue line and hit the goalie in the middle of the chest from 25 feet or was it a one timer from the hashmarks.
- manvanfan

Some analytics do in fact cover where the goals are coming from and what types of shots they are as well as where they come from.

I think when people actually look at the methodology of these analytics, they start to understand why they can be useful when used in context. Instead I think most bury their head in the sand when they start hearing these statements thrown around.

To your points though how does traditional stats deal with any the qualifiers you presented?

Is there a separate goal column for deflections, top corners, 5 hole, backdoor etc?

Why you see Analytics focusing on shots primarily, is because they are a high event action that for the most part isn't effected by bias. It is harder to ignore outliers when there is only 4 goals scored a game, when you have 30 shots per game the noise doesn't effect the sample to the same degree.

For example how many goals scored are snipes in comparison to deflections or "dirty goals" ?

While not every shot is as dangerous as a shot from Ovechkin, each does signify an opportunity for a goal and likely a result of positive offensive contributions and/or a negative contributions from the players on the ice.

Over a large enough sample size, you see generally the best players by the "eye test" also displaying a positive possession impact. The ones that are the most interesting ( read controversial) are when a player's analytic impact goes against the traditional eye test.

For example Jannik Hansen was a analytic darling while playing with the Sedin's prior to this year but the traditional stance was that he had stone hands and couldn't score. The argument there was that the sample size was too small and he hadn't had a big enough opportunity yet to show his abilities.