Link Dump 9-16-17

Along the Boards

Brown freshmen Bird, Willman learn from NHL camps
My first interview-based piece for ATB on a pair of NCAA players getting a taste of higher level hockey as they attend their first NHL development camps after being drafted this past June.

What should the Red Wings do with Anthony Mantha?
The Red Wings have some options with their prized offensive prospect, but Mantha's play will dictate a lot of their decision-making.

Top 10: Coolest Detroit Red Wings Records
I took a look through Red Wings history and found some pretty awesome records we hold. 

Winging It in Motown

NHL Rulebook: Video Review Expansion, Changes to Overtime, and New Diving Fines
The NHL announced a few rules changes for the 2014-15 season. I yap on about why I dislike a lot of them. 

NHL Rulebook: Friedman on Goalie Interference, Offside "Audits"
Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts spell out some additional measures the NHL will employ targeting goaltender interference and offside.

Season Preview: League Discipline
Stephane Quintal takes the helm for his first season as Senior VP of Player Safety.

Link Dump

This is where I'll gather all the things I've written elsewhere.

Along the Boards

Plenty up in the air for Red Wings
The Red Wings are gambling on a few key things going right for them in order to improve on last season.

Red Wings must get what they paid for in Stephen Weiss
The Red Wings thought they had a player in Weiss when they signed him last offseason. After an injury-ruined season, Weiss has to earn his keep.

Winging It in Motown

NHL Rulebook: Abuse of Officials
Don't cross the refs. You won't like them when they're angry.

NHL Rulebook: Video Review
A complicated section of the rulebook that is never going to make everyone truly happy.

NHL Rulebook: Intent to Blow the Whistle
I'll spare you the slog of reading about referees, linesmen, and off-ice officials and instead give you something from last month about a controversial rule.

Get thee to a TV
Red Wings' national TV schedule has been out for a while.

The Bruised Brother elsewhere on the Internet

I'm really proud of this comment I made on this post:

“advanced” stats are called “advanced” for reasons that i couldn’t tell you. we all seem comfortable talking about goalie save percentages and goals against average, yet we bristle at the thought of what a player’s points per 60 or goals for % is.

as J.J. said and i would like to emphasize, advanced stats are absolutely NOT crucial to appreciating and enjoying the game. i had a lot of fun watching hockey before i ever heard the word Corsi, but considering the direction that hockey analytics seems very likely headed, i decided to familiarize myself with them. you likely won’t ever see me searching out Corsi or any of those numbers myself because that’s just not how i describe the game or interact with other fans. i’ll inevitably say something dumb in the future, but generally, i just listen when the discussions move toward player comparisons using these metrics. considering i’m also learning to play hockey myself, i’m also slowly gaining a more complete understanding of tactics. granted, that process will be long, slow, and arduous, but that’s just how i engage with the game.

as for the stats themselves, i do find it helpful to distinguish between the different kind of non-traditional stats. most of the traditional stats are just simply counting stats—goals, assists, points, plus-minus, PIM, and the like. goalie stats can help ease you into how certain metrics are calculated: GAA is simply GA/60 minutes played for a goalie, or how many goals a goalie gives up on average per game. when talking about rate stats for skaters, these usually manifest as G/60 or P/60 or A1/60 for primary assists and A2/60 for secondary assists. you’ve got percentages, which there are a ton of: shooting %, save %, goals for/ against %. then you have the possession stats Corsi and Fenwick and all the various metrics associated with them like quality of competition (QUALCOMP). this is a lot of name-dropping, i admit, so don’t fret if you didn’t understand it the first time. the thing i hope you take away from this paragraph is that “advanced” stats encompass a lot of ways of looking at the numbers you’re already familiar with, like goals and points, and seeing what patterns emerge as well as looking at other numbers like shots and shot differentials. they’re just different ways of looking at players and the game.

the inevitable strawman that seems to pop up in the debate over advanced stats concerns their predictive power. when someone says that Corsi is the best and most reliable indicator of long-term predictability or repeatability for players and teams, they mean it exactly as it sounds: it’s the best long-term indicator. compiling all the players’ Corsi and goalie stats and throwing them into a machine can give Vegas betting odds, but it won’t tell us if the Red Wings are going to win opening night against Buffalo, or the Winter Classic against the Maple Leafs, or Lidstrom night against the Avalanche. dealing with hockey on a game by game and period by period basis, the numbers have almost no value because periods and games are examples of small sample sizes that swing the numbers into a wild variance. the numbers can tell us who will likely make the playoffs, and even to a certain extent how far teams will go in the playoffs, but even in the long-term, there is still a level of uncertainty in their predictive power over the influence of the outcome of a hockey game, season, or playoff series.

so to answer your questions: advanced stats usually refer to anything that doesn’t show up on NHL.com’s stats pages that can still tell us something useful about players and teams. they’re important for the information they tell us, but always keep in mind that no one number can possibly capture everything in a hockey game. even advanced stats need context and proper interpretation to be utilized to their full analytical potential. but they’re not absolutely crucial to watching and enjoying a hockey game or season.

--uvgt2bkdnme

Perfect Game for the Perfect Human: 10-10-13 vs. Phoenix

It's been a foregone conclusion for a long time now that Nicklas Lidstrom's number 5 is going to hang from the rafters at Joe Louis Arena (and the new arena, whenever that's built). After deciding not to do the number retirement ceremony last season because the wounds of the lockout were still so very fresh,* the Red Wings will retire it this season but have yet to announce a date. In the spirit of trying to find material to write about during the offseason, I'll go game by game on the Red Wings' schedule (home games, obviously) and weigh the merits and pitfalls of holding the ceremony before that game.

October 10, 2013: 7:30ET vs. the Phoenix Coyotes

I should clarify that the number retirement is in Detroit, not* in Phoenix.

There's certainly a history of recent postseason success against the Coyotes that could make part of the career highlight montage. And there's the fact that Phoenix has basically become a second home for the Detroit Red Wings, so I guess you could say that one bad thing about the new divisional alignment is that Detroit will have fewer home games since they won't play in Phoenix as often.

This game is Detroit's second home game of the season, but 8 days after their home opener. Since they won't have opening night festivities to deal with like against Buffalo, they could have a night dedicated to Lidstrom AND still have the number retirement happen as soon as possible. Granted, considering Detroit goes on a brief road trip after the home opener, it won't be as soon as we'd like, but we can always complain about other scheduling issues that are bound to come up during a Winter-Olympic-break-including regular season.

The other thing I've been considering but haven't been able to find information for is if Detroit already has a schedule of promotions they plan on holding during the season (aside from the obvious Winter Classic related events and the Winter Classic itself). Might be awkward to hold Lidstrom's number retirement on the same night they do a hypothetical Pavel Datsyuk bobblehead night. (Side note: If someone can make, market, promote, and distribute Datsyuk dangle-puck dolls or make paddle balls except with Datsyuk's stick and a puck, I will love you forever.) On the other hand, it would be fitting if they held the retirement the same night as a hypothetical Swedish Heritage Night.

Should the Red Wings retire Lidstrom's number before this game? MAYBE.

*RIP Ruslan Salei

Addendum: Yzerman's number retirement ceremony was announced on August 31, 2006, and the ceremony was schedule for January 2, 2007. I'm not necessarily arguing that Lidstrom's number retirement announcement and game selection will follow a similar pattern, but it's something to go off of. At this rate, I could possibly get through about 15 games or so before we hear an official announcement for Lidstrom's ceremony date. If I could, I would use one of my Winging It in Motown BOLD Predictions to select which date the ceremony would be, but I don't think the Red Wings are going to wait that long before making an official announcement.