Recently, I wrote on some data I’d collected from the 2015 OHL Final between the Erie Otters and the Oshawa Generals. This primarily focused on passing network anaylsis that Steve Burtch introduced at the Rochester Institute of Technology Hockey Analytics Conference. Today, I’d like to use the thirteen games we’ve collected to examine the Leafs network.
I’ll be focusing on the weighted degree measure that weights each degree (pass or shot) that a player has within the network. These weights are assigned based on several factors (scoring chance, shot on goal, one-timer, etc.) so we know which connections were more likely to result in a goal than others. This weighting will be adjusted as we get more data, so it’s quite basic and likely not nuanced enough at this point in time.
I’ve used the weighted degree measure because I think it is the best way to use this type of analysis for this sport. This is for a few reasons, some of which I mentioned in the Erie piece, but the biggest is this: Not all players are on the playing field at the same time, so there are actually several networks withing a single game (first line and first pairing, second line and second pairing, and so on). This may level out of over the course of a season, but we’re going to look at the Leafs as a whole, and the Leafs top line network on its own as well. All data is at 5v5 unless otherwise specified. These types of metrics have a purely offensive-minded focus as well.
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Hockey Graphs 