Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Answering Muppet's question

Yes.  Here's why.  

The first image below is the goal distribution amongst the top 12 most productive forwards from last year and this year.   The percentages represent the fraction of total goals by the top 12 forwards by each player (numbered 1 to 12 of the left axis, decreasing by total points [next]).

% of total goals

This year is in red (for Senators!), last year is in teal (for douchebag).  You can guess who holds the 23%.   This year's distribution is better distributed at all stages - top 4, middle and lesser TOIers.

Next up is total points (I didn't bother with an 'assists' chart as its inferred by the other two).

% of total points

This one is actually really cool - last year the top three forwards (Alfie-Spezza-Heatley) shared 18% each of total points for a total of 53% of all points.  This year, the top line each reduced total points percentage to ~14% for a total of 41% - a decrease of 12%.  But since this is a % of total, where'd that 12% go?

Well, this is where it gets interesting:  the next three forwards (Foligno-Fisher-Vermette) each had 8% of the total points scored for a total of 24%.  The values have remained  virtually unchanged  for the 4-6 forwards this year (though the actual forwards themselves have changed) for a total of 23%.

As illustrated by the graph, that 12% reduction for the top 3 is now distributed very evenly amongst the 7-12 skaters.  

Results:  

1) much more balanced scoring;

2) greater flexibility of line combinations.

Both of these results illustrate that Ottawa is no longer a "one line team" which the critics (Muppet et al.) very rightly identified as the weak point of Ottawa's team.   

Conclusions:

1) Ottawa is no longer a one-line team;

2) Team chemistry enhanced thereby permitting greater line combinations and on the fly changeups;

3) Clouston has convinced all the forwards to buy in to his system and play less of an individual "pass me the puck 'cause I'm a one-trick shooter" game;

4) No one is openly fucking any teammate's partners.

*this years totals based on data prior to tonight's game.


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