Dowbiggins in praise of the cooked figures
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/d ... le8785464/
and Allan Muir's rebuttal
http://nhl.si.com/2013/02/20/are-hockey ... ncy-stats/
I still believe you need to be aware of how the numbers are derived and their limitations. Also they should only be used in conjunction with watching games, not to prove something you think you see, but to identify trends and spot things you should look for.
I thought this was one of the best comments from Muir.
Sadly, we don't get any Howie Meeker analysis any more. I wish we did. Howie not only recognized great plays, but he went out of his way to identify the boneheaded plays that lead to goals and went further to show what should have been done. It was a brilliant segment on HNIC that pulled no punches.And while Dowbiggen calls this data “manna from heaven,” I’m thinking the vast majority of fans are just comfortable with the old Howie Meeker “Stop it right there, OK, watch what Trevor Johansen does here” style of analysis. It’s really all they need.
Combining Howie's telestrator work with advanced stats would be a fantastic learning feature. People who now try to do Howie-like work, too often become hung up in a graphics showcase rather than demonstrating sound hockey skills and smarts.