VattghernCZ

Another name on the hit list

Putting Ninefingers on the hit list for this ProAm

Part 0, where I explain what this is about, is available here. I talk about the stats I'm tracking, and the way I'm tracking them. Now it's time for the proper part one of the project. Let's start with the defenders, because a) there's fewer of them than forwards, 2) this whole thing is about defense which is their main job and thirdly, my player is a wannabe defensive defenseman and I want to see how he performed as a rookie compared to the rest of the league. I'll highlight top 6 defensemen for every stat I tracked, and I'll add my subjective top 6 in overall ranking based on the combined weighted rankings. I'll also include the full list of tracked stats for every defender in the VHL. Puck Retrievals (PR) Weight: 40% Puck possession is the most important factor when evaluating defense, in my opinion. Once there is a lose puck, especially in your defensive zone, you want to get a hold of it before the opponent does. That's why puck retrievals have the biggest impact on the final ranking. Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage @Grape 1126 PR Tommy Sleeves @dasboot 1102 PR Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts 1095 PR Alagsantere Groenvold 1077 PR Callum Gary Yannick Janser @Daniel Janser 1056 PR Erik Thorvaldsson @Tetricide 1043 PR Pass Interceptions (PI) Weight: 25% First of all, the number of pass interceptions is RI-DI-CU-LOUS. High enough to change my mind about building a pass-first player in the future? Maybe. High enough that passing and playmaking will be the topic of my next offseason article? Definitely. Disrupting passes in your defensive zone prevents the opponents from creating quality scoring chances and often directly leads to breakouts and counterattacks. Joseph Dubois @Dubois 2331 PI Tommy Sleeves @dasboot 2112 PI Alagsantere Groenvold 2077 PI Erik Thordvaldsson @Tetricide 1854 PI Bric Sheithaus @Oldhead91 1816 PI Callum Gary Yannick Janser @Daniel Janser 1736 PI Shots Blocked (SB) Weight: 20% While blocking shots is necessary for penalty killers and true shutdown specialists, the fact it's by default a reactive play rather than a proactive play makes them not the best tool to evaluate players' overall defense, in my opinion. Still, they play a part in it. And out of these stats I'm tracking, it's the only one not requiring a Python code to collect, so that's nice. Joseph Dubois @Dubois 270 SB Slava Kovalenko @OblivionWalker 232 SB Bric Sheithaus @Oldhead91 231 SB Petit Hughie @Sen 217 SB Alagsantere Groenvold 202 SB LaClapbomb Hitstick IV @Greasy Gary 202 SB Successful Hits (SH) Weight: 15% (it hurts me to assign them this little) I'm using "Successful Hits" instead of hits listed on player stats. The difference is that the usual hits include love taps, while "successful hits" are hits that separate puck carrier from the puck. Hits are definitely useful situationally, but overall defense is more about positioning and stick work. Tommy Sleeves @dasboot 257 SH Callum Gary Yannick Janser @Daniel Janser 256 SH Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts 235 SH Fradin McGryer @Fradin99 193 SH Boris Bone-Breaker @RileyL 182 SH Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage @Grape 177 SH Overall weighted ranking Tommy Sleeves @dasboot 3.25 weighted rank Callum Gary Yannick Janser @Daniel Janser 5.20 weighted rank Alagsantere Groenvold 5.90 weighted rank Bric Sheithaus @Oldhead91 6.40 weighted rank Joseph Dubois @Dubois 8.80 weighted rank Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts 9.25 weighted rank Tommy Sleeves is really running away with this one, in my opinion. He's been an absolute wrecking ball for the most of his career, but he's really showing that there's much more to him than just hitting everything that moves. Article on forwards is coming next week. All tracked stats are available here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/117YLrvSyvX_cfkffe1yT5x1cLJi4O6HmyYnnlBOAPS0/edit?usp=drivesdk

Happy to AGM if anyone wants. Can GM in a pinch

A few seasons ago, I posted a multi-week media spot about some goaltending stats that aren't available to us, but are commonly tracked in the NHL - stuff like Goals Saved Above Average, Quality Starts or Really Bad Starts. It was tedious, because it made me manually go through all the game logs and compile the data. Still, I enjoyed doing it. Last offseason, I got my feet wet in using Python (thanks you, AI!) to create a few programs to collect the data for me, and I put together a big piece on hitting, where I made up a few stats - successful hits (hits that separate the puck carrier from the puck), effective hits (hits that lead to a turnover) and ineffective hits (hits that separated the puck carrier from the puck, but didn't lead to a turnover). This offseason, my focus is defense. Once again, I will be using Python programs to collect data from all game logs and compile it. I wanted to post this article this week, but I didn't find the time to run the programs (courtesy of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 release) but still need the 6 capped, so I'm writing this introduction that would have been a part of the article anyway. In this 0th part, I will introduce the stats I will be tracking, and the method by which I am collecting them. Successful Hits (SH) Physical play will always be a part of defense. I already used this made-up stat in last offseason's article. The reason I will be using Successful Hits instead of Effective Hits is simple: in said article about hitting, there was a big difference in the ratio of effective to ineffective hits between forwards and defenders - forwards were generally much more efficient in hitting. The reason is simple, as @Pifferfish pointed out; Defense STHS attribute is the most important attribute for puck retrievals, and defenders typically have this attribute higher than forwards. So if a forward hits the opposing puck carrier, there are 2 forwards and 2 defenders available to retrieve the puck, as opposed to 3 forwards and 1 defender in case a defender lays the hit. I will only use Successful Hits to eliminate this discrepancy. The Python program will count a Successful Hit for a player every time it finds the phrase "is hit by [player name] and loses puck." in the game logs. Puck Retrievals (PR) Every time there is a loose puck, either after a hit, a rebound or a blocked/missed shot, you want your team to be the first one to get to the puck. It's especially important in your defensive zone. The Python program will count a Puck Retrieval for a player every time it finds the phrase "Puck retrieved by [player name]" in the game logs. Pass Interceptions (PI) You don't want your opponent to settle in your defensive zone and get the cycle going, or to send a breakout pass from their defensive zone. The premier two-way forwards are proficient in cutting away passing lanes and intercepting the passes between the opponents to start a quick counterattack. The Python program will count a Pass Interception for a player every time it finds the phrase "Intercepted by [player name]" in the game logs. Some stats I would like to compile, but can't be a**ed to think about what formulation to use, because it's not as straightforward as those stats I'm tracking: rebounds clearing, breakout passes, defensive zone exits. Not to mention any stats including expected goals, as these are literally impossible to track without shot maps. Hopefully, the article is coming next week. Unless the programs take too long to run. I'll probably ditch the project if that's the case.

Earlier this week, I went to another interview conducted in english - no F bomb this time haha. It was for Quality Control for Excalibur Army, the biggest Czech manufacturer of military vehicles and equipment. Well, I had my medical examination done today, I'm signing the contract next week and starting training on March 3. This is actually the first time in my life I'm switching jobs, even though I'm 30. It was about time to change something, I guess. Not that much of a payraise compared to my current job, but a new experience for sure. (There went my plan to put 40+ hours into KCD2 during Fri, Sat and Sun lol)

Deadpanda is in my predictions, I need them or Groenvold to win!

Welcome to the VHL!

Welcome back!

Welcome to the VHL!

The Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy winners usually fall within two categories: the best rookie starting goaltender, or the top scoring rookie skater. This year's top rookie starting goaltender was Deadpanda, giving the strong Menace team some quality goaltending. Deadpanda @Alex 42-13-9, .915 SV%, 2.66 GAA, 6 SO While these are not particularly impressive stats in comparison to other recent Stolzschweiger winning goaltenders, the fact no rookie skater ran away with point totals makes it not a particularly hot take to say Deadpanda is the ROTY frontrunner. So far, the hybrid era ROTY winning goalies are: (S96) Spider Panda 45-15-3, .920 SV%, 2.27 GAA, 9 SO (S88) Lachlan Summers 39-18-7, .930 SV%, 2.3 GAA, 4 SO (S87) Matt Murdock 39-21-4, .930 SV%, 2.39 GAA, 4 SO (S84) Augustus Kennedy 25-34-5, .930 SV%, 2.80 GAA, 6 SO (S83) Ben Dahl 33-27-4, .930 SV%, 2.74 GAA, 2 SO The closest comparison for Deadpanda would be Spider Panda, as both played their rookie season atter the most recent sliders change. While Deadpanda didn't quite reach Spider Panda's save percentage, they still provided some quality goaltending for a strong team. With possibly back-to-back ROTY goaltenders and Red Panda already being one of the league's top goaltenders, the pandas are really taking over the VHL. I bet lemorse is really happy about that. The top scoring rookie forward last season was Brendan Petan Jr @sadie with 27 goals and 47 assists for 74 points with plus-4 rating, 136 hits and 62 blocked shots. Among the ROTY winning forwards in the hybrid era, 74 points would rank 4th out of total 9. That's actually more impressive than what I initially thought before starting to write this, so I might be way off with my take. Still, I need the 6 capped and I think Deadpanda would still win the award. As for the top scoring defenseman, Narnia Shaw @Dabnad took the first place with 8 goals and 44 assists for 52 points with a very impressive plus-50 rating on a fantastic Malmö squad, 39 hits and 97 blocked shots. Really impressive offensive numbers, but the defensive part of the game doesn't seem to be there just yet. Which brings me to my two dark horses. These are two defensemen who could have a shot based on their really strong defensive performance. Dark horse 1: Slava Kovalenko @OblivionWalker Slava Kovalenko did something really impressive: he was second in blocked shots. Not second among the rookies, but second among all players, with insane 232 blocks to go with 118 hits. The minus-38 rating doesn't look good for someone whom I'm praising for their defense, but Warsaw wasn't a good team, which is obviously reflected in the plus-minus rating. If a goaltender with losing record can win the ROTY, why a minus defender couldn't? 17 goals as a rookie defenseman is really impressive as well. 17 assists isn't spectacular, but someone has to score a goal for a player to record an assist. And once again, Warsaw wasn't great. Dark horse 2: Alagsantere Groenvold I've never thought I'd throw in my player's name as a ROTY consideration. But I'm really surprised with how well he did. Just like with Slava, the plus minus rating minus-57 looks brutal on what's supposed to be a defense-first defender. But London is another team in early stages of a rebuild. Santy finished three places behind Slava in blocked shots league-wide with 202, along with quite remarkable 189 hits. He also added a bit more offense than Slava with 13 goals and 35 assists for 48 points, the second highest point total among rookie defensemen. Will we see the Stolzschweiger Trophy awarded based on defensive play? Highly unlikely, but it would be cool to see.

Hello! Welcome to the VHL!

Hello and welcome to the VHL!

Welcome back nurx!