S66 Draft By the Numbers - Top 45 Skaters

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Analyzing the Attributes of the Top 45 Skaters

 

The S66 Draft is by far the deepest draft in VHL history, with a whopping 97 prospects soon to be chosen. To put this in perspective, if you go back 15-20 seasons, I'm not even sure the VHL had 50 active members, so a draft class this huge is just insane to me. Unfortunately, not all of these prospects remained active, and I put the cutoff for analyzing stats at about 100 tpe, because if you are a S66 draftee who hasn't reached at least 100 tpe at this point you are probably inactive. Below I will go in order of the top 45 skaters combined attribute totals for individual attribute, going from most tpe to lowest tpe, as this will show us what attributes the upcoming generation truly values. 

 

1) Defense

 

Shockingly, despite the fact that forwards dominate this draft class, defense is the attribute with the most tpe put into it, with a combined rating of 2,934 and an average of 67 defense per player. It appears that people are catching on to the value of defense, as it is one of the key factors in determining who wins puck battles and driving play the other way. Also, while some people may focus on being solely a passer or a shooter, everyone who does that still puts some tpe into defense, while maybe prioritizing scoring or passing over the other. Of the top 45 players, 2 chose not to put any tpe into defense.

 

2) Skating

 

It appears as though everyone is buying into the old wives tale of skating being the most important attribute, as it comes in 2nd with a combined rating of 2,900 and an average of 66 skating per player. I understand it though, and skating is widely believed to be so important. Of the top 45 players, only one chose not to put any tpe into skating.

 

3) Scoring

 

Most people prefer scoring goals to netting assists, so it makes sense that scoring comes in higher than passing, with a combined rating of 2,883 and an average of 66 scoring per player. Of the top 45 players, 6 have chosen not to put any tpe into scoring.

 

4) Puck Handling

 

Puck Handling comes in 4th, with a combined total of 2,876 and an average of 65 puck handling per player. It's interesting that despite passing being a primary attribute, two secondary attributes in skating and puck handling have more tpe in them than passing. People really enjoy scoring more than passing. Of the top 48 players, 5 have chosen not to put any tpe into puck handling.

 

5) Passing

 

Passing has a combined total of 2,708 tpe and an average of 62 passing per player. At this point, all five attributes have been decently close in terms of tpe allocation, but there is a big drop off after the big five. It appears that this draft class values defense, skating, scoring, puck handling, and passing as the five most important attributes, as there is way less tpe poured into those remaining. I bet this pattern holds true with the rest of the VHL as well. Of the top 48 players, 7 have chosen not to put any tpe into passing.

 

6) Strength 

 

Coming in at a combined total of 2,047 tpe and an average of 47 strength per player, this attribute is the most valued of the least valued attributes, if that makes sense. Of the top 45 players, only 28 have put at least 1 tpe into strength. 

 

7) Checking

 

Checking has a combined total of 2,039 tpe and an average of 46 tpe per player. Of the top 45 players, only 24 have put at least 1 tpe into checking. 

 

8. Faceoffs

 

Despite only being used by centers, faceoffs still has a higher ranking than discipline, leadership, and fighting. Faceoffs has a combined total of 1,920 tpe, and average of 44 faceoffs per player, and only 12 players have put any tpe into faceoffs.

 

9) Leadership

 

Leadership has a total of 1,816 tpe, an average of 41 tpe per player, and surprisngly 12 players have decided to put at least 1 tpe into leadership. According to my regression models, leadership actually does seem to do something as players with more leadership block more shots.

 

10) Fighting

 

Fighting comes in last because it is a stupid and useless attribute, with a total of 1,791 tpe, an average of 41 fighting per player, and only 6 players have put any tpe into fighting.