2012 NHL Draft Top 100 - May Update
Derek Zona
May 16 2012 12:47PM
Nail Yakupov is the goods, or so says the Consensus Top 100. The largest gap between any two players in the top 20 is between #1 Yakupov and #2 Forsberg - a ringing endorsement of Yakupov's incredible abilities. I reconstructed this list for 2010 and 2011 using the final rankings of the draft guides, watchers and gurus over the last two years to compare to this year's list and found that not only is the gap between #1 and #2 much larger this year than in the previous two, the gap between Yakupov and Forsberg is the largest gap between any two back-to-back players ranked in the top ten from 2010-2012.
Nail Yakupov is the clear cut #1 pick and with good reason.
Yakupov has the goal-scoring prowess and passing ability that all high-end picks possess, but what separates him from the rest of the bunch, says Corey Pronman, is his speed and agility:
He has the ability to push the tempo up the ice and keep defenders on their heels, but he's probably even more dangerous at a standstill with high-end agility, first step acceleration, and a real slippery aspect to his game. He has such a powerful stride that he can take a handful of strides and already have travelled half the distance of the ice. Yakupov is the kind of player who consistently keeps his feet moving and has a very desirable motor to his game that shines through on a regular basis either when he's jetting through open ice or when he's engaging along the physical areas.
Kings - Coyotes Game 2 Scoring Chances
Corey S.
May 16 2012 07:43AM
photo by Michael Wifall via Wikimedia Commons
After the dominant showing from the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1, especially from the Kopitar line, many people were wondering two things;
NHLNumbers Podcast 2: Belated Conference Finals Preview
NHLnumbers Podcast
May 15 2012 04:12PM
As we did over at Driving Play, we are doing previews of each series featuring guests who are writers or bloggers for the teams in question. Unfortunately we also followed the tradition of taking a bit too long editing and the short break did us no favors so this is coming out after game 1.
Number Chains - May 15, 2012 Links
Kent Wilson
May 15 2012 11:42AM
This new, regular feature on NHLNumbers will share interesting stats-related posts from around the web every week.
- First up is a non-hockey article from Deadspin. Confessions of an NBA scorekeeper looks at how certain results in pro basketball are "fudgible" and how even earnest or well-meaning stats counters can be influenced to favorably adjust things like assists or blocks for a certain team or player on any given night.
How much does size impact faceoff ability in the NHL?
Jonathan Willis
May 15 2012 08:59AM
(NHLNumbers will occasionally publish some of our authors' archived material. This article was originally posted on December 24, 2010)
A question that has come up a few times is whether big players tend to have an advantage when taking faceoffs. There is a certain logic to the idea that they do: after all, bigger, stronger players should be able to out-muscle their smaller counterparts in the faceoff circle.
