ASBOlutely Stat-alicious
The off-season blogosphere has been lit up from within and without with the hiring of many of our best and brightest away to team positions due to their statistical analytic prowess. Excited by the prospect of being hired away by an NHL team, many bloggers rushed to fill the void caused by the sudden dearth of talented writers with analytic knowledge, some with the hopes of also being added to a team's analytic division.
Then there were those were keen to create a new generation of Fancy Stat. Those who wanted to crest a new wave and be ahead of the curve of the next Corsi, the new Fenwick.
The #FanciestStat movement was born out of Rogers SportsNet, where John Shannon, Ken Reid, Jeff Marek and John Garrett, as they invented new and amusing ways to track irrelevant statistics. The original is PIDs: Pucks In Deep. This was quickly followed with SHTs: Short-Handed in Transition.
@generationxwing and myself on twitter over the course of many months then crafted a group of them around these two, and we present the first ten of them to you here.
They are the Appropriate Stats By Order. And the ASBOs are The Truth.
We'll start with the first among equals, PIDs, and SHTs.
PID - Pucks In Deep: The raw count of the number of times a team flips a puck deep into their offensive zone. Now, raw PIDs don't directly lead to wins, but they're necessary to achieve..
PID Turnovers: Technically a subset of PIDs, but they get their own category as they're quite important. Getting a PID, then forcing a turnover, giving your team possession in your offensive zone.
SHT - Short-Handed in Transition: Creating a turnover or otherwise that forces the defense to skate madly back in transition to defend a short-handed chance.
The next was the third original ASBO:
OHSHIT - Offensive Holding the Stick, Holding, Interference, Tripping: A stupid, bone-headed play in the offensive zone. Also known as the Benoit Pouliot stat.
To follow we have a suite of stats:
GOB - Good Ontaria Boy: A player's GOB number is made up of an amalgamation of the following stats...
FIST - First In Scrum Tendency: As it sounds - how likely a player is to be the first into a scrum.
CC - Cal Clutterbucks: A hit causing a turnover. So named for the Minnesota player and his notoriously overinflated hit stats by the local stat-counters.
Next are some of the younger ASBOs.
PIKEYS - Passing In KEY Scenarios: Passing % When the score is within a goal and there are ten minutes or fewer in regulation.
OT-OT - On Target/Off Target: Colloquially known as "Walkers" - this tracks a players ratio of shots on target to off target. 3 total shots, with one on goal is a half-Walker. You only get to be a full walker if at least half your shot attempts make it to the goal/tender.
WSQ - Will Smith Quota: This is a teams' ability to utilize Will Smith puns with the names of their players. Colorado has been a recent strong player in this metric, as "Gettin Jiggy Wit It" made way for "Gettin Iggy Wit It".
The ASBO movement is still in its infancy, and as we explore new ways to study this beautiful game of ours, no doubt the collection of ASBOs will grow. But for now, let these ten stand as the Original ASBOs. Learn them, know them. They are the future. And the ASBOs are The Truth.
The ASBO movement is still in its infancy, and as we explore new ways to study this beautiful game of ours, no doubt the collection of ASBOs will grow. But for now, let these ten stand as the Original ASBOs. Learn them, know them. They are the future. And the ASBOs are The Truth.
