Are 'Hits' important or useless stat?

[bossram]

All stats are useless. They are just interesting, that's it. Not indicative of anything beyond being a series of individually collected digits, but consistently misinterpreted as predictors. Fantasy sports have fetishized stats beyond their actual relevance.

Per example, LA GM Blake recently stated that the Kings need to lessen the gap between goals allowed and expected goals against - instead of saying that they need to play better defense. Stats are products of play, not anticipatory. Folks just don't see that their use is a mathematical fallacy.

Yep. No one in history ever has used statistics or numbers to predict anything ever in the future. Never, not once. Data is completely useless. All you need is your gut.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

If you combine hits with possession metrics you can get a sense of a players style.

Low hits + high possession metrics may mean he has the puck a lot. High hits + high possession may mean they’re a high event and impact player. High hits + low possession means they probably are getting worked and chasing the game a lot.

Just as with any other stat, understanding the context and limitations of the metric is important.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Useful and interesting once you've accounted for confounding effects (including but not limited to "you can't get a hit unless your team doesn't have the puck", or "arena scorekeepers have varying opinions on what constitutes a hit").

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Hits as a a stat is dumb and tracked seemingly at randomly, however physicality is still important in hockey, yes

 

[RSPens]

An individual hit on a play has very little effect on the game. However, hitting can drastically alter the psychology of the game. As a player it is always crucial to know when someone like Scott Stevens was on the ice. By having big hit totals and hit highlights, the opposing team is aware and may rush plays trying to avoid the big hits.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Hitting is not useless.

 

[TeeTee]

They track hits because it is easy to track. I think people can confuse a player that has a lot of hits as playing a more physical style of game. I would argue that Crosby plays a more physical game than Ovi, but you don't see it in the hits column.

 

[cneely]

I’ll take it straight from the horses mouth. Players themselves say they know and need to be aware when guys like Tom Wilson and Jacob Trouba are on the ice. So not only can hits separate guys from the puck and change possession they also change the way guys play.

Absolutely. We were always taught to finish our checks hard, not to hurt a guy, but to make him hear footsteps and panic when he has the puck.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

As a counting stat? Absolutely useless.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

95% of them are completely useless and play no outcome on a play. Most of the time guys have already moved the puck while hits are being performed.

hahahahaha hitting is useless? Okayyy lool

As a stat compared with other players yeah its useless but hitting is def not useless in a hockey game

 

[CycloneSweep]

Hits are important to the game but counting them is silly. There is a reason that the league hit leaders are guys who usually aren't skilled. Its because to make a hit, your team doesn't have the puck, so the less you have the puck, more chances there are to hit.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

They work as a tie-breaker.

 

[HighAndTight]

I find the constant, hits mean you dont have the puck, comments quite funny.

No team has possession 100% of the game. Christ look at face off numbers alone. Only one player in history is over 60 percent. So 40 percent of the time he lost possession.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Hits are hilariously mis-credited, so I find focusing too much on them is pretty silly.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

As most have said, hitting matters, but the "hits" stat does not, for a variety of reasons.

I'd argue "away hits" is a more meaningful version of the stat, which just goes to show how silly it really is.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

Oh Hrno

From GDT.

Already missing Lil Bert and their captain too. Yowza

 

[Leafsfan74]

of course it matters.... its not for nothing teams play more checkers in the post-season

Depends on which side of the hit one is on

 

[Captain97]

Hitting is extremely important and a key part of winning games especially in the playoffs. The way we track hits is flawed.

Once we have better player/puck tracking stats we will be able to determine things like.

Hits leading to turnovers/to goals/in key areas where goals/dangerous passes come from it may become one of the most I portent stats in the game as they'd essentially be a takeaway.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

They track hits because it is easy to track. I think people can confuse a player that has a lot of hits as playing a more physical style of game. I would argue that Crosby plays a more physical game than Ovi, but you don't see it in the hits column.

They track hits because players who hit campaigned for the league to do so. This was a contract negotiation issue, and the NHLPA won on this one. There was a time when the league didn't count them. They can be both over emphasized and under emphasized.

 

[Jericho111091]

Hits can help turn the tide of a game or even a series but as a cumulative stat it's kind of hard to gauge their value especially considering how what counts as a "hit" varies wildly from arena to arena

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

of course it matters.... its not for nothing teams play more checkers in the post-season

Bruh I thought you meant like black-and-red baby chess and was very confused.

It’s an imperfect stat, but it is an aspect of Ovi’s game that the others don’t have. Gino can be mean, but he’s not really a dude you routinely worry about. Ovi was that guy for the majority of his career

 

[BurgoShark]

Funny how so many people say that hits are counted poorly AND that possession stats are more important.

Possession stats are based off shot counts which are just as subjective.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

The "hits" category lead some Leaf fans to think Zach Aston-Reese was some sort of physically punishing power winger because of his hit totals, even though Penguins fans and any fan of the Metro who saw the Pens regularly could tell you ZAR is the epitome of how misleading that stat is with regards to whether or not someone is a punishing hitter.