maybe stop shitting on analytics every time you see some random HFBoards poster misuse it. It's really frustrating and I think you're smarter than that.
Analytics can tell us how a guy like Heinen performs in whatever sample size of data is available. It can tell us that in certain situations (and maybe limited ice time) how he has performed. In Heinen's case he has put up strong defensive numbers in the situations he has been used in. That suggests that maybe that defensive performance might translate to other situations (like PK) or increased usage. It's not a guarantee, just a positive sign or an indicator. Analytics in this way can be used to help identify trends and see if players are being underused or might be suited to certain assignments. It's then up to a coach to do whatever they want with that data. Again, it's not a guarantee and it's up to the player to maintain that performance when given more minutes or new assignements. Anyone who uses this data to call a player an "elite defensive forward" based on limited data or narrow usage is just misusing the data. You should blame that person and not the entire field of statistics.
Good post and it sucks that for whatever reason, people are blatantly against data. Like, not disagree with the findings, just flat out against data because they do not understand it and do not care to understand it.
That said, I get their frustration to because unfortunately most of the constant analytics proponent are NOT like you in this post. They don’t suggest using it as another tool, rather that it’s the end-all-be-all method of evaluation and a player like Heinen is great because his metrics say so.
I’m obviously a fan of Heinen, always have been and always will. In fact I think he’s a solid top-nine forward when asked to be that and given the opportunity to stick on that role. That’s besides the point though because for whatever reason both sides of this f*cking argument stick their heads in the sand and try to say: “Analytics are for the birds” or “eye test is dumb, all the big old dumb hockey men have no idea what they’re doing!”
You need both of these metrics. Anyone discounting either one of those tools has no idea what they’re doing. You need to utilize everything and like I said, it’s too bad you're in the minority with how you view analytics because you’re right. It’s come to the point where people actually hate using analytics because they oppose the users of them so much.
