It's not how complicated a field is, it is how well the variables are isolated, quantified and tracked. Hockey has tons of variables not tracked, or they're estimated based on other somewhat correlated variables, and this leads to weaker data, especially as we delve deeper into more advanced stats. Everything is quantified in baseball and so advanced statistics is much more useful (for now).
Sure, Strome's shot % is way up, it'd be nice to quantify why that is. Is his decision making after touching the puck quicker? Is he using his teamates better? Did he improve his release? Are they all the same as it was for him previously? Saying 'he'll regress to his average' tends to be true, but it'd be nice to show he's doing everything at the same level he was previously so it must be that luck is on his side now which eventually will shift back.
There are two main questions:
1) Are analytics in hockey useful?
2) Are the current analytics in hockey useful?
Now, even the answer to the first isn't 100% clearcut but I'm a data nerd and I think that potentially down the line everything can be improved with analytics. However, if someone has a sophisticated argument about why analytics are not useful in hockey please share it. But keyword is "sophisticated".
Now the second question is a lot more up for debate, IMHO. The people making THIS argument are almost exclusively people that have a solid understanding of analytics and hockey. I would criticize these people.
The point of this thread was about the folks that have no argument other than being uncomfortable with change and not liking "nerds" and thinking they're above them. Those are the people that bother me. Now, I don't think there are THAT many people like that but there are enough. I bet most hockey players fall into that category. But these guys have a vested interest in the eye test since they're the type of experts that the eye test reveres. Rather than you know guys that have possibly never played a minute of hockey and can add, subtract, and multiply.
Edit: The thread I was referring to was my thread on the main boards that I thought this was. The rest is relevant to this thread too.
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