11/11/2022 0 Comments The weeknd starboy album kickass![]() ![]() After much analysis on 30-year-old data, the most he was prepared to concede was that "there might be a small effect in certain specific circumstances." Well, Phil Birnbaum conducted a thorough study, looking at what happened to teams that instigated a fight. Perhaps winning a fight isn't nearly as important as simply having the fight in the first place, in terms of changing momentum. In fact, it appears that the team winning the fight will score slightly less goals in the game than they did previously." Xavier Weisenreder of Georgetown Sports Analysis found that "there is no evidence that winning a fight leads to better results in the immediate aftermath of the fight. By looking at the voted winners in fights and the subsequent change in a team's goal-differential, he found that "winning a fight is worth a little more than 1/80th of a win in the standings."Īgain, this work was confirmed by another separate, independent source. The first important study on fighting and momentum was done in 2009 by Gabriel Desjardins of Hockey Prospectus. Thus far, no such connection has been found-or at least not one of any real significance. There has also been no shortage of research looking for a link between fighting and a team's momentum. It also doesn't reduce the likelihood of being on the receiving end of dirty hits and cheap shots. While that may be a little too definitive a statement, these studies paint a highly compelling picture that having an enforcer does not reduce a team's risk of injury. The study concluded that "this should be the proverbial nail in the coffin for talk about fighting serving as a deterrent for naughty behavior in hockey." In fact, though, there was virtually no correlation at all. If fighting deterred such dirty behavior, there would be a negative correlation between the two. The obvious first track is to compare the number of games a team loses to injury to the number of fighting majors their team took. This track was already taken by our own Jonathan Willis while writing for the Edmonton Journal last September. The most common defense for having an enforcer is that they protect the team from cheap shots and injuries. Given these challenges, there better be a big advantage of having an enforcer! Plus, we've already seen in the player usage chart that enforcers' teammates have to take on more of the tougher opponents, and they have to overcome the shot-based disadvantage the enforcers caused. Since enforcers play only a few minutes per game and are often in the penalty box, everyone else has to play more. They take up a spot on the bench, which could be used for a developing young player. While the dollars might not add up, there is still a real cost to dressing an enforcer. They range from league minimum to just more than the $1 million mark. In fact, five of the 19 players have a cap hit of exactly $750,000. In financial terms, the average cap hit of an enforcer is just less than $770,000 per season. The following chart shows how enforcers are used. Vancouver's Sestito and Paul Bissonnette of the Phoenix Coyotes have six points apiece. As a group, they have 26 combined goals and 50 points in 661 games, and only two of them have more than four points. There are 19 players who have played at least 20 games so far this season and qualify under this definition. While this definition may exclude a few enforcers and include a few guys who are merely tough, checking line players, it still produces a usable sample group. The Adam Gretz definition of an enforcer-anyone who plays fewer than eight minutes a game, while averaging more than 1.2 penalty minutes per contest -will serve this purpose nicely. First, though, we'll define what an enforcer is, what they bring to the table (beyond fighting) and what they cost.įirst let's define this term so a list of examples can be compiled for further study. In this analysis, we'll look at all those studies to determine exactly what conclusions they've reached about protecting players and generating momentum. It is nevertheless quite revealing that the numbers are in sharp conflict with those who feel safer or more motivated when there's a pugilist wearing the same colors. There are things that happen on the ice, on the bench and in the dressing room that are known only to the players themselves. Well, statistically, at least. This is just one perspective, and it's hardly the only one. ![]()
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