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Stat Shot: A Fan’s Guide to Hockey Analytics
With every passing season, statistical analysis is playing an ever-increasing role in how the game is played and covered. Knowledge of the underlying numbers can help fans stretch their enjoyment of the game. Acting as an invaluable supplement to traditional analysis, Stat Shot: A Fan’s Guide to Hockey Analytics can be used to test the validity of the conventional wisdom, and to gain insight into what teams are doing behind the scenes — or maybe what they should be doing!
Inspired by Bill James’ Baseball Abstract, Rob Vollman has written a timeless reference of the mainstream applications and limitations of hockey analytics. With over 300 pages of fresh analysis, it includes a guide to the basics, how to place stats into context, how to translate data from one league to another, the most comprehensive glossary of hockey statistics, and more. Whether you use A Fan’s Guide to Hockey Analytics as a primer for today’s new statistics, as a reference for leading edge research and hard-to-find statistical data, or you read it for its passionate and engaging story-telling, this book belongs on every serious fan’s bookshelf. A Fan’s Guide to Hockey Analytics makes advanced stats simple, practical, and fun for hockey fans.
Inspired by Bill James’ Baseball Abstract, Rob Vollman has written a timeless reference of the mainstream applications and limitations of hockey analytics. With over 300 pages of fresh analysis, it includes a guide to the basics, how to place stats into context, how to translate data from one league to another, the most comprehensive glossary of hockey statistics, and more. Whether you use A Fan’s Guide to Hockey Analytics as a primer for today’s new statistics, as a reference for leading edge research and hard-to-find statistical data, or you read it for its passionate and engaging story-telling, this book belongs on every serious fan’s bookshelf. A Fan’s Guide to Hockey Analytics makes advanced stats simple, practical, and fun for hockey fans.
- GenresSportsHockeyNonfiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2018
20 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Rob Vollman
12 books6 followersRob Vollman is an author, speaker, consultant, and long-time pioneer in the field of hockey analytics. His popular innovations have helped win Stanley Cups and Gold medals, and have shaped the way that teams are built, and the game is covered.
A former member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, Rob was first published in the Fall 2001 issue of the Hockey Research Journal. He has since co-authored all six Hockey Prospectus books, two McKeen's magazines, and has authored five books in his own Bill James-inspired Hockey Abstract series, including the highly popular 2016 book, Stat Shot.
While modern advanced statistical hockey analysis stands on a mountain of complexity, Rob's work is best known for being expressed in clear, focused, and applicable terms, often presented in a humourous and entertaining way. Whether you're arguing about the worst trades in history or which team improved most in the off-season, Rob's objective approach will add clear, cold facts to the discussion in a style that is undeniably engaging—and convincing!
Rob's most popular innovations include player usage charts, quality starts and home-plate save percentage for goaltenders, goals versus salary (GVS) to measure a player's cap value, the team luck index, his history-based projection systems, coaching metrics, the setup passes statistic, and advances in the field of NHL translations and league equivalencies (NHLe) to understand how well players coming from other leagues will perform.
In 2014, Rob organized a grassroots hockey analytics conference in Calgary as a platform for the field's latest innovations, starting a movement that has since spread to eight other cities, including annual events in Ottawa, Rochester, and Vancouver.
Rob's work can be found every week on NHL.com and ESPN Insider, where he has been featured since the 2008-09 season. In all, Rob has written 800 columns for a variety of hockey websites, and has been featured in the Hockey News, the Globe and Mail, the Washington Post, Forbes, and Rolling Stone.
Since his first guest appearances on Nashville Predators radio in the summer of 2011 and throughout the subsequent season, Rob has made over 300 appearances on 60 different radio programs, TV shows and podcasts in 20 NHL cities, including most notably NHL Game Day, Hockey Night in Canada radio, Sportsnet's Hockey Central and 2015 Trade Deadline coverage, Boston Bruins NESN television, TSN's That's Hockey, ESPN's Sportscenter and Hockey Today, CBC Radio, and Wharton Business Radio.
Based in Calgary, Rob is one of the field's most trusted and entertaining voices, and has helped bring what was once a niche hobby into the mainstream.
A former member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, Rob was first published in the Fall 2001 issue of the Hockey Research Journal. He has since co-authored all six Hockey Prospectus books, two McKeen's magazines, and has authored five books in his own Bill James-inspired Hockey Abstract series, including the highly popular 2016 book, Stat Shot.
While modern advanced statistical hockey analysis stands on a mountain of complexity, Rob's work is best known for being expressed in clear, focused, and applicable terms, often presented in a humourous and entertaining way. Whether you're arguing about the worst trades in history or which team improved most in the off-season, Rob's objective approach will add clear, cold facts to the discussion in a style that is undeniably engaging—and convincing!
Rob's most popular innovations include player usage charts, quality starts and home-plate save percentage for goaltenders, goals versus salary (GVS) to measure a player's cap value, the team luck index, his history-based projection systems, coaching metrics, the setup passes statistic, and advances in the field of NHL translations and league equivalencies (NHLe) to understand how well players coming from other leagues will perform.
In 2014, Rob organized a grassroots hockey analytics conference in Calgary as a platform for the field's latest innovations, starting a movement that has since spread to eight other cities, including annual events in Ottawa, Rochester, and Vancouver.
Rob's work can be found every week on NHL.com and ESPN Insider, where he has been featured since the 2008-09 season. In all, Rob has written 800 columns for a variety of hockey websites, and has been featured in the Hockey News, the Globe and Mail, the Washington Post, Forbes, and Rolling Stone.
Since his first guest appearances on Nashville Predators radio in the summer of 2011 and throughout the subsequent season, Rob has made over 300 appearances on 60 different radio programs, TV shows and podcasts in 20 NHL cities, including most notably NHL Game Day, Hockey Night in Canada radio, Sportsnet's Hockey Central and 2015 Trade Deadline coverage, Boston Bruins NESN television, TSN's That's Hockey, ESPN's Sportscenter and Hockey Today, CBC Radio, and Wharton Business Radio.
Based in Calgary, Rob is one of the field's most trusted and entertaining voices, and has helped bring what was once a niche hobby into the mainstream.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 7, 2020
As someone who knows next to nothing about hockey, this book was awesome.
If you're a nerd who loves statistics and analytics, Rob Vollman does a great job of teaching you the basics of hockey analytics while assuming you know nothing about the sport. He teaches you how to watch the game with a more critical eye and analyze the numbers being thrown at you. After he establishes the basics, he gets into more dense topics that are sure to please the serious fans.
I needed something to read while being holed up in my Queens apartment during the coronavirus. I found this in one of my stacks of physical books. It was like finding buried treasure. Rob Vollman is such a patient deliberate analyst. You learn so much about the game, the players, and the leagues with his breakdowns.
That was my favorite part of the book. Rob Vollman analyzes all the hockey leagues around the world that are known to reliably transfer hockey players to the NHL, and he discusses what makes each of them unique. As someone who didn't know a thing about hockey before reading this book, it was really fun to learn about each league around the world and what they bring to the table.
Highly recommended for stats nerds or hockey fans.
If you're a nerd who loves statistics and analytics, Rob Vollman does a great job of teaching you the basics of hockey analytics while assuming you know nothing about the sport. He teaches you how to watch the game with a more critical eye and analyze the numbers being thrown at you. After he establishes the basics, he gets into more dense topics that are sure to please the serious fans.
I needed something to read while being holed up in my Queens apartment during the coronavirus. I found this in one of my stacks of physical books. It was like finding buried treasure. Rob Vollman is such a patient deliberate analyst. You learn so much about the game, the players, and the leagues with his breakdowns.
That was my favorite part of the book. Rob Vollman analyzes all the hockey leagues around the world that are known to reliably transfer hockey players to the NHL, and he discusses what makes each of them unique. As someone who didn't know a thing about hockey before reading this book, it was really fun to learn about each league around the world and what they bring to the table.
Highly recommended for stats nerds or hockey fans.
November 5, 2018
A starting set for all wannabe hockey analysts and fans, who want to dig in a little deeper than seeing stats as goals, assists or Corsi.
Since Vollman has been in the field for many years now, he has been able to study many aspects of the game and is aware, which statistics are possible to be built and which are not.
The main focus of the book is in bringing hockey numbers in context, so that they can be understood not only by the readers but also as if they were presented to a GM of a hockey club.
An absolute golden piece of work is trying to present, how players get into the NHL, what is their potential in maintaining their scoring numbers transferring from one league to another. Vollman also deeply looks into goalies’ statistics and tries to understand whether their statistics can be compared across leagues.
The information given is completed by not only what is possible, but the author also gives a thought to statistics that do not make much of a sense given the current data given.
As an extra, the book features view on comparing teams’ coaches and tries to compare them, even though not much data is present.
In the end, Vollman also explores for the reader possibilities for people to join the hockey analytics world.
All in all, a highly recommended book for all hockey enthusiasts who want to know more about their favorite game and know a lot more about what they (maybe) have been instinctively thinking.
Since Vollman has been in the field for many years now, he has been able to study many aspects of the game and is aware, which statistics are possible to be built and which are not.
The main focus of the book is in bringing hockey numbers in context, so that they can be understood not only by the readers but also as if they were presented to a GM of a hockey club.
An absolute golden piece of work is trying to present, how players get into the NHL, what is their potential in maintaining their scoring numbers transferring from one league to another. Vollman also deeply looks into goalies’ statistics and tries to understand whether their statistics can be compared across leagues.
The information given is completed by not only what is possible, but the author also gives a thought to statistics that do not make much of a sense given the current data given.
As an extra, the book features view on comparing teams’ coaches and tries to compare them, even though not much data is present.
In the end, Vollman also explores for the reader possibilities for people to join the hockey analytics world.
All in all, a highly recommended book for all hockey enthusiasts who want to know more about their favorite game and know a lot more about what they (maybe) have been instinctively thinking.
April 19, 2020
Best statistical hockey book ever written. Must read for hard core NHL fans or people interested in statistics. Rob breaks down the stats and metrics in an effective and simplistic matter and uses them to answer questions. This is a fantastic book.
December 29, 2022
An excellent introduction to the topic. Luckily I'm quite familiar with statistics in general, but I think this has a strong enough foundation that even if you don't, you'll pick up the concepts pretty quickly.
February 2, 2019
Explores some interesting topics in the world of hockey analytics. Went over my head sometimes with the statistical analysis but was a helpful addition to my understanding of the sport.
July 20, 2019
Very in depth look at hockey statistics that makes watching the sport even more entertaining. I would recommend this book for both hard core and casual hockey fans.
April 1, 2020
A great way to start your journey of hockey analytics or sports analytics in general. Practical advice and always holds the big picture to put statistics in context.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews