Podcast Ombudsman Report for Blueshirt Bandwidth Ep. 65
From audiobook literacy and points systems to Panarin’s playoff math and Drury’s trade record, the Ombudsman returns to correct the record—again.
Welcome back to the Blueshirt Bandwidth Podcast Ombudsman Report. Each week, Charlie Vidal will listen to the latest episode of the podcast and correct the record on anything Joe and Eric get wrong. If you aren't already, you can listen and subscribe to the podcast here.
Books
After going through the listeners' top books per Blueshirt Bandwidth’s Spotify data, Joe said “I’ll be honest, I didn’t know that you people could read.” Given that this is data from Spotify, I’m assuming that these are audiobooks. Additionally, I don’t think that it’s a good idea for the leader of a website that charges $85/year for articles to insult its fans’ reading abilities.
Listening Back to the Podcast
Joe said that he listens back to the podcast during his commute to take notes and criticize Eric. That is actually how I landed in the role of ombudsman.
NHL Points System
When discussing the crowding in the Eastern Conference standings, with every team being “above .500,” Eric said that the NHL needs to move to the English Premier League points system. The English Premier League (and most soccer leagues in the world) give out three points for a win and one point for a tie. Since the NHL does not and will not have ties, I believe that what Eric meant is that the NHL should adopt the IIHF tournament points system, where all games have a total of three points up for grabs: three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, and one point for an overtime or shootout loss.
Panarin Playoff Numbers
When discussing Artemi Panarin’s playoff woes, Joe said that “compared to MacKinnon and Crosby, Panarin’s numbers aren’t there.” As you can see from the chart below, Panarin’s points per game decline by a whopping 27 percent in the postseason, while Crosby sees a 10 percent decline, Alex Ovechkin sees a 15 percent decline, and Nathan MacKinnon actually sees his points per game increase by 10 percent during the postseason, probably because he doesn’t eat normal pasta.
Drury Trades
In discussing the trades that Chris Drury has made, Joe called out the Will Borgen/Kaapo Kakko and Carson Soucy trades as “good work.” The advanced metrics have a more nuanced view of the moves, especially regarding the value of Borgen and Soucy.
Despite his continued struggles, Kaapo Kakko’s has shown enough that JFresh has him with a 48 percent projected WAR, in contrast to Borgen at 28 percent and Soucy at a paltry 13 percent:
Taking a more backwards looking approach, Evolving Hockey has Soucy and Kakko as replacement-level players this season, with Borgen being below replacement-level:
2014
Joe said that the Rangers didn’t win the Stanley Cup in 2014 because they were unlucky in a lot of respects. While Joe is right that an egregious goalie interface non-call allowed the Los Angeles Kings to tie Game 2 and eventually win in overtime, the Rangers were outshot in four of the five games of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final. The only game in which the Rangers outshot the Kings was Game 3, when the Kings went ahead 2-0 early in the second period and withstood a Rangers barrage for a 3-0 Jonathan Quick shutout.
Shanghai Dragons
While Joe looked up the record of the Shanghai Dragons, he didn’t give the full context of the standings. There are 11 teams in both the Eastern and Western Conferences of the KHL, with eight teams making the playoffs in each conference. As of Tuesday afternoon, Gerard Gallant’s Dragon’s are in ninth place with 41 points, six points outside of the playoffs and behind a team that has played two fewer games than the Dragons.
Rooting for Other Teams
In Joe and Eric’s discussion of people rooting for multiple teams, especially regarding the person who also roots for the Flyers, Joe said “maybe you’re a Flyers fan and you hate the Rangers.” Hating the Rangers is actually a hallmark of being a Rangers fan.
Eric then made a good point about having a favorite team in the other conference or league. My dad is from Chicago, so as a Rangers/ New York Jets fan I see no conflict in rooting for the Chicago Bears and Chicago Blackhawks right up until they face one of my favorite teams. Speaking of my dad being a Bears fan, please pray for my mother as she will attempt to get the Bears game stream on Amazon Prime working for my dad on Saturday night.
We Get Things Wrong All the Time
“I’m not suggesting that we’re perfect, I’m not suggesting that we’re the smartest people in the world.” - Joe Fortunato
That’s why I have a job.
