not so quick hit

where are we with this last in the division team? well 46 games down 36 to go is one place. pc is openly ruminating about making some changes. he says defense or a fiesty foward is on his radar and he says he has deals he can pursue today. are these motivators for guys? he also says that he has about a million to work with under the cap presently. can a one million dollar guy come in here and help this team? there is a rumor floating around that a couple of oiler defenseman are coming for b-stu and m-stu (thats m sturm) . lastly the trade deadline is about a month away.

personally when the boyes were only able to take down 4 of 8 points before the allstar break i started writing off this season. some gritty intensity in the next week and 6 out of the next 8 points might bring me back to thinking this is a playoff team but this means beating buffalo and ottowa and new york....or buffalo twice - im not holding my breath.

so your wondering about brad stuart? well talk has been vague.... i believe the sides already have and agreement. its one of two things- pc is going to move brad to a playoff team or they have a nice new contract worked out, but it will not be signed until a day before the deadline - this is because any raise given to stuart on a new contract will also count towards this years cap (thats my understanding of the CBA). unless a deal comes soon, put your money on new contract in about a month.

so lately i have been wondering about stats and a more comprehensive system for rating hockey players like sabermetrics does for baseball. one problem with just looking at the typical stats sheet is that it just has players numbers listed per game. but when you try to measure players against each other you run into problems - for instance on the bruins roster you have guys like chara who plays 30 minutes a game so of course his blocked shots are going to be much higher than a milan jurcina who averages 11 minutes a game. well i have taken sometime the last couple of days and broken down the team stats by a players effectiveness per minute of ice time.
i then went a step further and took a number of stats to create the nebmatrix number for each player on the bruins.

running these numbers i can tell you the average bruin hits someone every 27 minutes of ice time. of regular players b-stu leads the team in hitting throwing a check every 10 minutes of his ice time. not surprisingly phil kessel is in last place having thrown a check every 70 minutes - remember this is ice time - phil hits someone once every 6 games.

the average bruin blocks a shot every 28 minutes- both stuarts mark and brad do well in this stat 8.4 and 10.2 minutes of ice respectivly for these two between their blocks....last? well glen murray, maybe remembering his bruised foot of last season has only ventured in front of a shot every 80 minutes.

missed shots? the average bruin misses the net every 31 minutes - any guesses - yup patrice leads the troops in putting it on the glass with a missed shot every 15 and half minutes (actually seems like a lot more). the best bruin in this stat? andrew alberts - i guess when you contribute this little offense you bettter get every shot you muster on net.

the average bruin coughs up the puck every 44 minutes. patrice leads in this catorgory as well, giving it up every 15 minutes he skates around. team leader? chistov who is only turning it over every 94 minutes he plays.

the average bruin steals the puck every 53 minutes- team leader was yan - but of the remaining guys its mark mowers picking one every 28.7 minutes. unable to take a puck given to him? paul mara who steals at a pathetic rate of once every 159 minutes. by the way patrice is getting those pucks he loses back at once every 31 minutes.

minute of ice per goal? average 159 minutes - team leader wade brook bank scoring every 30 minutes of total ice.... but this was too small a statistical sampling so of the regulars... glen murray at one every 40 minutes - now this is where this type of break down comes in handy the next 5 "(all fowards of course) - savard 50mpg, kessel 60mpg, sturm 62mpg, bergeron 63mpg, pj 86 mpg.

min per assist- average bruin - 85 minutes leader - savard mpa of 20.5 . last tenkrat at 124 mpa.

lastly the nebermatrix - this is essentially my own formula for how many minutes of playing time it takes each player to have a positive affect on the game. the average bruin scores a 31 - the perfect player scores around a 7-8 with the lower the number the better. i used the gordie howe hat trick of a fight, a goal, an assist and being very active in steals, blocks, hits and with few give aways to define the perfect player.

ANDREW ALBERTS	50.7
ZDENO CHARA	27.8
NATHAN DEMPSEY	53.6
MILAN JURCINA	60.4
MATT LASHOFF	52.7
BRAD STUART	28.9
PAUL MARA	54.0
P.J. AXELSSON	20.3
MARC SAVARD	14.5
GLEN MURRAY	18.5
MARCO STURM	22.0
PATRICE BERGERON	14.9
BRAD BOYES	19.6
JEFF HOGGAN	49.8
WAYNE PRIMEAU	21.5
SHEAN DONOVAN	31.0
MARK MOWERS	38.6
PHIL KESSEL	22.9
PETR TENKRAT	27.5
S CHISTOV	24.2