Progression Tracker
Let’s switch our focus to player development. This tool of the LB-Hockey arsenal allows you to visualize the evolution of any player during the previous four years. Most of the usual biographical datapoints are still here such as position, age, contract, and this season’s production. Moreover, the badges make a return below the skater’s team and 84-game point pace from each of the last four seasons.
In terms of new additions, we’ll start with the one that is most prominently featured on the dashboard: the progression line plot. The four recent seasons grace the horizontal axis while the displayed skills’ percentiles respective to the league makes up our vertical scale. At any time, three areas of a player’s game are presented, as indicated by the legend at the top. These three depend on which dropdown option is selected directly above it:
– Score: Shooting, Passing, Generation
– Shutdown: Transition Defend, Suppression, Checking
– Move: Transition Attack, Breakout, Overall
A new option has been added in this drop-down with a fourth item called “custom”. This displays a user selection of metrics determined by the list of ticked checkboxes to the right of the line plot. Some of the possible 3-skill groupings have preset names which can be selected from the drop-down to display a more appropriate title rather than simply “Custom”. For example, in the image below the combination of Passing, Transition Attack, & Breakout creates the Puck-Moving group, which then joins the drop-down list as a selectable option above the line plot.
Goalies have also been subsequently included in this dashboard with their progression line plots being broken up in the following categories (on top of the custom option):
– Movement: Athleticism, Scramble Ability, High Pressure
– Technique: Post Play, Rebound Control, Consistency
– Play Reading: Vision, Anticipation, Overall
The bottom left hosts the other new feature: the skills progression table. Here, up to five improved and deteriorated skills are shown on each side to demonstrate how the player’s style has evolved in the four-year span. This amount is determined by looking at the player’s skills whose progression varied by one standard deviation (in either direction) relative to the rest of his toolkit. In other words, only a player’s skills that have improved or decreased by a somewhat significant margin are eligible to be listed here. It should also be noted that this table only lists abilities that have gotten better or worse. It does not reflect whether these are overall strengths or weaknesses of the selected player. For example, a power forward who has rounded out his game recently by shifting away from being a one-trick pony and focused on defence might have forechecking on the “trending down” side even if it is still a big and competent part of their game.