Puckémon Cards
Now it’s time for some more niche and less serious analytics. The Puckémon Cards are a result of wanting to take a break from the in-depth analytics and combine two of my biggest interests.
NHLers as Pokémon Trainers
This sheet is a collection of three different tools, with the first (pictured above) allowing us to see what each NHL player’s team would look like if they were a pokémon trainer. First, each player’s tracked metrics are used to find their pokémon stat equivalents. This is the approach I followed for the skater conversion:
– HP: big role & recognition (high ice time and overall performance)
– Attack: forechecking & shooting (think power forward)
– Defense: physicality & suppression (think prototypical defensive defenseman)
– Special Attack: passing & transition offence (think skilled playmaker)
– Special Defense: transition defence & exits (think modern puck-moving D)
– Speed: penalties & carry entries (think speedster)
And for the goalies:
– HP: workload
– Attack: rebounds & high danger
– Defense: consistency & low danger
– Special Attack: vision & play reading
– Special Defense: penalty kill & puck handling
– Speed: agility & recovery
The pokémon typing and generation are also taken into account for the similarity calculation. Each player’s converted stats are shown next to them directly on top of the ones for their ace (#1 match). The next four closest are also added to their team and fill the middle spots. For the final slot, inspiration was taken from the Pokémon Infinite Fusion game to find the closest fusion match. Feel free to read more on the concept through the provided link but it is exactly what it sounds like. On top of the usual data credits, I have also included the name of the sprite artist for each fusion given that Infinite Fusion is a community fan game with designs from a panoply of talented volunteer artists.
Pokémon’s Starting Lineup
The next dashboard essentially flips the previous one around. Here, you can pick any pokémon (updated to the teal mask & indigo disk DLC), and you will be given each creature’s NHL starting lineup.
Fusion Viz
This final one has nothing to do with hockey and is simply an extra tool for those curious in the aforementioned pokémon fusion concept. It allows you to peruse all the wonderful sprites created for the Pokémon Infinite Fusion fan game, in addition to their respective stats & typings. You can either select two pokémon or let chance decide by ticking the randomization checkbox.
Pokémon Picker by Type
This is a separate tool that I made some time ago and I figured I should add it here. This simply allows you to pick and display your favourite Pokémon by type. Like the previous, it is also free and available to everyone.