What were the riskiest roster selections made by the American Olympic hockey team? While it's hard to go wrong with a team with so many of the world's best, there are a few players who could put the team at risk if deployed incorrectly. Inclusions like Kevin Shattenkirk were bold, given the potential consequences if they wind up on the ice with Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin at a critical point of a game.
How can analytics help identify these bigger risks? By taking information directly from NHL game files and summarizing them into a chart about how each player is being used.
These resulting player usage charts include the zones in which a player is primarily deployed and against what average level of competition. Since most of the key Olympic games will be against top NHL players, it can be risky to select anyone who doesn't have a lot of experience and comfort handling those types of responsibilities.
We'll take a look at the players who are at greatest risk of being out of their depth in Sochi, starting with their defensemen and Kevin Shattenkirk.
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Article written by Rob Vollman
USA Olympic Hockey’s Riskiest Players in Sochi
January 18th, 2014 by Rob Vollman Leave a reply »
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