EXPLANATION OF PLAYER RATINGS from FACEOFF Face-Off generates not just an accurate portrayal of a player's goals and assist, but also how many shots on goal for a season will be taken, how many power play goals, how many and what types of penalties along with many other abilities. Defensive ratings: Defensive ratings in Face-Off are used to regulate shots on goal. Defensive ratings are determined first on a team basis based on how that team performed in relation to the league average in allowing shots on goal. Within a team, then the individual defense ratings are allocated within that team such that they will match the team's overall defensive numbers. They are not based solely on an individual's play. Therefore it is usually not valid as some have already pointed out, to compare a guy who got a 5 on one team with a guy who got a 4 on another team. A more valid comparison would be to say, "As a 4, Guy One was that team's third best defenseman as far as defense ratings go, but on Team B, Guy 2's 3 only makes him the seventh or eighth best. Guy 2 was more valuable to his team that Guy One was to his team." OR "Guy One on Team A was better than Guy Two on Team A and you have them reversed in my opinion." THOSE would be more valid comparisons as far as Face-Off looks at defense numbers than comparing two guys from two different teams straight up. Intimidators: The main ratings team has assured me that they are aware that we are looking low again this year as far as total number of intimidators. This will be addressed before the final ratings are published. So get those comments in! I guess I would say. :) Defensive Puck Control: defensive type puck control as Face-Off views it within the context of the game design is based on a player's defensive ratings for normal 5 on 5 play (takes it away from them and gives it to you!) and his K (penalty killing +) rating which allows them to kill time when playing on the shorthanded team. PK Aces and PK (K) codes: As a *general* rule, teams in the top third of the league in penalty killing will have 3 PK Aces, and 8 players with K ratings, most used 4 forwards and 4 defensemen. The teams in the middle third in penalty killing will have 2 PK Aces, 8 players with slightly lower K ratings than the top third of the league, and teams in the bottom third of the league in penalty killing will get 1 PK Ace, 6 players with even lower K ratings, 4 forwards, 2 defensemen. In general. Penalty Propensity: A player's chance of taking a penalty is NOT based on the player's number of penalty MINUTES. It is based on the actual number of PENALTIES (regardless of type) that a player took over the season. A player with 100 minutes of penalties who had 50 minor penalties is more than TWICE as likely to take a penalty than a player who had the same 100 minutes of penalties but got them on 10 minors, 6 Majors, 3 Misconducts and 2 Game Misconducts. Face-Off tracks and rates players for ALL types of possible penalties AND where they were taken, home or away. (As I found out in the playoffs in my league this year. :)) PC (Puck Control AKA Passing): This is based on a formula used since Face-Off was invented that is based on RAW numbers of goals and assists scored PRO-RATED over the whole season based on actual games played and minutes played. If PC numbers look low lately, it's because overall league scoring is down, resulting in choppier play with less passing (in Face-Off terms). If we ever go back to the high-flying 1980s (or hockey turns into major league baseball!), expect the PC numbers to go back up there correspondingly. This is a TEAM rating in the sense that the more goals a team scores, the more assists it's players will have and the more and higher overall PC ratings they will have. High scoring teams will have more players with higher PC ratings than a team that doesn't score as many goals. Some people have noted that passes are easier to complete these days when they do happen. This has been in effect for the last two or three years after an error in some of the internal ratings being used was corrected. Passing is now as it was intended to be all along. What had happened was that Bob Frost (Face-Off's original designer) used to have a rating for players on how easily they WERE intimidated. (Think of it as a wuss factor.) The higher your 'wuss' factor, the more likely your passes would be intercepted. Unfortunately in the transition from Bob Frost to David Landsman, some of the original ratings and thier purposes got miscommunicated. For several years, a player's OWN intimidation rating was being used to adjust the passing codes instead of adjusting them by how that player reacted to OTHER intimidators. The effect of that was you had non-intimidators like Gretzky and M. Lemieux getting 'wuss' ratings and being unable to complete passes and stone-handed goons who could thread the needle!! Since there are always a lot more NON goons than there are II goons, overall passing got easier to do once we factored that error out and put everyone back on an equal basis. Yes, as someone noted, it's just as likely a PC pass will go to an Adam Foote as it will to a Peter Forsberg. But still, that's one time sequence that the other team will never have to get a chance to score on you regardless of whether it's Adam Foote or Peter Forsberg with the puck. + Passing: This rating has been in place for the last three years and is more of an individual pass rating meant to reward players who perform above the norm within the context of their team. It is based on assists pro-rated over a whole season based on actual games played and minutes played (with some adjustments for those players who played very little to avoid 'supercard' gaming) as a proportion of that team's total goals scored. It is based on the concept that a player who managed 40 pro-rated assists for a team who only scored 200 goals had to perform above and beyond as an individual than a comparable player who managed 40 pro-rated assists for a team that scored 250 goals. I think Anaheim and Detroit are excellent examples of the difference between the PC TEAM type passing rating and the + PASSING individual type rating. Overall, Anaheim's poor scoring as a team leads to the team in general having poor puck control ratings, so they'll turn over the puck a lot and not really get good offensive flow going. On the other hand, they have a core nucleus of a few outstanding players that can now and then perform an individual feat of threading a nice pass to set up a shot on goal. With Anaheim, when one of their stars is on the ice, you have that chance for a brilliant effort that will result in a shot on goal (though overall puck control still is not good so they will have the puck less than most teams), but when their stars are NOT out there, their offensive chances are not very good at all. Detroit is more like the opposite. They only have one + passer, but their overall puck control numbers represent that their offensive game is more a team effort spread over many players and once the Wings get the puck, they can toss it around amongst themselves for awhile. They don't have to rely on one or two players to get it done. Everyone contributes and the Wings will control the clock and the game a lot more than Anaheim will. Hope that helps some on some of the various questions, Dave Arlington In the ratings part, the letters are: S - Shooting C - puck Control I - Intimidation P - Penalty R - Retaliation H - Home advantage K- Puck control when SH DEFENSIVE RATINGS ----------------- DEFENCE/CLEARING (DEF) Every player is given a DEFENCE rating which ranges from 0-4 for forwards and 1-5 for defencemen. As well, every defenceman is given a CLEARING rating which ranges from 1-5. Both of these ratings represent the ability of a player to stop opposing players from getting a shot on net. CLEARING represents the ability of defencemen to stop rebounds from occurring -- either by being able to handle the puck and get it away from the front of the net or by clearing the front of the net of people (the old-fashioned way). DEFENCE represents the ability in whatever form of stopping shots from getting through. INTIMIDATION (I) INTIMIDATION ranges from 0-2 and represents a player's ability to muscle opponents off of the puck and/or to cause opponents to make turnovers because of fear. Players with high INTIMIDATION ratings will cause more turnovers. BLOCKING (B) Some defencemen are given the extra BLOCKING rating. Shot blocking, in general, is included in a player's DEFENCE rating. But those defencemen which have extra ability in this facet of the game are given rating. Defencemen who have BLOCKING have the ability to stop a shot that would be on net from actually getting through. However, there is a downside in that some of these shots can get through anyways in which case the goalie might be screened. FORECHECKING (FC) Forwards who are especially adept at causing turnovers are given the FORECHECKING rating. It represents the ability to attack opponents in their defensive zone and cause scoring chances through turnovers. If a forward with the FORECHECKING rating creates a turnover, he gets an immediate scoring chance. SHADOW (@) Forwards who can shut opposing players down are granted the rare SHADOW ability. Forwards with this rating cause more turnovers, especially when the player opposite them is involved in the play. PENALTY KILL (*) This defensive rating only takes effect when a team is shorthanded. Players with the PENALTY KILL rating make it harder for opposing teams to get shots on net. PENALTY KILL CONTROL(K) There is also the K rating near the end of the fields. The K rating is for Puck Control during SHORTHANDED play. (the PK + codes for those who have played the board game). The higher the rating, the more likely you'll control the puck and kill a time sequence for your team while shorthanded. In THAT rating, John Madden has a 21, which is the highest rating given out in that category. OFFENSIVE RATINGS ----------------- SHOTTAKING (S) Depending on the number of shots a player took during the year, he is given a rating from 0-99. It represents how often, when this player is controlling the play, that he will attempt a shot on goal. Some of the attempts won't succeed as the above-mentionned defensive ratings will come into play, but, in general, players with higher SHOTTAKING ratings will take more shots. SHOOTING ABILITY Every FACEOFF player is rated in scoring ability in four different situations: normal play, man advantage situations, shorthanded situations, and while playing the point on a power play. To represent these abilities, a strange rating has been devised. The easiest way to explain it is to show one: 27/37S5P. This indicates that the player has a 27% chance of getting an "in-range" shot in regular play, a 37% chance of getting an in-range shot while on the power play, a 5% chance of getting a good shot when shorthanded (as opposed to 1%) and can play the point on the power play with success (17% versus 12%). Every shot is considered a shot on net for statistical purposes, but only "in-range" shots have the ability to be a goal. PUCK CONTROL (C) Besides taking a shot, a player is also rated in his ability to keep control of the puck for his team. This is generally through passing to teammates but can also mean simply skating with the puck. PUCK CONTROL represents a player's ability to keep the puck. It ranges from 0-4. PASSING (+n) Players with above average ability in puck control (C ratings of 3 or 4) can also receive PASSING ratings. This rating ranges from +1 to +3 for defencemen and +1 to +5 for forwards. Players with this ability cause their teammates to get more shots on net. SCREENING (S) SCREENING is an extra rating that represents a player's ability to block defenders and the goalie from stopping shots on net. When a player with a SCREENING rating is on the ice, his teammates have an easier time getting shots on the net. Having more than one SCREENING rating on the ice at one time doesn't have any extra effect. MISCELLANEOUS RATINGS --------------------- FACEOFF ACE (A) Forwards with the FACEOFF ACE rating will win more faceoffs than not. Players with a FACEOFF ACE rating can be expected to have a 55-60% winning percentage in faceoffs. PENALTY (P) This rating abstracts a player's propensity to take penalties. It ranges from 0-5 with a 5 representing a player who will take a lot of penalties. FACEOFF tracks players in 10 different penalty types and this rating concerns the number of penalties they took as opposed to the number of minutes they received. For instance, a player who gets 20 misconducts will have a lower PENALTY rating than one who got 100 minor penalties even though their PIM totals will be equal. RETALIATION (R) Along with a player's propensity to take penalties, FACEOFF also tracks a player's propensity to retaliate when the opposing team takes a penalty. It ranges from 0-5 with a 5 representing a player who will retaliate quite often. HOME ICE ADVANTAGE (H) In FACEOFF, every player receives a home ice advantage depending on the team they played for. This rating ranges from 0-5. Depending upon the player and the team, the HOME ICE ADVANTAGE rating reflects whether a player will be able to get a shot when playing at home in situations where he would turnover the puck when playing on the road. ASSIST FACTOR (AS) FACEOFF doesn't represent every exact movement of the puck. Instead, it represents the overall play type that occurs in each unit of time. For this reason, assists can't be determined by the simple means of whoever touched the puck last. Instead, the ASSIST FACTOR indicates players who are likely to assist in the play. GOALIE RATINGS -------------- IN-RANGE SAVE PERCENTAGE (IRSV%) The main rating for goalies determines the percentage of in-range shots that they save. By definition, an average goalie will receive a 50% rating. PUCK CONTROL (PC) If a goalie stops a shot (either out-of-range or in-range), the PUCK CONTROL rating indicates whether his team gets control of the puck or not. Most goalies receive PUCK CONTROL ratings of 0 while some get negative ratings and others get positive ratings. It ranges from -2 to +2. A goalie with a + rating has a greater chance of assisting his team in getting control of the puck. REBOUND CONTROL (RB) When a goalie stops a shot, there is a chance of a rebound being given up. The REBOUND CONTROL rating, which ranges from -2 to +2, indicates how effective a goalie is at stopping rebounds. Most goalies receive ratings of 0 with those goalies who give up less rebounds getting positive ratings.