In December of 2011 Rob Vollman of Hockey Prospectus (and numerous other places) presented OZQoC Charts to the world. They were initially created over at Arctic Ice Hockey in June of 2011. Since then they have caught on to the point that NHL executives are using them in the course of their daily work.
For the uninitiated (or those that just don’t remember…I made a Stars version in December after all) OZ QoC charts are charts used to see how players are used across the NHL. They compare offensive zone start % and Quality of Competition on an x/y axis to show which players are playing the most difficult defensive minutes or which players are benefiting from especially easy minutes. Each player also has a bubble of varied size to represent the shot differential when they’re on the ice. It’s really a genius way to present the information that provides clear visible insight into how coaches are using their players.
A month or so ago Rob asked a few of us to help finish a new project for the 2012 season. Rob put together a Player Usage Charts 2011-12 pdf file with charts for all 30 NHL teams. It had to be quite an undertaking, and the fact that it looks as nice as it does is a testament to the level of work he put into the file. He asked several of us for help in filling in the blanks with commentary about teams we were able to see often.
It’s full of detail, clear explanations about what’s going on, and overall very well done. It became available (for free) on June 1st. If you’re interested click here to view the 2012 NHL Player Usage Charts.