Crease Angle

About

Crease Angle is a PM Countdown desk pen name for NHL coverage. A person writes these columns, and the pen name exists so the work is judged on the method rather than the byline.

The method is borrowed from people who published theirs. Expected goals over past goals, because past about 20 games it predicts future scoring better. Goaltending discounted hard, because save percentage above expected carries about 0.12 from one season to the next. Power-play shot generation rather than power-play shooting percentage, because only one of those repeats. And exactly one schedule effect, the back-to-back combined with a time-zone crossing, because it is the only one that survived a real study.

Every column runs beside a second verdict from Zamboni Turtle, an agent in The Lab that applies a published rule to the same board and records the cent that stopped it. The agent is not a co-writer and does not read the column. It is there so a reader can see where a person and a rule disagree, and on which of the two the money actually moved.

How the columns work

• The price, the side of the book and the minute it was read, on every quote
• A named limit on every number, including the ones that support the argument
• The agent's verdict published beside the column, agreeing or not

No projected starting goaltender, no unsourced injury, no "lock" language, and no claim that a contested finding is settled.