IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/jqsprt/v5y2009i1n10.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Defining the Style of Play in the NHL: An Application of Cluster Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Vincent Claude B

    (Laurentian University)

  • Eastman Byron

    (Laurentian University)

Abstract

The placing of NHL players into categories such as stars, average journeyman forwards, defensive forward, etc., is a popular pastime of fans and professional sports commentators. This is usually done in an ad hoc manner, sometimes contentiously, and without reference to any detailed analysis of empirical data. This paper structures the debate and provides a statistical basis for such categorization. This is achieved through an application of cluster analysis to formally allocate players to these categories. Using variables from the earnings determination literature, we are able to define the style of play of both forwards and defensemen. In addition, there appears to be a link to external outcome measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent Claude B & Eastman Byron, 2009. "Defining the Style of Play in the NHL: An Application of Cluster Analysis," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-23, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:jqsprt:v:5:y:2009:i:1:n:10
    DOI: 10.2202/1559-0410.1133
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2202/1559-0410.1133
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2202/1559-0410.1133?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward W. Hill & John F. Brennan, 2000. "A Methodology for Identifying the Drivers of Industrial Clusters: The Foundation of Regional Competitive Advantage," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 14(1), pages 65-96, February.
    2. Glenn Milligan & Martha Cooper, 1988. "A study of standardization of variables in cluster analysis," Journal of Classification, Springer;The Classification Society, vol. 5(2), pages 181-204, September.
    3. Edward W. Hill & John F. Brennan & Harold L. Wolman, 1998. "What is a Central City in the United States? Applying a Statistical Technique for Developing Taxonomies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(11), pages 1935-1969, November.
    4. Marc Lavoie, 2000. "The Location of Pay Discrimination in the National Hockey League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 1(4), pages 401-411, November.
    5. Michael A. Curme & Greg M. Daugherty, 2004. "Competition and Pay for National Hockey League Players Born in Québec," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 5(2), pages 186-205, May.
    6. J. Jones & S. Nadeau & W. Walsh, 1997. "The wages of sin: Employment and salary effects of violence in the national hockey league," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 25(2), pages 191-206, June.
    7. J. Colin & H. Jones & Serge Nadeau & William Walsh, 1999. "Ethnicity, productivity and salary: player compensation and discrimination in the National Hockey League," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 593-608.
    8. Catherine Jackson, 2002. "Classifying Local Retail Property Markets on the Basis of Rental Growth Rates," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(8), pages 1417-1438, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Timothy C. Y. Chan & Justin A. Cho & David C. Novati, 2012. "Quantifying the Contribution of NHL Player Types to Team Performance," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 42(2), pages 131-145, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claude Vincent & Byron Eastman, 2009. "Determinants of Pay in the NHL," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 10(3), pages 256-277, June.
    2. Claude Vincent & Byron Eastman, 2012. "Does Player Mobility Lead to Higher Earnings? Evidence from the Nhl," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 57(1), pages 50-64, May.
    3. Dennis Coates, 2017. "Returns to Handedness in Professional Hockey," Sports Economics, Management, and Policy, in: Bernd Frick (ed.), Breaking the Ice, pages 41-56, Springer.
    4. Thomas H. Bruggink & Daniel Williams, 2009. "Discrimination against Europeans in the National Hockey League: Are Players Getting Their Fair Pay?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 54(2), pages 82-90, October.
    5. Kevin Mongeon, 2015. "A Market Test for Ethnic Discrimination in the National Hockey League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(5), pages 460-481, June.
    6. Timothy C. Y. Chan & Justin A. Cho & David C. Novati, 2012. "Quantifying the Contribution of NHL Player Types to Team Performance," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 42(2), pages 131-145, April.
    7. Pelnar, Gregory, 2007. "Antitrust Analysis of Sports Leagues," MPRA Paper 5382, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Christian Deutscher, 2009. "The Payoff to Leadership in Teams," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 10(4), pages 429-438, August.
    9. Leo Kahane & Neil Longley & Robert Simmons, 2013. "Returns to thuggery in the National Hockey League: the effects of increased enforcement," Chapters, in: Plácido Rodríguez & Stefan Késenne & Jaume García (ed.), The Econometrics of Sport, chapter 5, pages 81-98, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Giuseppe RICCIARDO LAMONICA, 2002. "La funzionalita' nelle zone omogenee delle Marche," Working Papers 165, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    11. Roberto Rocci & Stefano Antonio Gattone & Roberto Di Mari, 2018. "A data driven equivariant approach to constrained Gaussian mixture modeling," Advances in Data Analysis and Classification, Springer;German Classification Society - Gesellschaft für Klassifikation (GfKl);Japanese Classification Society (JCS);Classification and Data Analysis Group of the Italian Statistical Society (CLADAG);International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS), vol. 12(2), pages 235-260, June.
    12. Dawid Majcherek & Marzenna Anna Weresa & Christina Ciecierski, 2020. "Understanding Regional Risk Factors for Cancer: A Cluster Analysis of Lifestyle, Environment and Socio-Economic Status in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-15, October.
    13. Steven Devaney & Colin Lizieri, 2005. "Individual Assets, Market Structure and the Drivers of Return1," Journal of Property Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 287-307, December.
    14. Craig A. Depken & Peter A. Groothuis & Mark C. Strazicich, 2020. "Evolution Of Community Deterrence: Evidence From The National Hockey League," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(2), pages 289-303, April.
    15. Kelly Goossens, 2006. "Competitive balance in european football: comparison by adapting measures: national measure of seasonal imbalance and Top 3," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 2(2), pages 77-122, Dicembre.
    16. Neil Longley, 2000. "The Underrepresentation of French Canadians on English Canadian NHL Teams," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 1(3), pages 236-256, August.
    17. Karolina Pawlak & Luboš Smutka & Pavel Kotyza, 2021. "Agricultural Potential of the EU Countries: How Far Are They from the USA?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, March.
    18. Mirko Titze & Matthias Brachert & Alexander Kubis, 2011. "Local and regional knowledge sources of industrial clusters - methodical aspects in a multidimensional framework for cluster identification," ERSA conference papers ersa10p709, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Aurora Torrente & Juan Romo, 2021. "Initializing k-means Clustering by Bootstrap and Data Depth," Journal of Classification, Springer;The Classification Society, vol. 38(2), pages 232-256, July.
    20. Karyn Morrissey, 2016. "A location quotient approach to producing regional production multipliers for the Irish economy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(3), pages 491-506, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:jqsprt:v:5:y:2009:i:1:n:10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyterbrill.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.