The Malhotra Effect (Part 1)

Watching the Habs dominate in the circle made me wonder about the impact that Manny Malhotra, one of the top faceoff specialists, had on the Canadiens this year. To further my curiosity, I heard Martin Lemay talking on TSN 690 about how Malhotra keeps detailed records on other team's centers and that he was been working with Lars Eller on improving Lars' faceoff technique.

I have compiled the data below that compares the faceoff winrate of the key centers on teams for the year before Malhotra with the year he arrived. I included all of the teams only after Malhotra had established himself as a dominant faceoff man. (All of the statistics were taken from NHL.com)

Montreal	Year Befor Malhotra (2013-2014)		Year with Malhotra (2014-2015)		Change
Player	FOs	Win %	FOs	Win %	Absolute	Change %
T. Plekanec	1712	48.00%	139	47.50%	-0.50%	-1%
D. Desharnais	1202	50.80%	138	57.20%	6.40%	13%
L. Eller	979	53.20%	96	56.20%	3.00%	6%
Carolina	Year Befor Malhotra (2012-2013)		Year with Malhotra (2013-2014)		Change
Player	FOs	Win %	FOs	Win %	Absolute	Change %
J. Staal	914	50.10%	1477	54.40%	4.30%	9%
E. Staal	1014	52.00%	1430	52.70%	0.70%	1%
R. Nash	289	44.30%	666	46.00%	1.70%	4%
Vancouver	Year Befor Malhotra (2010-2011)		Year with Malhotra (2010-2011)		Change
Player	FOs	Win %	FOs	Win %	Absolute	Change %
H. Sedin	1527	49.50%	1387	52.00%	2.50%	5%
R. Kesler	1401	55.10%	1496	57.40%	2.30%	4%
San Jose	Year Befor Malhotra (2009-2010)		Year with Malhotra (2010-2011)		Change
Player	FOs	Win %	FOs	Win %	Absolute	Change %
J. Thorton	1295	55.40%	1228	53.90%	-1.50%	-3%
J. Pavelski	1274	56.30%	821	58.10%	1.80%	3%
P. Marleau	591	52.40%	615	51.40%	-1.00%	-2%

Conclusion

Although the sample size for the Canadiens this year is too small to count, it does appear that both Carolina and Vancouver saw large net increases in winrate after Malhotra's arrival. The Sharks saw a net decrease. 

Although we cannot be sure as to the reason for the increases in winrate (is it due to lower quality of competition, due to learning from Malhotra, or variance) it does seem like there is a positive trend on faceoffs when Malhotra arrives at a new team. 

CHL players: Are they being exploited?

Recently, the Toronto Star released an article in which they discuss a class action lawsuit by CHL players against the CHL with regards to player compensation. The importance of this suit cannot be understated as it's outcome could have a great impact on the development of Canadian hockey players.

The Issue:

The crux of the CHL argument is that players fall outside of the traditional employer-emloyee relationship that is covered by labour law because they are "student athletes" and thus the league is not obligated to compensate the players according to minimum wage standards.

The lawyers representing the players argue that the players are employees working in a "for-profit" industry and are thus required to be compensated fairly, or at a minimum by the provincial labour standards.

View:

I have read of number of different opinions on the matter and have taken some time for formulate my own. It is not conceivable how a league, that has "for-profit" franchise and is not an academic institution can claim that its participants are student athletes and not employees. And as employees, the vast majority of the players in the CHL are being exploited for the benefit of the owners of the teams and the entire junior system needs an overhaul.

The main argument often cited is that the CHL provides an opportunity for hockey players to make the NHL and it is a place for young athletes to chase their dream. However, the truth is that only a small fraction of CHL players will go on to have a professional hockey career and even a smaller fraction will play in the NHL. Given this, the goal in examining player compensation should be to see how it impacts the vast majority of players in the CHL.

I would propose the following changes to the CHL:

1. Players should be compensated, at a minimum, in accordance with local labour laws. 
2. Because players are not covered by a collective agreement, they should be free to seek employment from any team and negotiate compensation with the team directly. There is no reason for players to be forced to play in specific locations and removing the draft would help raise player compensation and improve working conditions as teams would be competing for players. 

Many will argue the result of this will be the bankruptcy of some of the lower revenue teams, and the loss of opportunity of players to pursue their "dreams" but this should have little impact of the players who would likely make the NHL or play professional hockey as they would be part of the top tier of junior hockey players and still be employed. 

In all, there is no reason for a number of Canada's youth to be under-compensated and exploited because they chose to work in Canada's national pastime.