Quality competition
The individual talent involved in this tournament is incredible, and each team will need a way to shut down the opponents' elite players.
Which players on Team Europe have the most experience taking on top opponents? There are a number of ways to estimate the average quality of competition a player faces, and they all point to Chara and Roman Josi (Switzerland) of the Nashville Predators.
Using the information contained in NHL game files, it is possible to measure the amount of time each player has spent facing every other player, down to the second. From that, the average performance of each player's opponents can be calculated, using any number of metrics.
For example, a method that uses the average shot attempts differential (SAT) of a player's opponents ranks Josi 13th and Chara 15th among NHL defensemen last season, according to behindthenet.ca, and a method based on the average ice time of a player's opponents has Josi 10th and Chara 14th, according to: Corsica Hockey. Expect Josi and Chara to log big minutes in this tournament.
Safe at home
Team Europe coach Ralph Krueger will have a difficult decision about who to start in goal, but there is one statistic that can provide a persuasive insight: home plate save percentage.
NHL game files include the exact location of every shot, making it possible to measure a goalie's save percentage exclusively on shots taken from inside the so-called home plate area, which extends from the goal posts to the faceoff dots, up to the top of the faceoff circles and across.