PuckPedia is a fantastic new hockey site that centralizes access to a ton of different types of data that previously, I used to have to use upwards of 3 different sites to obtain separately. The site includes (but is not limited to) player contract and team salary cap information, agent profiles and client information, CBA and salary cap details and history, a litany of NHL news and information (includes trades, transactions, injuries, scores and schedule), prior and future draft information, team coaches, recommended follows/resources at the team and league-level, and a variety of help resources including FAQs and a fantastic Ask the Capologist feature that allows users to submit questions directly to the site’s capologist, who in turn provides a quick and thorough answer for everyone to see. In addition to all of that, the site also has a number of features that have yet to be launched but should be ready in the near future, including discussion boards and a PuckHead GM tool that will allow users to play the role of armchair GM and receive feedback from the site on how well they did.
In addition to being a resource-rich website, it also is very intuitive, which as I’m sure many of you know is a rare trait for hockey websites. My day job is that I’m a director at a firm that specializes in digital user experience analysis, so take my word for it when I say that this is comfortably one of the more user-friendly hockey sites out there.[/text_output][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]Homepage & Navigation[/custom_headline][text_output]The site facilitates access to most of its resources via a standard main navigation menu at the top of the screen which organizes content across eight tabs: Home Ice (which serves as the site landing page), Players, Teams, People, Ask the Capologist, Puckhead GM, Discuss and Draft. A predictive search field positioned within the site’s header allows users to quickly access information on a specific player, coach or agent. The site’s footer contains links to contact, about and privacy information, the site’s Twitter account and a number of useful resources, including a NHL trade tracker and transaction tracker, injury news, NHL news, NHL scores, NHL schedule, NHL Agent Leaderboard, stats glossary and a buyout calculator. Of note, the trade tracker, transaction tracker and injury news pages all conveniently allow users to either view league-wide information or filter by a specific team.
The homepage is a great resource for users looking for information on recent NHL maneuvers, as the top of the page contains dedicated sections listing the latest player signings, team transactions, NHL team tweets and a trending item (e.g. at the time of writing this, it was the fact that Toby Enstrom was still on the UFA market). The center of the page presents the Agent Leaderboard and lists the most recent Ask the Capologist question answered, along with links to view more questions and ask your own question. The remainder of the page features information about team salary cap space for the upcoming/current seasons. It provides the cap limit and floor for the season, and presents the projected cap space, active roster players and playoff percentage for each team.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2820″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]Players[/custom_headline][text_output]The Players tab presents player contract details for all players within a sortable table and includes the following for each player: image, name, team, position, handedness, existing contract clauses, status upon expiration of current contract (e.g. RFA, UFA), current salary and current cap hit. Users can conveniently filter the information by a specific team, position or handedness via dropdowns at the top of the screen.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2822″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]Clicking on a hyperlinked player name leads to a detailed profile page containing a litany of details about each player. The top lists basic player information (age, position, handedness, size, contract status, agent, draft details) along with a convenient contract summary table that lists their current cap hit, the percentage of the cap the contract comprises, accumulated cap hit to-date of the contract, years completed through the contract, expiration status and career earnings. A Transaction History follows that details all transactions related to the player, including contract signings, recalls from the minors, trades etc.
Next, a stats section follows, viewable in terms of the current season or career, that lists the following stats: games played, goals, assists, points, +/-, PIM, TOI, goals for percentage (GF%), expected goals for percentage (xGF%), relative expected goals for percentage (Rel xGF%), Corsi for percentage (CF%), goals per-60 and points per-60. The Active Contract section includes a ton of information about the player’s deal, including cap hit, AAV, performance bonuses, base salary, signing bonuses, total salary, minors salary and clauses for every year of the deal. The section also includes balloon tips defining the various terms and convenient Buy It Out links that calculate a buy out for each year of the deal. The page concludes with a Contract History section that presents the contract details for each of the player’s previous deals.
This is an area of the site that PuckPedia is focused on enhancing in the near-future. The site plans to add additional player filters and sorting options, creating a true self-service player dashboard.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2824″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]Teams[/custom_headline][text_output]The Teams tab presents the same team salary cap information from the homepage (viewable by division view or league view) as well as information about the salary cap, how it works, historical salary cap information and league expansion details. Clicking on a specific team opens a detailed team page which contains practically anything you can possibly want to know about a team roster, cap breakdown and its minor league affiliates.
The top of the page lists the team name, logo and hyperlink to its NHL.com page, the number of Cups the team has won, its AHL and ECHL affiliates and current salary cap and contract specifics (e.g. total cap hit, cap space remaining LTIR used, roster numbers and contract numbers). It also contains a unique Cap Health Rating figure (coming soon feature), the team’s playoff odds and recent transactions. The following section lists the upcoming games, recent results, links to the team’s full schedule and provides details on the most recent team injuries (along with a link to the full injury report). A Team Voices section follows which displays recent tweets from the team’s official Twitter account and beat writers along with a great Who To Follow section which links to recommended people to follow related to the team along with a link to make a suggestion for additional people to add to the section.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2826″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]The Cap Breakdown section occupies the remainder of the page, and allows users to view all player contract data in terms of cap hit, AAV or salary. The top of the section contains the view filters along with a symbol legend. The section then lists contract data tables for forwards, defensemen, goalies, buried players and buyout & retained players. Each section lists the name, position, status, age and per-year contract details for each applicable player. A handy Cap Summary Projection table follows that lists the following for the current season and next three seasons: roster size, standard player contracts, cap ceiling, projected cap hit, projected cap space, current cap space, current LTIR relief, carryover bonus overages, potential bonuses and retained salary remaining. The last table on the page lists the name, position, status, age and per-year contract details for all of the non-roster players that have signed contracts with the team.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2827″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2828″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]People, Ask the Capologist, Puckhead GM and Discuss[/custom_headline][text_output]The People tab houses the full Agent Leaderboard and Team Voices resources, which we touched on a bit earlier. Users can click the name of any listed agent to view all contracts managed by the agent, the agent’s contact information and their affiliated agency. The Team Voices pages is similar to the section housed on each team profile page, but also contains the suggestion form at the bottom to suggest a podcast, twitter account or website that should be added as a team voice. The tab also includes a NHL Coaches page that lists the coach name and role for all teams within a sortable table. Users can conveniently filter information by team via a dropdown at the top.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2829″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]The Ask the Capologist feature has the opportunity to be a true differentiator for PuckPedia. The NHL CBA is a very complex legal agreement that very few know the majority of the nuances to (note – HockeyStatMiner on Twitter is a must follow for anyone looking for great info here). This unique feature allows users to ask questions about the NHL salary cap, CBA or transactions that occurred to the site’s capologist. The page displays recent questions and answers at the top along with a link to view additional questions beneath. A list of hyperlinked FAQs follows, and the page concludes with the Ask A Question form which allows users to easily submit their own question.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2830″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]The Puckhead GM and Discuss tabs will house two features that have yet to be launched: an armchair GM tool that provides feedback to users and hockey discussion boards, respectively. The final tab, Draft is a resourceful page for any fan interested in the NHL draft. It provides historical draft results and information on the picks owned by each team in the upcoming three drafts, including details on any trades involving draft picks. Users can conveniently filter the information on any of the past or future draft pages by a specific team.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”2831″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””]
Author: Drew Way
Diehard New York Rangers fan since 1988! Always has been fascinated by sports statistics, and is a big proponent of supplementing analytics with the eye test. Also a big Yankees, Giants and Knicks fan.