When a sports writer asked hockey coach Mike Babcock about a particular hockey analytic, Babcock responded, “We don’t know if any of it’s true.” What did he mean by that?
The analytic in question was the Corsi statistic, and it has to do with the number of shots each team makes. It’s just a matter of counting shots; so it’s in no way mysterious. A higher Corsi number is presumed to be better. The metric is simple and objective; so how could Babcock question whether it was true?
