Best known for his Bill James-inspired Hockey Abstract book, his Player Usage Charts, his frequent guest appearances on radio and TV, and his record-breaking ESPN Insider contributions, long-time hockey analytics Rob Vollman was first published in the Fall 2001 issue of the Hockey Research Journal, and has since co-authored all six annual Hockey Prospectus guides, the 2014-15 and 2015-16 McKeen's magazines, and two of his own Rob Vollman's Hockey Abstract books - with another one slated to hit the shelves in September 2016, courtesy of ECW Press.
While modern advanced statistical hockey analysis stands on a mountain of complexity, Rob's work is best known for being expressed in clear, focused and applicable terms, and often presented in a humourous and entertaining way. Whether you're arguing about the worst trades in history or which team improved most in the off-season, Rob's objective approach will add clear, cold facts to the discussion in a style that is undeniably engaging --- and convincing!
“I wouldn't say I was a skeptic, but I was a guy [...] I'm still old-school; scouting and so on, but [Rob Vollman] convinced me over coffee, about an hour, hour and a half that we met, about why this has value, and why teams are going towards this, and I believe in it now.” - Kelly Hrudey, CBC Hockey Night in Canada
Rob's most popular innovations have helped win Stanley Cups and Gold medals, including Player Usage Charts to see how effectively players are being used, Quality Starts and Home Plate Save Percentage for goaltenders, Goals Versus Salary (GVS) to measure a player's cap value, his history-based projection systems, the Setup Passes statistics, and advances in the field of NHL Translations and League Equivalencies (NHLe) to understand how well players coming from other leagues will perform. A member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) since 2014, Rob's analysis can be found most commonly at ESPN Insider and Hockey Prospectus, and he has made 200 appearances on 40 different radio programs, TV shows, podcasts, and hockey analytics conferences in 18 NHL cities. Most notably, Rob has appeared on Hockey Night in Canada radio, Sportsnet Hockey Central, TSN's That's Hockey, ESPN's Sportscenter and Hockey Today, CBC Radio, and Wharton Business Radio. His work has been featured in the Hockey News, the Washington Post, the Globe and Mail, and the Rolling Stone and Forbes magazines. To request him as a speaker or a guest on your show, or his assistance to your organization and/or publications in understanding the complexities of statistical hockey analysis, and to happily answer all questions from hockey fans everywhere, Rob Vollman can be reached by emailing vollman at hockeyabstract.com
|
