WEHL - The Web Site

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
    1. What is the WEHL?
    2. A Brief History
    3. Today
    4. Site Overview
  2. View (current WEHL statistics)
    1. Summary
    2. Players
      1. Contents
      2. Controlling The List
    3. Transactions
      1. Contents
      2. Controlling The List
    4. Drop/Add Toy
    5. Charts
    6. Classic
      1. Going From Team To Team
      2. Going From Year To Year
      3. Showing Different Stats
    7. My Team
  3. Draft
    1. View a player list
      1. Contents
      2. Printing The Lists
    2. My Worksheet
      1. Contents
      2. Printing The Worksheet
    3. Scorers
    4. Results
  4. Download
    1. Why Would I Download?
    2. How Do I Download?
    3. Free Excel Viewer
  5. Other
    1. Rules
    2. Message Board
      1. Contents
      2. Posting
    3. History
    4. Help
  6. FAQ
    1. What are projected points and how are they calculated?
    2. Something doesn't work or doesn't look right - what can I do?
    3. What happened to (name of missing page)?
    4. Why do some of the stats pages look so sparse?
    5. I have a web browser in my phone/PDA/pager - can I view WEHL stats?
    6. How can I send emails from my web browser?
  7. Notes

Answers

  1. Introduction

    1. What is the WEHL?

      It stands for the Ward Edwards Hockey League. Ward Edwards refers to a house of debauchery in some industrial backwater - the less you know about it the better. [Back to the top]
       
    2. A Brief History

      There are others more qualified to write on this subject than your humble scrivener. Anybody who wishes to contribute a couple of paragraphs should contact the webmaster. [Back to the top]
       
    3. Today

      A number of rivalries simmer in the cauldron that is the WEHL: Southern vs Northern Ontario, Bay Street vs Main Street, Habs vs Leafs, McMaster vs civilization. Each year we attempt to resolve these rivalries with numbers - you'll find them here. [Back to the top]
       
    4. Site Overview

      The WEHL home page is laid out in 5 basic blocks:
      • WEHL-specific pages (the first column containing sections named View, Draft, Download, etc.)
      • Current WEHL team totals (the stats table at the top of the middle column)
      • Messages from the webmaster (below the stats table in the middle column)
      • Links to other hockey sites (the third column)
      • Headlines (below the three columns)
      This document is principally concerned with the first block; primarily the pages within the View section. To find out how the pool works, check the rules. [Back to the top]
       
  2. View (current WEHL statistics)

    1. Summary

      Like the other pages in the View section of the home page, this page shows statistics for the current (or just-completed) season. The summary page shows team totals grouped by statistical category.

      Here are the statistics in a little more detail:

      • Salaries By Position ($): Total current salaries for each team's position, as well as the average for each position.
      • Salary Variance ($VA): The amount by which each team's position salary varies from the average for that position. If the team pays a total of $50 to its right wingers and the average each team pays to its right wingers is $80, then that team's salary variance is -30
      • Points By Position (Pts): Total points for each team's position, as well as the average for each position. Frugality points and any penalty points assessed during the season are also recorded here.
      • Points Variance (PVA): Same as salary variance, except it uses points totals and averages rather than salaries.
      • Points Variance - Salary Variance (PV-$V): Combines the aforementioned points and salary variances to create a statistic that indicates 'bang for buck'. If I paid less than the average for left wingers but they scored more points than the average for that position, then this will be a positive number for my left wingers and I will be pleased. However, if I paid much more than the average for goalies but they accumulated fewer points than the average for that position, then this will be a negative number for my goalies and I will be... well, displeased.
      • Points Last Night (PLN): The number of points gained (or lost) by each team during the previous night's NHL games. Note that this might not always equal the number of points gained by all of the teams players (because only 20 of a team's 23 players can contribute to the team's point total).
      • Out: Number of players who are not currently playing due to injury, suspension, pouting, etc. Commonly referred to as the D'oh! stat.
      • Playing Tonight (2nite): Number of players whose teams are scheduled to play tonight. Whether any of those players will actually touch ice is another question entirely.
      • NHL Drop/Adds Remaining (D/A): Number of opportunities remaining to drop a dud in exchange for some overlooked diamond in the rough from the general NHL population.
      • Farm Drop/Adds Remaining (F D/A): Number of opportunities remaining for each team to pick up players from their own farm roster.
      • Projected Points By Position (Proj): Total projected points for each team's position, as well as the average for each position.
      • Projected Points Rankings (Rank): The rank (in projected points) of each team at each position.
      • Damage Salary (Dm$): One of the two statistics that attempts to quantify the damage done to each team by missed games. This weights the damage by the salary paid to the player, which means that the loss of high-scoring cheap players is minimized. Note that both of these statistics lose significance in the current stats as trades take place.
      • Damage Points/Game (DmP): The other damage statistic weights the damage by the player's points per game, which means that the loss of high-priced players who have yet to play any games is minimized.
      • Player Counts By Position (P#'s): Number of players for each team at each position. Does not include players in the farm roster.
      [Back to the top]
       
    2. Players

      Help is coming soon...

      1. Contents

        [Back to the top]
         
      2. Controlling the list

        [Back to the top]
         
    3. Transactions

      Help is coming soon...

      1. Contents

        [Back to the top]
         
      2. Controlling the list

        [Back to the top]
         
    4. Drop/Add Toy

      Help is coming soon... [Back to the top]
       
    5. Charts

      Help is coming soon... [Back to the top]
       
    6. Classic

      This is the web equivalent of the spreadsheet originally conceived by the Beaver of Death many moons ago. The classic summary page contains the same totals as the standalone summary page, only organized differently. The individual team pages also resemble those of the original. What is new to these web pages are navigational features at the top-right corner of each page that give you access to the entire statistical history of the WEHL...

      1. Going From Team To Team

        At the top is a list of all the team codes in the league (plus an S for the summary page). Just click on one of them to go to that team's page. If you don't know which code belongs to whom, just hold your mouse pointer over each code for a couple of seconds to see a tip indicating the team owner. [Back to the top]
         
      2. Going From Year To Year

        Below the team list is a box containing the season being shown. Click the down-arrow beside it to see a list of available seasons (note that if you are on a team page, you will only be able to select from the seasons when that team was active). Or you can shift backwards or forwards in time by clicking the < or > buttons on either side of the season. [Back to the top]
         
      3. Showing Different Stats

        To the right of the season is another control that will initially be set to 'current'. If you click on its down-arrow, you will see that the other two options are 'opening' and 'openingprev'. What do they mean?
        • current: These are the statistics as of today (for the current season) or the final statistics (for past seasons).
        • opening: These are the current/final statistics for each team's opening rosters. This indicates how the teams would have performed if they had 'stood pat'. Note that underneath the page title, the 'Stats as of:' is set to 'Opening Rosters'.
        • openingprev: These are the current/final statistics for each team's opening rosters with the previous season's statistics. The idea behind this is to give some idea of what could be predicted for each team given past performance. Note that underneath the page title, the 'Stats as of:' is set to 'Opening Rosters (with previous year's statistics)'.
        This control also has < and > buttons to allow for easy shifting. [Back to the top]
         
    7. My Team

      Instead of clicking on 'Classic' then selecting your favourite team, you can go to that team's page by selecting one of the teams below 'My Team'. From that point on, whenever you call up the WEHL home page from that computer, all you should have to do is click on 'My Team' to go directly to your team page. Note: For the computer to 'remember' your team page your browser must have cookies enabled. If you don't have a clue what cookies are, don't worry because that means that they probably are enabled. [Back to the top]
       
  3. Draft

    1. View a Player List

      Now that the player o_positions are set for next season's draft at the end of the preceding season, the player lists can be made available months in advance of draft day. To see a complete list, just select a position from the home page.

      1. Contents

        Each list shows all the players at a particular position who have played the previous season or the season before. They are sorted in descending order of points scored during the previous season. Statistics are provided for each player's last three seasons, including their 'WEHL history'. [Back to the top]
         
      2. Printing The Lists

        These lists were designed to be printed then filled out during the draft. Here are some tips to consider:
        • Feel free to print some lists out in advance (especially to make sure that they come out properly on your printer). But note that once the protected lists have all been submitted, these lists will be regenerated with changes made to indicate those players who have been spoken for.
        • Depending on your printer, you may be able to print up to 60 players per page. To adjust the number of players that will appear, first type the desired range of numbers in the From and To values then click the Redisplay button.
        • For forwards and defensemen, the list should be narrow enough that all the columns can fit in a printed page. However, you should switch to landscape mode (click File, then Page Setup in Internet Explorer) before printing a goalie list. This means that you won't be able to fit as many goalies into one page, but your goalie list shouldn't have to be too long anyway.
        [Back to the top]
         
    2. My Worksheet

      The draft worksheet shows your team's current status before (or during) draft day. If you haven't yet selected your own My Team, you'll see a blank worksheet.

      1. Contents

        The worksheet contains the following information:
        • Owner name, email(s) as well as phone numbers and addresses at home and work
        • Detailed description of any adjustments to the team's initial budget
        • Entries for the team's forwards, defensemen, goalies, bench and farm players
        • Along the right side of the page is a calculation of the team's current budget status
        [Back to the top]
         
      2. Printing The Worksheet

        The worksheet was designed to be printed then filled out during the draft. The entire worksheet should fit in one printed page; here are some suggestions if it doesn't:
        • If a blank page prints out first or the printed worksheet page is surrounded by a border, right-click anywhere in the page and select Print
        • If you can't follow the previous suggestion because you need to click File, then Print... to print the page, you can get the same results by left-clicking anywhere in the page before you click File, then Print...
        • You can decrease the page margins by clicking File, then Page Setup... before printing
        • In Internet Explorer, you can shrink the page's font size by clicking View, then Text Size, then Smaller (but remember to reset this value after you print)
        [Back to the top]
         
    3. Scorers

      This is a master list of all the scorers in the NHL as of the end of the previous season from the officially-designated source for player o_positions. The o_positions specified in this list are those used for the current season's draft and drop/adds.

      When you are protecting players from last year's roster before this year's draft, you may keep the player at the position he had on your team or change it to the position specified in the master list.

      Note that once the NHL season starts, this page may not be the valid source of player o_positions (since it may contain the current season's scorers as opposed to the previous season's scorers). [Back to the top]
       

    4. Results

      Page is under construction... check back later. [Back to the top]
       
  4. Download

    There are two Excel spreadsheets still available at the WEHL web site for you to download to your PC:
    1. Why Would I Download?

      While most of the features of these spreadsheets (and more) are now available at this web site, you may still wish to work with the spreadsheets yourself. Here are some possible reasons for doing so:
      • You want to use the lists in the draft workbook to create your own guide (maybe you want the players sorted differently).
      • If you have Excel, you can work out trade scenarios in the team pages of the Classic workbook and see the standings update automatically.
      [Back to the top]
       
    2. How Do I Download?

      If you're using a Netscape browser the process is straightforward - just click the link for the item you want to download and a window will appear to guide you through the process.

      However, some versions of Internet Explorer will automatically try to open the document, which can take forever. In those cases you are better off to right-click over the link and select 'Save Target As...'. [Back to the top]
       

    3. Free Excel Viewer

      You can still view a downloaded spreadsheet even if your computer does not have Excel. Microsoft provides a free Excel viewer that lets you look at (but not manipulate) these spreadsheets. [Back to the top]
       
  5. Other

    1. Rules

      The current WEHL rules and regulations are set out here. [Back to the top]
       
    2. Message Board

      A message board is available for anybody to have their say. Use it to:
      • Write an open letter to the webmaster
      • Moan about your team's poor performance
      • Tell jokes (especially about other owners)
      • Rant and/or rave
      or whatever else strikes your fancy. Believe it or not, NHL players have frequented this message board from time to time. Since they are not known for their... diplomacy, parental discretion is advised. [Back to the top]
       
      1. Contents

        Messages (or posts, as they are usually called) are grouped by topic. When you first call up the message board, you'll see a list of topics, with those most recently updated appearing at the top (the highlighted topics are those that have been updated since you last checked the message board). At the bottom-right corner of the page you can navigate to pages containing older topics.

        To view the posts for a particular topic, click on that topic's subject. [Back to the top]
         

      2. Posting

        At the bottom of each page is an area where you can post your own messages. You can start a new topic (by posting from a topic-list page) or reply to an existing topic (by posting from that topic's page).

        Here's how to post:

        • Type in the name you wish to be known by (it will default to your team name)
        • If you want your identity to remain a mystery to the general public, check 'Hide email address' (but be aware that the webmaster will be able to see your address)
        • If you are starting a new topic, provide a subject. If you are posting a reply, the subject will be provided but feel free to change it if you like.
        • If you know that you're able to start a new email by clicking on a 'mailto:' link, click the 'Create Message' button and an email window will pop up, at which point you can type in your message (don't change its subject) then send it. If you know you can't send emails directly from your browser, or you're not sure, check here.
        • If you check back to the message board within say, 15 minutes of sending the email, you should be able to see your message.

        As you compose your message, you'll notice that the subject appears the be a garbled mess of numbers, letters and vertical bars. It's important that you not change this value since the webmaster's PC uses it to figure out how to update the message board. For the same reason, if you send an email to the webmaster without going through the message board, the webmaster will get it but it won't end up on the message board. [Back to the top]
         

    3. History

      Besides the historical information provided by surfing the classic pages, a plan is in the works to provide a home page for each of the past seasons. Each page will provide links to other stats pertinent to that year, as well as recollections of events from that year. That is where you guys come in. Send your contributions to the webmaster. [Back to the top]
       
    4. Help

      You're lookin' at it, buster. [Back to the top]
       
  6. FAQ

    1. What are projected points and how are they calculated?

      Projected points are an attempt to predict each player's performance over a full season based on their performance to date during the current season. Being predictions, they are flawed but can provide some insight during the season.

      Since goalies cannot contribute to a team's total points until they have accumulated the equivalent of 30 games in minutes played, their projected points assume that they will reach their quota. For forwards and defensemen, their current points per game are extrapolated to a full 82-game season - minus any games missed (including projected games missed due to current injuries, suspensions, etc.). [Back to the top]
       

    2. Something doesn't work and/or look right - what can I do?

      The first thing to do is check the current version of your web browser (by clicking Help, then About...). Currently the recommended minimum versions are 5.5 for IE and 6.1 for Netscape; results for previous versions (and other browser brands) cannot be assured. Even if you meet these requirements and still have problems, first look into upgrading your browser.

      Other possible issues:

      • For some features (like font-size control in the player list as well as the 'My Team' feature), you need to have cookies enabled on your browser
      • Many other features of this site will not work if scripting is not active
      • If you are having problems with printing, try some of these suggestions

      Let the webmaster know if you are running into problems with any of the WEHL web pages that you cannot resolve on your own. [Back to the top]
       

    3. What happened to (name of missing page)?

      In order to provide a web site with daily updates at a low cost, we have to conserve disk space on the web server as well as bandwidth (the amount of traffic going back and forth between the web server and those using the web site). Most of the whiz-bang features of this site appear only as byproducts of the need to replace bulky Microsoft-generated versions of spreadsheet pages.

      Some of the pages from earlier versions of the WEHL web site (such as the 'All Pages' link and the full-spreadsheet download) have been cut out to minimize bandwidth usage. In the webmaster's opinion very little has been lost in the process, but if you disagree, by all means let him know. [Back to the top]
       

    4. Why do some of the stats pages look so sparse?

      All of the stats pages that are accessible from the team-totals summary in the home page are narrow and terse compared to the Summary, Players and Classic pages. That is because they have been designed primarily for viewing in a handheld browser (see next question). [Back to the top]
       
    5. I have a web browser in my phone/PDA/pager - can I view WEHL stats?

      Yes you can - an entire section of the site is devoted to stats pages that can be viewed on a compact screen. The home page for handheld stats is http://www.wehlnow.com/handheld/daily.html

      These pages were designed to work with the AvantGo mobile internet service, which provides browsers for Palm, Pocket PC, and RIM devices. [Back to the top]
       

    6. How can I send emails from my web browser?

      Some features of the website work best when you can send an email by clicking on a link in your web browser. For example, in the message board, you can post a message by providing a subject then clicking the 'Create Message' button. At that point a new email pops up where you can type in your message.

      If you use an email program like Outlook or Outlook Express (or you have a Hotmail account), you can easily set this up in Internet Explorer. Click on Tools, then 'Internet Options...'. When you see the Internet Options window, click on the Programs tab. Where you see the entry for Email, select the email program that you use, then click OK.

      If you use Yahoo mail, check here to find out how to make it your default mail application in Internet Explorer. Other web-email services may have a similar feature - check with them.

      Even if none of the above tips can help, you won't be left out of the fun. This is where the 'With help' feature comes in. In the message board for example, if you check it before you click the 'Create Message' button, you'll still be able to post to the message board - it'll just take a little more work. [Back to the top]
       

  7. Notes

    This page purposely left blank.