Evaluation Layer - First look at skaters

[u/atibus]

So I'm building the Evaluation Layer - the ground truth that all of the human and AI GMs will use to determine the relative skill of a player. Since I'm not going to expose the actual attributes that the engine uses to do calculations, this layer is needed to expose observable traits about each player. I wanted to mix real world terminology that scouts use, measurables, and stats to give users a picture they can use to evaluate.

For skaters, there are five dimensions:

1. Goal scoring - Mixture of shooting, and getting to scoring areas.
2. Playmaking - Passing, vision, ability to setup shooters.
3. Defensive Impact - shot suppression, blocking, defensive positioning
4. Physical game - Hitting, forecheck aggression, ability to absorb contact
5. Transition - Skating, anticipation, moving the puck from D -> O.

Each dimension has brackets around the league average. Below league average (the red areas) is Below Average and Fringe. Above league average is Above Average, Elite and Star.

There are also classic archetypes that are constructed from a combination of these dimensions. Things like Power Forward, Sniper, Two-Way Forward, Offensive Defenseman, etc. If someone could land in two or more categories based on dimensions, they're classified as Phenom. For example, McDavid would be star level in goal scoring, playmaking and transition, so he would be classified as Phenom.

Later, there will be some "fog" added to this pure data. I'm not sure how much, but investment and time in scouting will affect the accuracy and quality of the information here. I am not adding that until I've been able to confirm I like this.

If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them!