There has been a discussion on this site about the value of so-called “advanced” stats, especially in relation to the Colorado Avalanche. My editor, Nadia Archuleta, considers them only partially useful. My colleague, Mark Kinz, (we’ll call him The Other Mark) is much stronger in his support of them. Now, despite my using them in nearly every article I write, I actually fall somewhere in the middle.
My educational background has involved a lot of training in the scientific method, logic, and critical thinking. What has been hammered into me is that if you want to make a strong point, you need to back it up with evidence.