Been doing a bit of work for the app...

This is what I found interesting with Niemi's numbers...

It's actually not really yearly splits (or they're partially to blame), but it's more road/home splits.

Look at the numbers from 2011-12:
Home: 21-9-3 (63.6 win%), 2.17 GAA and .922 so pretty crazy home numbers.
Away: 13-13-6 (50 win%), 2.69 GAA and .907, so that's where his downfall is...

2010-11:
Home: 18-7-3 (64.3 win%), 2.29 GAA and . 922 SP, once again pretty crazy home numbers.
Away: 17-11-3 (54.8 win%), 2.47 GAA and .918 SP, better than last year, but still a discrepancy.

So there's a clear discrepancy between home numbers vs away numbers...

One more thing that's interesting about the Sharks is that they usually have a brutal schedule because of an ATP tennis tournament (SAP Open) that always rolls into town in February. Most teams might have a 4-5 game road trip as their max during the season, but the Sharks always have a brutal one. 2011-12: 9 game road trip, 2010-11: 7 games (10 of 12), 2009-10: 6 games (Olympics) 2008-09: 5 games (9 of 12)... So that could be one of the main reasons why there's such an discrepancy in his home/away stats...

Going on the road to say Anaheim or LA then heading back home for a couple of game is much easier than doing a East coast trip for 2 weeks...

So if roster spots aren't a big deal and you can stock pile goalies, just grab Niemi and start him during his home starts and if the Sharks are on a long road trip against tough opponents then micro-manage and bench him. If you're able to pick and choose your matchups, you could easily manipulate the goalie stats in your favour.

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Dobber Expert Pool Champion 2011-12