The New Jersey Devils organization has been open and honest about their reliance on hockey analytics to make decisions. Now, other NHL teams are following suit and strengthening their data and analytics departments. The hockey world saw the death of a beloved site, CapFriendly, when the Washington Capitals purchased the public site for private use. Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan explained the purchase would “significantly enhance and integrate the various branches of our hockey operations department, allowing us to strengthen our management, scouting, analytics and player development, in addition to augmenting our salary cap and contractual applications” (from ‘CapFriendly officially shutters website for public use after being purchased by Washington Capitals,’ RMNB, 7/10/24).
Data and Analytics are becoming a prominent piece of the game due to the advanced technology that is offered to teams. Teams have the ability to know every single factor about a player without watching a second of them play. However, there is controversy about heavily relying on underlying analytics because people also believe in the ‘eye test.’ Instead of relying on computers and numbers to see if a player is playing well, people want to simply watch them and see their impact the old-fashioned way. Most teams use both methods to analyze players on their team and often to see if a player will be a fit for their team.
Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Basketball Association (NBA) are ahead of the NHL in using sports analytics. Each league uses their own systems. The MLB uses Statcast, which allows viewers to see another point of view that highlights a player’s accuracy, distance traveled, speed, and more. The NFL uses Catapult, which the players wear during the game and speed, body performance, and more are tracked. Finally, the NBA uses SportVU, a system that uses a tracking camera system to collect advanced analytics on each player. The NHL just launched NHL EDGE in the 2023-24 season which tracks the players during the game. Sports Analytics is changing the way the game is played and how teams choose their players. The Devils are at the forefront of analytics in the NHL.
Devils’ Analytics Driven by Details
At the head of the Devils hockey analytics department is senior vice president Tyler Dellow. New Jersey hired him in 2019 after he worked for the Edmonton Oilers for two years. In an interview with Shayna…
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