Like I mentioned, it’s quite possible that a broad report was generated earlier outlining basic analytics on a list of players and in this moment he’s just asking the analytics guy if there’s anything from an analytics stand point that really stands out about Brassard in particular. Second, this was a very minor acquisition, he was basically brought in to be a rental 13/14 fwd, it’s not like this was a franchise altering trade that needed to be dissected from every angle.
Would you spend the same amount of time and resources analyzing the purchase of a coffee maker as you would the purchase of a car?
As I stated, I definitely think they’ve under utilized advanced analytics but I don’t think a 2 minutes conversation on a very minor rental acquisition is much proof of anything.
I never said it was proof of anything. I qualified my statement by saying it was only a GLIMPSE into the decision making process and that it gives us a SENSE as to how the Oilers decision making process works. You add this GLIMPSE to other publicly available information about how our GM and Brain Trust operates and you can form an opinion.
It's quite possible that a broad analytical report was created like you stated. It's also quite possible that it didn't happen at all. I'm not willing to give the Oilers the benefit of the doubt regarding how effective their analytics are especially considering they just Hired a guy to pretty much overhaul the entire system and build it from the ground up. If you want to give them that benefit of doubt based on no evidence, go ahead. I'll do the opposite based on some evidence.
And I do consider Holland asking last minute about said Analytics when the acquisition was 95% decided upon as some evidence. I take what happened in that meeting at face value, Holland asked Justin how the numbers looked on Brassard, which implies quite directly that he hasn't looked at them previously. Is it a smoking gun? No. But add it to the pile and start to paint your picture of how they operate and how much importance he puts on "the numbers".
And sure, it is a "minor" transaction, maybe that shouldn't necessitate a full analytical analysis in your opinion. But how many trades are made in an NHL season on average? 2-3 at most for actual roster players? If you aren't doing this type of analysis for 30-50% of all roster transactions done in a year, then what are these guys even hired for? A player acquisition to a professional NHL club, especially one that will play games down the stretch and into the playoffs should be handled with all the time and resources you can muster. You don't just skip out on the homework cause he's a 4th line guy. You are still spending assets to make that trade. Hopefully Parkatti can make this a priority for the organization like it always should have been.
