The Avs are analytics-driven and have not only one of the best top lines in hockey, it's also one of the biggest.
I wouldn’t say the Avalanche are “analytics driven” personally. I would say they “understand how important analytics can be”. It may be semantics on my part, though.
I’m not sure analytics has played a role in having one of the best lines in hockey either. I’m sure you could put that together with the good old eye test.
If I’m running the show I would like analytics to tell me who to possibly target, but I would also like to have have some good eyes on the prospect and develop some kind of “feet on the ground” knowledge of the player before I do anything else. I also think it might have some use in developing lines.
Like you said though, there are bookends of philosophy on either side and probably everything in between.
Lots of ways to skin a cat.
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