NHL to potentially roll out player and puck tracking in 19/20 season.

[Daximus]

How the NHL's imminent data revolution will change the sport

Bill Daly confirmed to theScore that the NHL plans to roll out player and puck tracking to the public in the 2019-20 season. With a system similar to the one Sportlogiq has rolled out for the SHL. Sportlogiq already works with 27 of the 31 NHL teams. Through a camera based A.I system the framework tracks hundreds of on ice events with pretty decent accuracy.

This could have a major effect on how players are perceived now and how contracts and roster decisions are carried out, especially with fans being more in the know about these more behind the scenes optics.

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[Cellee]

Pretty cool.

 

[DRW204]

Nice, player tracking has always peaked my interest ever since i've heard it used in soccer where they measure meters/yards ran by players

 

[Filthy Dangles]

So what insights will be gleaned?

 

[Sol]

The HF debates will be peak insufferable levels.

 

[thewave]

I want to know when a player flinches, I want to know how often they smile and everything. Track everything and make it public real time!

 

[Filthy Dangles]

I want to know when a player flinches, I want to know how often they smile and everything. Track everything and make it public real time!

Farts and nose picks/60 please

 

[Daximus]

So what insights will be gleaned?

Everything from successful pass attempts to the slot to successful breakout attempts. Successful dekes, successful dump-ins. How good a player is at puck retrieval. To how fast a player actually is with the puck on their stick and how successful they are at entering the zone with control. Things like shot and pass velocity will also be tracked on every single pass and shot. And how successful is Karlsson on his stretch passes.

They mention tracking things like how effectvie Crosby actually is at creating time and space for his teammates through actual possession tracking, and how successful those teammates are at finding that open space. And how far would a winger on the weak side slide in to cover Crosby and whether a defencemen can activate on that weak side for an opportunity.

The amount of data that will be collected is damn near endless and will start to paint a picture at certain niches that a player is good at. It will make line building a more fluid exercise. This guy is really good at creating space, while this guy is really good at exploiting it, while this defender is great at supporting both of these players over these other players. So lets try and get them on the ice together when we can.

 

[Rich Nixon]

I think this sort of tracking would generate insights infinitely better than the advanced stats of today. Today we can make a million cross-sections of player performance under general situations, but in a sport like hockey they're not granular enough to really tell you much. I can't wait.

 

[Devil Dancer]

Didn't I read this same story two years ago?

 

[Legionnaire11]

Doesn't the NBA have this? How did it affect that league?

 

[Little Psycho]

Farts and nose picks/60 please

Just watch Getzlaf. He's always flinging his snot all over the bench. I wouldn't want to sit next to him lol.

 

[Daximus]

Doesn't the NBA have this? How did it affect that league?

From what I read the NBA has a 3 tier system for theirs. Some basic info that is available to the public. A paywall where fans can subscribe and view much further details and a 3rd option that is only visible to teams and the media.

Not sure how the NHL will go about it but I'd imagine if they can monetize it somehow they probably will.

In terms of how it affected the NBA. Players are getting congratulated for certain efforts while some players are getting exposed. Same thing that happened in baseball. Certain players that were once taken for granted using old talent identification methods are being given more of a shot while players who tend to ride coat tails are being outted.

 

[Cup or Bust]

This will create new ways to debate how a guy that scores 70 points is better then a guy who scores 100 points.

 

[Fenrirson]

When I read the title I thought they were bringing back the glowing puck for a second rofl

 

[Hennessy]

Didn't I read this same story two years ago?

Yeah. What caused the delay?

 

[Bounces R Way]

I fully endorse this. Should lead to more reliable data and conclusions about the data rather than making baseless assumptions like some advanced stats do now. Will definitely be keeping an eye on the progress.

 

[COHawk]

I love this stuff in the MLB. It's so cool seeing an outfielder track down a fly ball and then afterwards they give you stats and graphics such as distance traveled, average speed, top speed, path efficiency to the ball. Would be super cool to see a breakaway where it shows a players path, distance traveled, max speed, acceleration, shot speed, and things like that. Would also be interesting to see players' total distances traveled throughout a game in addition to ice time.

 

[holy]

Oh great, now the nerds are gonna bring this kinda stuff up and I'm gonna have no idea what the hell they're going on about.

 

[Daximus]

Oh great, now the nerds are gonna bring this kinda stuff up and I'm gonna have no idea what the hell they're going on about.

The data will be available to everyone so you can just look at it as well.

 

[Daximus]

Yeah. What caused the delay?

I think they likely wanted to see how Sportlogiqs rollout for the SHL looked before signing onto it themselves.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Oh great, now the nerds are gonna bring this kinda stuff up and I'm gonna have no idea what the hell they're going on about.

These stats should make a lot more sense (and mean a lot more) than things like CORSI and FENWICK and all of the /60 things. Basically you'll be able to look at individual player actions and outcomes, rather than just a big group of outcomes divided by an amount of time. A lot of current advanced stats are interesting stabs at these sorts of insights, but are insufficient. With this tech you'll be able to make the closest thing to descriptive, observational statistical examples of "good" and "bad" plays and their frequency. Will tell people a lot about a player's decision making, which current advanced stats don't.

 

[DL44]

I look forward to all the new stats being quoted here devoid of context or knowledge of actual relevance and significance.


Also... wanna guess the 4 teams not already using the technology?

 

[IceNeophyte]

How the NHL's imminent data revolution will change the sport

Bill Daly confirmed to theScore that the NHL plans to roll out player and puck tracking to the public in the 2019-20 season. With a system similar to the one Sportlogiq has rolled out for the SHL. Sportlogiq already works with 27 of the 31 NHL teams. Through a camera based A.I system the framework tracks hundreds of on ice events with pretty decent accuracy.

This could have a major effect on how players are perceived now and how contracts and roster decisions are carried out, especially with fans being more in the know about these more behind the scenes optics.

This will be GREAT. I can stop reading about how Wild Bill can't replicate his goal percentage once people can see everything he does away from the net highlighted.

 

[Daximus]

I look forward to all the new stats being quoted here devoid of context or knowledge of actual relevance and significance.


Also... wanna guess the 4 teams not already using the technology?

The context will be in the stats though. No more will people say "so and so is among the best in the league at controlled zone entires." Now we will be able to definitely point to everyone else in the league as comparables and say yeah this guy is the best at it as he gains the zone with control more than anyone. It will take away the subjective "this guy does this well" and actually be able to prove whether or not they do it well. You will also be able to see how many times they have tried it and cross reference it with how successful they were and derive a percentage out of that.

So and so is the best at gaining the zone because he leads the league in controlled entries. Yeah but so and so might do it less often but has a higher percentage of successful entries.

If I had to guess who doesn't use it, it would either be the teams that are poorer and don't want to use up funds to track the data or it would be the richer teams who have their own in house teams that track the data.