Puck and player tracking for playoffs

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Bettman: NHL Puck and player tracking to start in playoffs

“Commissioner Gary Bettman said Friday that puck and player tracking will be up and running in all playoff arenas this spring and is expected to be fully operational leaguewide next season.“

Um.. good job? Seriously. NHL does so many things wrong, they’re a bit later on this than I’d like, but whatever- been calling for this for awhile and it’s gonna finally start happening. I expect some growing pains, but I think this could turn into something really cool. NFL/AWS has been running some ads with some great tracking stats, NHL could benefit from this sorta thing as much as any other sport (if not more). I wanna see how fast McD moves in game, how fast he takes a turn. Lemme know how big a passing gap is, how hard Carlson shoots, how much force a hit has. So many possibilities, kudos to the league on this one.

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[NobleSix]

f*** me are you serious

edit: nevermind, I thought this had to do with the ridiculous puck trail graphics and player name graphics during live play that was showcased during the women's 3 on 3. What a relief.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I'll pass on that garbage.

why? Obviously we all enjoy the game just for what it is, but personally I’d love to see Gs and speed and whatnot measured.

 

[Jozay]

NHL shouldve been doing this years ago.

 

[EXTRAS]

I'm torn. I love to see stats, but I also like the game to be simple and enjoyed as a beautiful uncomplicated sport where you watch and judge based on your eyes. This will likely take some of that away as everyone will become obsessed with advanced stats.

 

[Del Preston]

The same people who abuse the use of advanced stats are going to abuse the crap out of this stuff.

 

[JerseyMike34]

I'm torn. I love to see stats, but I also like the game to be simple and enjoyed as a beautiful uncomplicated sport where you watch and judge based on your eyes. This will likely take some of that away as everyone will become obsessed with advanced stats.

Start attending minor hockey.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I'm torn. I love to see stats, but I also like the game to be simple and enjoyed as a beautiful uncomplicated sport where you watch and judge based on your eyes. This will likely take some of that away as everyone will become obsessed with advanced stats.

Ya, not looking forward to having it shoved down our throats, but I just like the idea of the info being available. No graphics during play, no announcers focusing on it instead of actual game action, but just a nice lil package during intermissions would be great.

 

[oobga]

Wonder if they will be posting all that tracking data for free. Or if they will be selling tiers of data sets to sites.

 

[Pucker Factor 10]

The same people who abuse the use of advanced stats are going to abuse the crap out of this stuff.

As one of the commenters of this video pointed out, it "seems like it would be very distracting to the players."

 

[Ginormousthumbs]

 

[SympathyForTheDevils]

Wonder if they will be posting all that tracking data for free. Or if they will be selling tiers of data sets to sites.

That was my question. What I've read about it before seemed to suggest the data would be made available just to the teams, but this article suggest the data will be available for everyone. If that's the case, great!

Don't know what's the downside to this, really. It'll be a big step forward for statistical analysis in hockey. Like, what's the point in using Corsi as a proxy for possession if you can just directly track puck possession? A lot of things that couldn't be reliably quantified before will suddenly become available.

 

[canuckking1]

More ammo for the stat nerds

 

[PG Canuck]

**** me are you serious

edit: nevermind, I thought this had to do with the ridiculous puck trail graphics and player name graphics during live play that was showcased during the women's 3 on 3. What a relief.

Me as well. I was losing my mind just watching them use that garbage for the ASG. seeing that trash be used for the playoffs would’ve ruined watching hockey for me, personally. That shit is just unbearable and catering far too much to new fans who don’t know what is going on.

Also feeling relieved.

 

[Byrral]

Was talking to a co-worker yesterday. Shes a huge baseball fan. I said how bout those Blue Jackets and she said yeah I saw they are doing great and she told me that her boyfriend was excited with how well they were doing. I asked her why she doesn't watch with him and her response (not unexpected) was that she didn't know where the puck was. Long time hockey loyalists don't care about these fans and don't care if the NHL remains a niche sport. The NHL wants to grow the NHL brand world wide. I didn't like the puck graphics before and don't really care for it now either. But this is an improvement from the past and another step to try to get new people to watch the games. Will it work? Will I like it? Probably not. Will I stop watching? Definitely not. With technology rapidly improving maybe one day they will get to spot where it is acceptable for both old and new fans. I can't blame the NHL for trying.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Was talking to a co-worker yesterday. Shes a huge baseball fan. I said how bout those Blue Jackets and she said yeah I saw they are doing great and she told me that her boyfriend was excited with how well they were doing. I asked her why she doesn't watch with him and her response (not unexpected) was that she didn't know where the puck was. Long time hockey loyalists don't care about these fans and don't care if the NHL remains a niche sport. The NHL wants to grow the NHL brand world wide. I didn't like the puck graphics before and don't really care for it now either. But this is an improvement from the past and another step to try to get new people to watch the games. Will it work? Will I like it? Probably not. Will I stop watching? Definitely not. With technology rapidly improving maybe one day they will get to spot where it is acceptable for both old and new fans. I can't blame the NHL for trying.

Why are people so confused in this thread?

 

[tucker3434]

What’s this data going to give us? I see that we’re getting a whole bunch of data points per second, but for what?

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Was talking to a co-worker yesterday. Shes a huge baseball fan. I said how bout those Blue Jackets and she said yeah I saw they are doing great and she told me that her boyfriend was excited with how well they were doing. I asked her why she doesn't watch with him and her response (not unexpected) was that she didn't know where the puck was. Long time hockey loyalists don't care about these fans and don't care if the NHL remains a niche sport. The NHL wants to grow the NHL brand world wide. I didn't like the puck graphics before and don't really care for it now either. But this is an improvement from the past and another step to try to get new people to watch the games. Will it work? Will I like it? Probably not. Will I stop watching? Definitely not. With technology rapidly improving maybe one day they will get to spot where it is acceptable for both old and new fans. I can't blame the NHL for trying.

Tell her to buy a 60 inch HDR tv. It cant be that hard to see a black puck on white ice in high def can it?

 

[GrizzGreen]

More ammo for the stat nerds

Dubas and Chayka are deep state quantboiz

 

[Lays]

**** me are you serious

edit: nevermind, I thought this had to do with the ridiculous puck trail graphics and player name graphics during live play that was showcased during the women's 3 on 3. What a relief.

Puck tracking is meaningless but I like the name tracking, helps casual fans be more familiar with players around the league. I think the NHL can really benefit from the puck and player tracking as well with misc. stats that go unnoticed

 

[Trap Jesus]

I love it in terms of advanced analytics. It's up to people to determine what's useful and what isn't, simply having access to more info isn't inherently a bad thing.

What I don't like is that I just know networks carrying the game are going to milk the hell out of this during broadcasts by throwing a bunch of useless numbers and (even worse) graphics or aids up on the screen. It'll be exactly like the puck tracking nonsense they threw up during the women's game or having this big block of text telling you that Barzal was travelling at X speed, except it's going to be up during a playoff game and it's going to piss everyone off.

 

[SympathyForTheDevils]

What’s this data going to give us? I see that we’re getting a whole bunch of data points per second, but for what?

Data points for the location of the puck and each individual player. Which can then tell us a number of things. Exactly how much time does that line spend with the puck, per minute? Which player has the hardest shot from the circle? How good is this player's backward skating? Exactly how aggressive is this goalie's positioning? And all those things could be averaged over hundreds of events, instead of just being brought up anecdotally when a broadcaster wants to tell us how fast McDavid was on that rush.

Many of these are things can be assessed qualitatively, but are hard to quantify. There's a lot of interesting stuff that could be done if this data is made public. Of course, it also depends on how well that tracking works, what the resolution is, etc.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Data points for the location of the puck and each individual player. Which can then tell us a number of things. Exactly how much time does that line spend with the puck, per minute? Which player has the hardest shot from the circle? How good is this player's backward skating? Exactly how aggressive is this goalie's positioning? And all those things could be averaged over hundreds of events, instead of just being brought up anecdotally when a broadcaster wants to tell us how fast McDavid was on that rush.

Many of these are things can be assessed qualitatively, but are hard to quantify. There's a lot of interesting stuff that could be done if this data is made public. Of course, it also depends on how well that tracking works, what the resolution is, etc.

I agree 100 percent with this post. I feel like a lot of die hard hockey fans on here are being a bit naive.

I sure hope they don’t wreck the playoffs by putting useless crap all over the screen.

I want to watch the game and I want it to feel like I’m at the game live. I don’t want crap all over the screen.

this may be something fans have to revolt against, or it may be the end of watching hockey on tv as we know it

 

[SympathyForTheDevils]

I agree 100 percent with this post. I feel like a lot of die hard hockey fans on here are being a bit naive.

I sure hope they don’t wreck the playoffs by putting useless crap all over the screen.

I want to watch the game and I want it to feel like I’m at the game live. I don’t want crap all over the screen.

this may be something fans have to revolt against, or it may be the end of watching hockey on tv as we know it

I doubt broadcasters want to dive in a new FoxTrax experiment with both feet 25 years later. Most likely application for broadcast: a player tag/puck trail feature on online streams that can be turned on and off. Probably a few things that can be used for replays as well.

I just think the implications of this tech for broadcasting are minor compared to the implications for analytics.

 

[Byrral]

Why are people so confused in this thread?

Ok cool. Didn't read all of the article and my comments were based more on when I saw the puck glow video. My bad.

Tell her to buy a 60 inch HDR tv. It cant be that hard to see a black puck on white ice in high def can it?

You'd be surprised by how many people that can't follow the puck. It's not a unique concept or you'd never have seen the puck glow stuff in the first place. Did you ever go to a golf tournament and try to follow where the ball goes after the golfer hits it. Not everyone has the depth perception to see it and to follow the flight of the ball, myself included. That's why the PGA has gone to using the technology so people on TV can see the flight of the ball. You can agree with it or not but my main point is why alienate possible new fans that are interested in the sport if there is technology to help them enjoy the game.

The NFL has tested similar stuff as well. I participated in a survey recently where the NFL wanted to see what people that watch the games feel about the concept. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of it implemented as well.