Report: Oilers fire stats blogger Tyler Dellow?

[Hivemind]

The fact that teams use proprietary and confidential methods of analytics is not up for debate, it's an established fact. Many teams extract their own data, that may or may not match the published data. Many teams have methods of analyzing that data that they take great care not to share with other teams. This isn't exclusive to the NHL, either.

The additions of Purcell and Pouliot have Dellow's fingerprints all over them. Funny how all three teams that dipped into the Corsi Cult have fired their coaches.

You mean aside of the fact that Dellow was hired after both of them were brought in, and Dellow was working with the coaching staff rather than in hockey ops, right?

Are you sure thats the same guy? Says here - http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/oilers-hire-tyler-dellow-advanced-stat-takeover-continues/ he word for a mystery NHL team.

Same guy.
http://www.sloansportsconference.com/?p=10553
His own twitter announced his hockey gig as part-time, as well.
https://twitter.com/BSH_EricT/status/488719778270302208

 

[Captain Mountain]

The additions of Purcell and Pouliot have Dellow's fingerprints all over them. Funny how all three teams that dipped into the Corsi Cult have fired their coaches.

1) Dellow was hired in August, after those moves were made.

2) The Corsi cult, as you call it, is neither revolved around Corsi, or a cult. The 3 teams that brought people in last summer are also latecomers to the game. Among the earliest adopters of pursuing new age analytics were the Kings and Blackhawks. And everyone recognizes them as a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing.

 

[Sleepy]

None of this should be shocking, especially on bad teams and so early into a season. Having said that, I'll trust a pro-scout 9 times out of 10 for opinions on a player.

I think the stats are good in that they may lead you to where you should be looking, in person you know, at how to improve your team or observe if the stats are really showing something or not. Maybe it lets you coach a guy to do a few things differently.

They have a lot of value but they are simply another tool in the toolbox. Who is using the tools and how they use them is up for debate.

Love this comment. Stats are a valuable data point in a process, not the end-all be-all. You could have Billy Beane and Stephen Hawking doing your advanced stats, but if they're reporting into McTavish, Lowe, and Eakins it's not going to work.

 

[Flair Hay]

I say moron because he acts like stats are the be all end all of the NHL and hockey.

The disease is spreading wider and wider

 

[Flair Hay]

I don't understand why you need to hire the stat bloggers. Just read what they say about your team, as they usually have unbiased and unfiltered responses to how your team does.

Not in the Jets main blog...

 

[Tekneek]

Love this comment. Stats are a valuable data point in a process, not the end-all be-all. You could have Billy Beane and Stephen Hawking doing your advanced stats, but if they're reporting into McTavish, Lowe, and Eakins it's not going to work.

Even Billy Beane is not a slave to stats. He is all about identifying undervalued traits/players that can help produce wins, though.

 

[Voight]

Even Billy Beane is not a slave to stats. He is all about identifying undervalued traits/players that can help produce wins, though.

This exactly.

He is more about finding value in little known players. What some GMs are "afraid" of in players, he ignores it and see's what the player has to offer.

Haven't read Moneyball in a few years so I forget the other things he looked for.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Of course, the problem with Moneyball is that once things are in the public domain, the teams with more resources can replicate the thought processes.

(That's one of the reason that folks don't really know what the teams are currently doing these days - once they tell the public, it's able to be duplicated, and the advantage is lost).

 

[Tekneek]

Of course, the problem with Moneyball is that once things are in the public domain, the teams with more resources can replicate the thought processes.

(That's one of the reason that folks don't really know what the teams are currently doing these days - once they tell the public, it's able to be duplicated, and the advantage is lost).

Which is why the "Moneyball strategy" is not as simple as what some people think it is. What it really was/is about is identifying undervalued traits that can allow you to assemble a low payroll squad that produces wins. What those undervalued traits are from one year to the next can move around. There is always going to be something that the market is undervaluing that you can leverage to your advantage. Billy Beane reworks a large portion of his players on a regular basis and overall it seems to produce a lot of wins for his club that would otherwise struggle to compete in their small market.

 

[Shrimper]

Does this mean ExtraSkater will be back (That was his blog wasn't it?)

 

[Cawz]

They probably got rid of him because after having him around for half the season, they now realize that having to deal with his personality is not worth any possibly minor insight he can bring.

 

[Hivemind]

Does this mean ExtraSkater will be back (That was his blog wasn't it?)

No. The man behind extraskater was hired by the Leafs.

mc79hockey was Dellow's blog. I do hope it returns. There was some real good articles on there.

 

[tarheelhockey]

They probably got rid of him because after having him around for half the season, they now realize that having to deal with his personality is not worth any possibly minor insight he can bring.

In all seriousness, that might be a factor. I don't know the guy personally, but he doesn't exactly have the profile of a "people person".

It's entirely possible that he could have parlayed his entry-level opportunity into more of a long-term gig if he had meshed well with his colleagues. Seems there's good reason to believe he didn't have those kinds of interpersonal skills.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

They probably got rid of him because after having him around for half the season, they now realize that having to deal with his personality is not worth any possibly minor insight he can bring.

This would not surprise me if his personality IRL is anything like how he comes off on twitter.

 

[BillDineen]

Of course, the problem with Moneyball is that once things are in the public domain, the teams with more resources can replicate the thought processes.

(That's one of the reason that folks don't really know what the teams are currently doing these days - once they tell the public, it's able to be duplicated, and the advantage is lost).

Supervised machine learning is likely part of it. I have interest in it for my profession (trading), but I can see how it could be used in sports. Andrew Ng of Stanford (and Baidu) recent stated in a lecture how academics are getting very good at supervised learning vs. unsupervised learning which is more complex.

Here is a definition if anyone cares: http://users.ics.aalto.fi/harri/thesis/valpola_thesis/node34.html

 

[Cawz]

In all seriousness, that might be a factor. I don't know the guy personally, but he doesn't exactly have the profile of a "people person".

It's entirely possible that he could have parlayed his entry-level opportunity into more of a long-term gig if he had meshed well with his colleagues. Seems there's good reason to believe he didn't have those kinds of interpersonal skills.

In all seriousness, I'm actually serious. I've been on these boards for over a decade and have argued with many people, but no-one as abrasive as him. Dude just couldnt handle a differing opinion like an adult. Some of that personality must come out in person as well.

 

[Menzinger]

Love this comment. Stats are a valuable data point in a process, not the end-all be-all. You could have Billy Beane and Stephen Hawking doing your advanced stats, but if they're reporting into McTavish, Lowe, and Eakins it's not going to work.

Yep. Stats guys aren't miracle workers, just a valuable part of the process. If the Oilers are indeed abandoning their use, the organization will be worse off for it. Ignoring knowledge is ner a positive thing.

 

[Voight]

In all seriousness, I'm actually serious. I've been on these boards for over a decade and have argued with many people, but no-one as abrasive as him. Dude just couldnt handle a differing opinion like an adult. Some of that personality must come out in person as well.

Agree with this. On Twitter he sounded like an ass-hat who would use all sorts of stupid arguments if you offended the Oilers. Forget what happened but he acted like a baby when someone criticized the Oilers for taking Yakupov (rightfully so).

Plus he acts like he's an expert on every thing. He went travelling to Europe and now acts like the messiah of European history, art, literature and soccer. Its annoying. Some of his works are good but its hard to follow him on Twitter when he's such a doucher.

In all seriousness, that might be a factor. I don't know the guy personally, but he doesn't exactly have the profile of a "people person".

It's entirely possible that he could have parlayed his entry-level opportunity into more of a long-term gig if he had meshed well with his colleagues. Seems there's good reason to believe he didn't have those kinds of interpersonal skills.

Totally. I mean its always easier to keep someone around rather than pay them not to work for you, especially with a professional team who has hundreds of employees. If it was me I'd make friends with a coach or someone in management and work my way up. But he's ignorant so I could care less about his lost opportunity.

 

[tarheelhockey]

In all seriousness, I'm actually serious. I've been on these boards for over a decade and have argued with many people, but no-one as abrasive as him. Dude just couldnt handle a differing opinion like an adult. Some of that personality must come out in person as well.

Yeah, someone with that kind of personality isn't going to thrive in a high-pressure office environment.

 

[Voight]

Yeah, someone with that kind of personality isn't going to thrive in a high-pressure office environment.

Or in a business where you need to make contacts and have friends. You're not going anywhere in management if you don't have friends or allies.

 

[ClassicMach]

Total number of times Dellow or anyone else said that there is no place for visual talent analysis and that stats should be the singular way that hockey teams are built: 0

Seems like most of you forgot that.

 

[scryan]

The cup is theirs!

 

[pucka lucka]

Yeah, this thread has turned into a typical character attack.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

They probably got rid of him because after having him around for half the season, they now realize that having to deal with his personality is not worth any possibly minor insight he can bring.

I think this is really possible. The guy's a complete *******.

 

[Slats432]

Hah, yeah right. They have special magic math no one else does.

http://www.stathletes.com/

There is one such company. I know the owner. They will track things that you wouldn't think of, including skating and pass speed.

You don't know what you are talking about.