The following is a quote taken from an Elliot Friedman article yesterday. It was from an interview given by one of the first, if not first stats analysts (I would post the link but I am not computer literate enough to do so):
*He is a huge believer in NHL coaches. "They have a hell of a grasp on who is bringing what to their team." He admits some have "blind spots" when it comes to favourites or least favourite players, but "most are smart guys who spend all day working on it."
*"The next big thing (in hockey analytics) will be to define the context of ice time ... quality of competition. Who you play against matters a ton." Barnes said where current hockey executives need help is how to use this to determine salary value, but those execs are far better at "weighing" players than those who rely solely on analytics. "If a 'hockey guy' comes out and says, 'That player was always [hidden],' they tend to be right. If you were to give me five hockey analytics versus five GMs or vice-presidents of hockey operations or five coaches -- five coaches especially -- to weigh a player, I'd take [the latters'] opinion ... A lot of analytics would have very young teams that won't win."
*His thoughts on goaltending have changed. "Goalies are so good now, it's hard to justify a big, long-term deal for anyone. There are no bad goalies like there were in 1992. There were some terrible ones then. Now everyone is so close."
*The biggest mistake is separating offensive play from defensive play. "Madness. Both happen at the same time."
Some interesting stuff in the article. I believe stats have their place, but in the context of being used with experience.
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