[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I agree, but I also think there is more to this. It is one thing to properly collect and analyse data, but I would also expect that with professional training one also acquires requisite skills and expertise to cut through so much of the "noise" that is produced in these complicated sorts of models, and to accurately identify the right trends and averages that translate into meaningful information. In the end it is not just as simple as plotting coordinates on a chart or a graph.

I agree, and I think that's where having competent hockey people involved really matters:

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...cs#post3586050

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

The point where analytics meets area expertise is where excellence is formed.

Finding that balance is the difference between successful and unsuccessful organizations. Making sure your analytics are relevant to the goals of your team is the imperative, as no matter how much or how little date you gather, if in the end it is irrelevant towards contributing to the decision making process, it's been a waste of time. A big part of that, and where team's struggle with their implementation of statistics and predictive analytics is likely in incorporating their existing sources of expertise with their data sets; interpreting the statistics.

Coaches and GMs presented with a massive volume of information are naturally going to be intimidated by it. The good teams boil down this information to specific areas that the organization has identified as priorities, and avoid being mired in the numbers.

It's why extensive video libraries are now so important. You need to see more than the numbers, or you'll fall victim to Money Ball.