[News] NHL testing new player tracking technology

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Not to sound like a complete idiot, but when people talk about advances stats, what are they looking at?

It seems pretty easy for baseball, but what are they actually tracking in hockey?

When people are talking about "advanced stats" (i.e. Corsi and Fenwick) they are using shots and/or shot attempts as an approximation of puck possession data.

The reason for this is the NHL doesn't currently record actual possession data (e.g. which player has the puck, where is the puck at a certain time). The NHL however does track and publicly share shot data, making it easy to use shots as an approximation.

However with this new technology, the elimination of using shots as an approximation to puck possession could open up some interesting possibilities. There are other interesting possibilities too.

[Northendzone]

this is great stuff - so next year there be a $2.00 technology surcharge on tickets....

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by FakenHaken

Now STOP IT RIGHT THERE.....He he kids that's how you back check right there.

Thanks! Gee Whillikers, I miss Howie and his enthusiasm.

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

When people are talking about "advanced stats" (i.e. Corsi and Fenwick) they are using shots and/or shot attempts as an approximation of puck possession data.

The reason for this is the NHL doesn't currently record actual possession data (e.g. which player has the puck, where is the puck at a certain time). The NHL however does track and publicly share shot data, making it easy to use shots as an approximation.

However with this new technology, the elimination of using shots as an approximation to puck possession could open up some interesting possibilities. There are other interesting possibilities too.

True it could, but who decides whether a players puck possession is more important than the guy who touches it for 2 seconds and scores, i.e. Adam Oates and Brett Hull, one carried it and set up the plays and the other one scored 60 goals with almost zero puck possession. It is every teams ideal to have the puck 100% of the time, will a computer help achieve that or will having better players achieve that?

Basketball is easy to use possession clocks and player position to track this stuff because they run set plays, everytime down the court, an example is players run down the court and run to their spots. In the NBA basically 2 players are allowed to play offense - the guy with the ball and the guy isolated one on one down low - think Shaq/Kobe, Magic/Kareem, DP/Griffin, James/Wade. There is no one hitting you etc., attempting to take the ball away. Hockey is a more fluid and physical game with changes from offense to defense happening because of 10 other things happening at once.
I agree with Burke, show a system that can tell you all that you need to know and teams will buy it, until then it is all talk. Hell the Oilers use Corsi/Fenwick stats to show how their players are progressing and anyone that actually watches them play can see that is garbage, Edmonton is No Good.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Beatle17

Hell the Oilers use Corsi/Fenwick stats to show how their players are progressing and anyone that actually watches them play can see that is garbage, Edmonton is No Good.

Actually, the Oilers were in the bottom couple teams in the league in Corsi/Fenwick. There was only a couple anomolies, the most significant being Colorado. Their 'possession' numbers were bad but results good. But goal differential tells you the same thing generally. With only a few exceptions there is nice correlation between goal differential and NHL overall standings. The claim is that Corsi individualizes it

Forget the cameras and just chip every player, not just the puck. Hockey is too fast for the same system to work effectively, but the concept does have interesting possibilities.

[Itse]

Just because hockey is a more difficult sport for developing meaningful statistics doesn't mean it can't be done.

It can of course mean that the use coaches can get out of it is more limited. AFAIK the advantages of player tracking in soccer for example are relatively few. But it's still done, because a) it gives the media something to talk about and b) even a slight advantage is still an advantage.

[sureLoss]

Another article on this technology:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dal...-challenge.ece

Appleby is the president of PowerScout Hockey, one of a few companies bringing player tracking to hockey. (Two others, Stats Inc. — which owns the SportVU system that has become popular in basketball — and SportVision, declined comment for this story.)

PowerScout uses a three-camera system to track every player’s and the puck’s movement on the ice. With that data, PowerScout’s computer can deduce skating speed and distance skated, pass/shot speed and percentage, takeaways, shot attempts and a range of other analytics.

Corsi and Fenwick, now used as proxies for possession, are unnecessary, according to Appleby. A player tracking system could give exact possession data.

“This is kind of the holy grail,” Appleby said. “There’s nothing left to measure. This I think will fundamentally change the way that teams will look at (hockey).”

PowerScout analyzed over 50 games at the NHL and Canadian Hockey League level this season. One of those games was a Memorial Cup game between the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Guelph Storm.

In that game, Stars prospect Jason Dickinson, playing for Guelph, tied for the fastest top speed at 22.6 miles per hour. His average shot speed ranked 11th in the game at 51.05 mph. He had a 51-percent passing percentage, which also ranked 11th in the game, and connected on passes with fellow forward Scott Kosmachuk more than any other teammate.

Guelph’s heat map revealed that it relied on the right side of their goaltender to both break out of the defensive zone and bring the puck into the offensive zone.

It’s this type of information that will be available to NHL teams soon.

[cral12]

This is great stuff - would bring hockey analytics to another level. I thought it was cool during the World Cup to see things like distance a player covered during the game - would be interesting to see that in hockey as well.

[Shawnski]

And it is a damn good thing that we are generally drafting/acquiring SMART players. Will be valuable soon.

[ForeverFlameFan]

I think this will prove to a lot of hockey analysts how underrated the Giordano - Brodie combo is.