The Maple Leafs today unveiled a partnership with North Carolina-based analytics software company SAS to "help them with a data-driven approach to judging player performance and creating on-ice strategy," according to Kevin McGran of the TORONTO STAR. SAS is known for "using analytics to help banks and insurance companies make financially sound decisions." The company will "provide the Leafs with real-time analysis of all the stats the NHL provides -- and proprietary stats" provided by Leafs Assistant GM Kyle Dubas and the team's front office -- "to help the team make decisions." SAS Solution Specialist Timothy Trussell said, "It’s a stepping stone. It’s not one decision you’re going to make because of analytics. With each decision you make, if you give the opportunity for the numbers to back it up, you’ll more often than not make the right decision. It won’t be one magic formula. But that’s the kind of change of culture that will lead to a winning team." McGran reports the Leafs "had approached SAS before Dubas came on board." The Leafs "will continue to produce their own proprietary data." But the team "won’t use the overhead cameras the NBA has," and the NHL's CBA "prevents teams from putting tracking devices on players" (TORONTO STAR, 10/16). In Toronto, Lance Hornby writes the Leafs are "determined to show their shift to advanced statistics is not just a diversionary tactic in these lean playoff times." The team chose SAS' Toronto branch "to tailor the massive NHL data it will use in everything from game-night adjustments to roster decisions to future contract language." The partnership "was an ideal match" between the Leafs hiring Dubas -- a young analytics enthusiast -- and SAS "branching out from its work with industry, financial and insurance companies to pro-sports clients" such as the Magic and Mets (TORONTO SUN, 10/16).
GOING ALL IN: The GLOBE & MAIL's James Mirtle writes what the deal means "in practical terms is that SAS has been incorporated into a lot of what the Leafs do." The company "has a luxury suite" at the Air Canada Centre for every game, and Leafs President Brendan Shanahan and the rest of the management team "are provided with live data to tablet computers as games unfold." Dubas' team, meanwhile, "spends time at the SAS office working with their staff and has also begun tracking and submitting its own data, which can then be manipulated by SAS's software to produce data visualizations for everyone from GM Dave Nonis on down." Data like that produced during NBA games using Stats LLC's SportVu cameras "is a couple years away for the NHL, but the Leafs believe that having SAS on board now and at the ready will give them an advantage when the data avalanche comes." What has "impressed the analytics experts early on is MLSE’s willingness to buy in, something that can be a problem when it comes to Big Data infiltrating any industry" (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/16).
