Advanced stats "have been used in the NHL for years," but as a sign of their "growing acceptance, NHL.com plans to expand its stats database on Friday to include more than 45 new statistical offerings," according to Jimmy Hascup of USA TODAY. NHL COO John Collins said the stats would be there "to help better tell the story" for fans. Collins: "We are the authority on what happens on the ice. We should give fans the league pass to do what they want to do." Though the site "will acknowledge popular terms such as Corsi and Fenwick, it will call them in the column headers by their definitions." Corsi "is shot attempts and Fenwick is unblocked shot attempts with figures counted at five-on-five play." NHL Dir of Digital Business Development Chris Foster said, "What we want to do is put the stats out there and make sure that the calculations and data is correct and give the fans, the writer, the broadcasters great tools. Then it's up to GMs, and fans and writers to decide the value of the stats." Hascup notes not everyone "analyzes the game the same way," and some "couple what they see on the ice with traditional measurements." Fans "have become more interested in analyzing their favorite teams and players with these lesser-known statistics." A number of websites "have long published various metrics." War-On-Ice.com co-Founder Andrew Thomas "realizes increased acceptance will take time." People "have to rid themselves of the notion that you need an advanced degree to understand them." Thomas: "Maybe it's not as direct as goals on a scoreboard, but it is telling you about what is happening in the game" (USA TODAY, 2/20).
DELVING DEEPER: The GLOBE & MAIL's Shane Dingman writes the league and teams "have at times dismissed fan analysis of publicly posted hockey data," but Thomas "has seen the new stats and calls their arrival on NHL.com a validation of all the work by those basement number crunchers." Thomas: "They are still cutting back from what we’ve got, condensing some of the scoring situations. But it’s still a good comprehensive collection" (GLOBE & MAIL, 2/20). The CP's Stephen Whyno wrote the NHL through a partnership with SAP will make the various metrics used to analyze hockey "more uniform." Collins hinted at the NHL eventually "having digital versions of every game sheet of every game played in the league’s history." There is "seemingly no limit to the kind of information fans, players and teams can access." Collins: "You put that into the digital record, you give fans with people like SAP the ability to kind of surf through it and pick and choose what they want, you marry that to video highlights, and all of a sudden you’re allowing a core fan to go as far down the rabbit hole as they want to go" (CP, 2/19).
WAVE OF THE FUTURE: THE HOCKEY NEWS' Adam Proteau wrote the addition of the metrics to NHL.com "represents the vindication of and a step forward for a group of fans and observers who see value in metrics foreign to the mainstream." It will "offer more information -- a.k.a. fuel for debate and analysis that drives interest in the sport." This is the "official dawning of a new day in league history, and that’s to be celebrated." This is about people who have "put in a lot of time and effort (much of it on a volunteer basis) in an attempt to satisfy their own curiosities about hockey, and who’ve perceived and proven patterns that give us some rough guidelines on what to expect in particular situations in the future" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 2/19).
