Amazon Web Services has helped develop new advanced metrics with two of its league partners this week with the NHL’s launch of its new Face-Off Probability stat, as well as Bundesliga’s new insights into a team’s Set Piece Threat and players’ Skill in four areas.
The NHL face-off metric is calculated live prior to each draw. It relies on data from the league’s puck and player tracking system, NHL Edge, as well as the past decade of historical face-off data. The analysis depends on dozens of inputs, including ice location, player matchups, game situation and tracking data.
In previously released batches of Bundesliga Match Facts, AWS helped calculate such metrics as shot efficiency, passing profile and expected goals. Set Piece Threat determines a team’s chance of scoring on a corner or free kick, compared to the league average, and also evaluates the quality of the chance. The four new Skill categories are Finisher, Sprinter, Initiator and Ball Winner.
In recent years, AWS has landed a series of partnerships with major sports leagues: the NFL, Bundesliga, NHL, PGA Tour, NASCAR and Formula 1. It previously was MLB’s Statcast partner before the league switched to Google Cloud. The NBA uses Microsoft Azure.
