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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NHL, NHLPA put tablets rinkside for World Cup

The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association will deploy several tablet-based devices on the bench and at rinkside to coaching staffs at the World Cup of Hockey, with a look toward potentially striking a leaguewide deal with a technology provider in the future.

At the two-week tournament, which will begin in Toronto on Sept. 17, coaches behind the bench will be provided tablets with access to an internal feed that will feature real-time game footage and highlights, said Stephen McArdle, NHL executive vice president of digital media and strategic planning.

While the tablets will primarily be used for determinations around coaches’ challenges, which were introduced to the NHL this past season, McArdle said the feed and replays should also help with coaching strategy and tactics.

The effort will also serve as a testing ground for the NHL as it looks to a deal with an official provider, akin to the NFL and MLB deals with Microsoft and Apple, respectively,

Each home team and its arena are now responsible for providing a working tablet and the league’s video feed for both teams’ use during NHL games for challenges. There are no specific rules related to the uniformity of the tablets across the league.

McArdle declined to comment on what devices — such as Apple’s iPads, Microsoft’s Surfaces, or other tablets — will be tested during the tournament.

Keith Wachtel, NHL executive vice president of global partnerships, said that with the league rolling out technological advances such as player and puck tracking and digitally enhanced dasherboards, the next step on the partnership side is to look toward targeting specific companies that can help further the NHL’s goals as it moves toward what Wachtel calls “the next frontier for us.”

Rollouts of these technologies for regular-season play are still to be determined.

Wachtel noted that the digital dasherboard technology could be used at league tentpole events as early as the 2017 All-Star Game in January, depending on its performance at the World Cup.


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