Baseball was the first sport to adopt analytics in a serious way (at least certain teams) followed by the NBA (again, certain teams). Now it is time for the NHL. In case you missed this interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, here is Scott Simon (with his blistering slapshot) talking numbers with Mike Smith, former NHL coach and GM and now co-founder of Coleman Analytics, about data-driven hockey.
Smith faces some of the challenges that corporate analytics leaders face — resistance from those wedded to the way things are currently done or who don’t want those above them to se how how resources have been misallocated in the past. This is depite Smith’s record: all five of his clients made the playoffs this year.
