The days of the glow puck are long gone, but it’s time the NHL start using advanced stats. Other professional sports leagues use them, and fans want them.
Ever since Billy Beane and his Oakland A’s pioneered the Money Ball strategy, professional sports have been taken over by advanced stats. Call it whatever you want, whether it be “sabermetrics”, “advanced stats”, “money ball”, or whatever, the stats our parents used to determine great athletes seem almost antiquated today. The NHL announced that it’s ready to take the next step forward and dive full into the advanced stat movement.
The NHL has long tested player tracking, puck tracking and additional advanced stats, most recently and famously at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game. Every fan knew it was coming soon, but not necessarily when.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman set a date for the 2020-2021 regular season, but yesterday it was announced this new puck tracking we saw glimpses of in St. Louis will be ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
More from Puck Prose
- Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
- This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
- 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
- 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
- This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings
The NHL famously tried puck tracking in the 1990’s, and famously failure. Back when the NHL had a television contract with Fox, they used the much-hated “glow puck” that was a victim to the very technology it tried to use.
Even though it was a spectacular failure, the legend of the glow puck lives on, and whenever a stray glow puck finds its way towards eBay it’s not uncommon to see them selling close to $1,000. That’s a far cry from the $5 or $10 rubber pucks we’re used to seeing for sale in the arena gift shop.
Back in the 1990s, advanced stats were a novelty. In the early 2000s with Billy Beane, they were an intriguing, yet unproved, concept. Nowadays they’re as much commonplace in the world of sports as $15 beers and commissioners being booed during trophy presentations.
ESPN even has individual broadcasts for baseball centered around sabermetrics. Technology has come a long way since those glow puck days. It’s about time the NHL caught up because the timing is right.
Not only for professionals at the NHL level, but for prospects in the minor leagues as well. The Houston Astros started a trend in Major League Baseball in using various measures of tracking on their minor league players to take the place of minor league baseball games, following the European Soccer model.
Granted, this was all before the cheating scandal broke, so no word if buzzers and trash can banging were part of the training. The approach may have to be changed and adjusted, but could also be applied to minor league hockey athletes, perhaps even college hockey players as well.
Sure there are some concerns. First off, there’s the equipment themselves. The “puck tracking” puck is different from the normal NHL puck. With this new puck having its debut during the playoffs, Frank Seravalli voiced concerns on the actual construction of the puck itself.
"Imagine a scenario in which the new puck explodes into three pieces after ricocheting off the crossbar on a scoring play in the Stanley Cup Final."
The designers of the technology even talked about the challenges of creating a “puck tracking” puck. Remember, MLB created controversy this past summer with an altered or “juiced” baseball creating more home runs than ever before. The fact the puck spend the entire game on ice presented its own challenge as well, according to Jogmo founder and CEO Martin Bachmayer, who worked with the NHL to develop the technology:
"Bachmayer said the most difficult part was developing a rubber puck with the electronic sensor inside that met the NHL’s standards. It took some time.“The puck needs to be frozen down, which kills all the electronics,” Bachmayer said. “You have shots that go 100 mph. There were a lot of challenges”"
Still, Gary Bettman is steadfast that the timing is right. The game has changed. This is what a new generation of fans want:
"“But now in the era that we’re in, the opportunities were limitless. If you’re a Millennial or a Gen Z in particular and you’re consuming sports differently than it’s ever been consumed before, we’re going to be right there for you giving you what you want.”"
Yes and no, to that approach. Yes, the younger generation looks at sports in a different light, but Bettman has to be careful not to have advanced stats take over the sport. The older generation still only cares about pucks going in the net, not what angle Connor McDavid’s stick was at when he unleashed a wrist shot.
Plus, most younger hockey fans probably want a balance between both, Advanced stats are nice, but let us watch the game without having to be interrupted with every little piece of information. Yes, the timing is right for the NHL to dive into this venture. Maybe the playoffs weren’t the right time, but the year 2020 definitely was. Let’s just all hope the puck doesn’t glow this time.