In the growing world of sports analytics, big data and player statistical analysis is beginning to be embraced in the NHL after its success in Major League Baseball and the NBA. HockeyData Inc. is an independent data tracking and consulting company that provides player tracking and team tracking analysis, depending on the interests of the client.
HockeyData uses statistical models that they create, such as The Hohl Picture (THP), to provide clients “the expected outcome in goals for-versus-against relative to ice-time with the player on the ice.” THP analysis has the ability to predict a player’s future impact on outscoring the opponent, or expected wins. According to HockeyData’s website, the model uses an “accumulation of a player’s decision making and action taking” that reveals the estimated value of “players in the context of their productivity in both direct and indirect contributions to the game.”
In addition, HockeyData offers Team Level Analysis that answers team centered questions such as: What are overall team strengths and weaknesses? Where does success originate within certain lines and how can a team optimize coaching strategies to fit personnel? Team Level Analysis can focus on areas such as player acquisition and replacement, coaching strategy optimization, individual player development, and player scouting and evaluation. HockeyData also offers similar services to its Team Level Analysis in its Competitor Statistical Scouting package.
The Individual Player Analytical Performance package focuses on player development and its value within a team’s system. Specifically, “understanding a player’s productivity in relation to winning highlights his strengths and weaknesses.” This extensive data can also be useful to a player’s representation when negotiating his value or to another team who may look to acquire a player that could fit in the team’s system. In addition, HockeyData’s extensive AHL data tracking allows for in-depth team and individual analysis which is useful for prospect scouting or player development and improvement.
According to HockeyData, it recently landed its first NHL client in the Washington Capitals.
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Garret Hohl, one of the founders of HockeyData, highlights the company’s strength to have flexibility and cater towards its clients’ needs while offering these services at a cheaper rate than most in-house data tracking services. When it comes to the importance of analytics, particularly in hockey, HockeyData explains, “The game of hockey is a goal scoring contest; the team with the most goals wins. It can be broken down to it’s individual events like shots, penalties, hits, passes, and hits to gain a better understanding of what is going on. From this we can better understand how events relate to the teams and players that best drive wins, like we do here at HockeyData with numbers like our own THP.”
According to HockeyData’s website, it was “named ‘Best Presenting Company’ in the start-up spotlight category of the Canadian Financing Forum,” as well as “being named as one of 2017’s Top Emerging Tech Companies by the Ready to Rocket Program.”