Maple Leafs AGM Dubas on analytics: 'It’s not the whole secret sauce'
The hiring of Kyle Dubas as the Toronto Maple Leafs' assistant general manager was seen as a win for the hockey analytics community, giving credence the increasing use of advanced stats in hockey.
The 28-year-old appeared on the Marek vs. Wyshynski podcast Monday, and was asked about the dichotomy that exists between 'new guard' and the 'old guard' in relation to this topic, and where he fits in:
I guess it’s to be expected that it would kind of go that way. People trying to determine if I’m a hockey guy or an analytics guy. The reality of it is I’m someone who’s worked in hockey my entire life that over the past number of years has begun to develop, I guess, a usefulness for analytics that have really helped us in [Sault Ste. Marie] over time and especially in the last 18 months or so as we’ve been able to gather more information.
It’s a piece of the puzzle. It’s not the whole secret sauce or anything like that. It helps out. It’s been a big help to us in reducing uncertainty and just gathering more information. But it’s not a one-way or the other type proposition with me or with us, it’s just incorporating as much data and information as we possibly can.
Dubas futher qualified his position by rightly arguing for a healthy balance between analytics and the old eye test:
We didn’t make every decision by just taking the numbers and nobody does that in hockey. Even those who are really strong analysts online or in print media or wherever it may be, they are all watching the games. I mean, they’re not just sitting there at the computer and generating a list of ‘this guy is good’ and ‘this guy is bad’ and this is what the numbers tell me. Everyone's watching the games and I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions.
Since his hiring, the Maple Leafs have signed analytic-friendly forwards Daniel Winnik and David Booth; while advanced stats might not be the whole secret sauce, Dubas already appears to be helping the team build a tastier mix.
[H/T Nichols on Hockey]