Maple Leafs take next step in analytics movement by teaming up with SAS

TORONTO - When Kyle Dubas began using advanced stats and analytics as general manager of the Ontario Hockey League's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, he and his staff had to track, import and compare everything manually.

"That would take hours and hours, and there would be lag time between games," Dubas said. "We didn't have any budget to do anything good enough to make it real-time."

Now, as assistant GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dubas has just about all the information he could want at his fingertips. Over the past couple months, the Leafs have forged a partnership with analytics firm SAS and on opening night began using the technology they hope will eventually improve their on-ice results.

"We're able to collect the data and have it in real-time, be able to use it to give to our coaches in the game and to analyze for ourselves in decision-making," Dubas said. "To have those tools at your disposal on your phone or iPad, it's been great and a massive and welcome change."

The SAS technology captures stats from every NHL game and team. Dubas and Toronto's hockey research and development staff can then access that information, which means Leafs analytics specialists Cam Charron, Darryl Metcalf and Rob Pettapiece — all hired over the summer as part of Dubas and president Brendan Shanahan's shift to a more analytical approach — don't have to manually keep track of things like shot attempts, ice time or quality of competition.

Meanwhile, the Leafs track their own stats — proprietary information they won't share — which is also inputted into the new system to be cross-referenced later. The result is a series of graphs and charts that attempt to explain aspects of the sport that go beyond traditional statistics like goals, assists and plus/minus.

"When you start to use a deeper form of analysis, it kind of just allows you to question what you're seeing and allows you to better understand what's actually happening in the game, which players will play well together, which defence pairings will play well together," Dubas said. "It encompasses around everything because it adds context and powerful information to everything that we can do."

SAS analytics lead Tim Trussell said the purpose is "to be validating assumptions or validating hypotheses in an unbiased way."

Hockey executives, coaches, players and fans can watch a game and have a good idea of who's playing well and who's not, but having the data to back it up adds another dimension to measuring hockey.

Carl Farrell, SAS Canada's executive vice-president, said several other teams are doing similar things. SAS has worked with the NBA's Orlando Magic for some time.

"Sports analytics now is growing in all the different sports segments and hockey being one of them," Farrell said. "I think you're going to see more of this. People are realizing: This data's important. It brings extra context, extra depth to the kind of decisions that Kyle and the team have to make."