MLSE head honcho Tim Leiweke shed some light on the Maple Leafs' new-found approach to advanced statistics while speaking at Ryerson University in Toronto this week.
“So we hired this 27-year-old kid. Kyle is like, you've got to meet Kyle, he’s unbelievable."
He didn't just gush over the Maple Leafs' key front-office acquisition, delving deep into a discussion regarding the team's vision under Brendan Shanahan.
From James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail.
Shanny comes in and decides we’re going to be smart from now on out. We’re going to not only take the game stats and begin to analyze them and figure out what’s wrong with this team, but every guy we draft from this point on, every guy we trade for, every guy we sign as a free agent, we’re going to begin to analytically take a look at how he fits into our team and use those same numbers to figure out the holes we’re trying to fill and whether or not he fills them well.
Leiweke continued, going as far to suggest that the use of statistics, coupled with the hires of both Dubas and ExtraSkater.com founder Darryl Metcalf, will turn the floundering franchise around.
We are very convinced analytics make us smarter. We are very convinced that analytics will reduce our mistakes. We are convinced that analytics at the end of the day will be key to getting this team back on track. But that said they will never ever replace our ability to determine one’s character and passion for the game of hockey. You have to be good at both, not just one.
To that, there's really nowhere to go but up for the Maple Leafs. They were the worst possession team in the NHL last season.
