AI and hockey

[HABsurd]

I wish this thread would be in the main Discussion board, but the Habs don't seem to have use for this sort of stuff. 

Thought I would link to a recent article about the use or artificial intelligence or predictive analysis in sports.

"Want to Be Better at Sports? Listen to the Machines"

"Sportlogiq, a Montreal-based firm, has a system that primarily relies on broadcast feeds to analyze players and teams in hockey, soccer, football and lacrosse.

Mehrsan Javan, the company’s chief technology officer and one of its co-founders, said the majority of National Hockey League teams, including the last four Stanley Cup champions, used Sportlogiq’s system to evaluate players.

Josh Flynn, assistant general manager for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ohio’s professional hockey franchise, said the team used Sportlogiq to analyze players and strategy. “We can dive levels deeper into questions we have about the game than we did before,” Mr. Flynn said."

I find the above quote very interesting and telling. I know a number of people who work at Sportlogiq as they are Montreal based. It is telling that the Blue Jackets are used as a reference in this article. Telling because while Sportlogiq has done consulting for the Canadiens, the team has not used their recommendations — prefer to rely upon their own intuition and don't seem to understand the predictive data. So for a testimonial an Montreal-based company, that is a leader in artificial intelligence as applied to hockey, relies on a team in Columbus Ohio.

[jkr]

I'm not surprised. Under Bergevin, the Habs seem very old school. The story about the analytics guy who spoke up about the Subban trade ( and was not rehired) comes to mind.

I haven't given hockey much thought over the last month or so but my feelings haven't changed. The team is going nowhere until Bergevin & company are gone.

He was probably going to get another season anyway, but this stoppage I think all but guarantees it.

[Willie Dog]

Apr 8, 2020 17:35:45 GMT -5 jkr said:

I'm not surprised. Under Bergevin, the Habs seem very old school. The story about the analytics guy who spoke up about the Subban trade ( and was not rehired) comes to mind.

I haven't given hockey much thought over the last month or so but my feelings haven't changed. The team is going nowhere until Bergevin & company are gone.

He was probably going to get another season anyway, but this stoppage I think all but guarantees it.

Covid gives him another "anything can happen" and Mr. Gullible believes it

[seventeen]

I thought the Habs did have a contract with Sportlogiq.

[frozone]

Apr 9, 2020 16:19:52 GMT -5 seventeen said:

I thought the Habs did have a contract with Sportlogiq.

It hasn't been widely reported, but that has been the word since 2016 as reported by Marc Antoine Godin. This was shortly after Pfeffer's contract expired and he got all salty about it not being renewed.

A long standing criticism of the Habs front office has been that the advanced stats presence has been lacking. However, that just doesn't seem to be true. According to Godin, they've employed various experts dating back to at least 2013.

Link

Not to absolve management of their poor results, but the lack of an advanced stats arm is not to blame.

[HABsurd]

Apr 9, 2020 16:19:52 GMT -5 seventeen said:

I thought the Habs did have a contract with Sportlogiq.

They did have a contract a few years ago, but last I heard not anymore.

[seventeen]

Frankly because, as Paul Byron says, Bergevin has a brilliant hockey mind, so they don't need analytics. They may have someone or a contract with a company, but I doubt they give a lot of credence to it on the Pro side. I wouldn't be surprised if Timmins and Churla use it on the amateur side as they seem more open to stuff.

I seem to recall Chris Boucher, who is a V-P at Sportlogiq, often making the point that a key aspect of advanced stats is communicating it properly to hockey operations. They need to see the relevance of the data in ways they are used to. I wonder if he's run across situations where that has been difficult.