NHL brings advanced puck tracking stats to public
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The NHL has launched a new advanced stats section on its website that brings data from the league’s puck- and player-tracking technology to fans for the first time.
NHL EDGE, the league’s puck- and player-tracking system, has been operational for every team since the 2021-22 season. That season is where the data begins on the league’s new advanced stats section on NHL.com (NHL.com/EDGE). Previously, the only public display of these stats was during NHL broadcasts.
“Today’s launch marks a new and important phase in the evolution of NHL EDGE, as through our collaboration with Sportradar, fans can now access a new set of stats for their favorite teams and players in an interactive and comparative way,” said Stephen McArdle, NHL senior executive vice president for digital media and strategic planning.
The NHL’s puck- and player-tracking technology utilizes 14 infrared cameras above each rink, positioned to cover all points on the ice. They track movement using sensors embedded inside the puck and players’ jerseys. The system can generate nearly one million three-dimensional coordinates and data points in a regulation game.
Russ Levine, NHL group vice president of stats and info, said that because of the massive amount of data and computations, the NHL EDGE site will be updated the morning after games rather than immediately after they end.
“The challenge with this work is taking all that just raw positional data and translating it into something digestible and meaningful. Something that is interesting for fans and hopefully teaches them about the game,” Levine told ESPN. “And we’re really, I think, at the tip of the iceberg here.”
Among the stats the site will publish:
• Maximum skating speed. The maximum sustained skating speed a player has achieved during a game this season. Bursts from 18 to 20 mph, 20 to 22 mph and over 22 mph are tabulated.
• Skating distance. How far a player skates in a game and for the season. As of Friday, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid had the highest single-game distance this season with 4.42 miles.
• Shot speed. The maximum speed achieved on any recorded shot attempt — whether the shot was on goal or not. Shots are tallied in four different categories, including 100-plus mph.
• Shot/save location. The offensive zone is split into 16 regions based on shot volume and accuracy — some of them “high danger” regions near the net. Locations can be shown by shots on goal, goals or shooting percentage. Goalies’ “save locations” show shots against, saves, goal against as well as save percentage.
• Puck zone time. Puck possession remains one of the most sought-after metrics in the NHL. While the technology has yet to produce “puck on stick” player possession numbers for public consumption, NHL Edge does show how much time the puck spends in each zone while an individual player is on the ice. It also shows how long teams have the puck in individual zones.
These stats can be filtered by forwards and defensemen, as well as game situation (even strength, special teams). Most of the stats are also divided into all three zones — offensive, neutral and defensive. For example, McDavid’s 4.42-mile performance saw him skate 44.8% of that distance (2.33 miles) in the offensive zone.
For some stats, the zones are shaded to indicate whether the player’s performance is above or below NHL average for that season.
NHL EDGE data can also be generated into visualizations that give a full picture of a player’s performance or can be overlayed onto each other for comparison.
The site includes a comparison feature so fans can view any two players or teams side-by-side in several statistical categories. That includes the ability to compare one season to another for a player. One example the NHL demoed was comparing goalie Sergei Bobrovsky‘s regular-season performance to his “Playoff Bob” mode for the Florida Panthers last season.
There are innovations the NHL would like to add. Levine said that individual puck possession is top of the list. Only a few stats have ‘per game’ and ‘per 60 minutes at 5-on-5’ filters, which is available on other sites that track advanced stats. The NHL wants to add passing metrics, which would allow for the inclusion of stats like zone entries and zone exits. Additional advanced goalie stats are also a priority.
“The next phase of this for me is helping people understand what makes Player A more effective than Player B in ways that aren’t obvious from traditional statistics,” Levine said.
He said the NHL will continue to tweak the stats now on the site.
“That algorithm for shot speed today will probably continue to get tweaked to make it more accurate. Are we measuring shot speed in the most effective way? Taking the appropriate measurement of the number of pings, smoothing out a potential hiccup in the data to make sure we don’t have outliers, that sort of thing,” he said.
Levine said that “as we tweak these things, we’d have the ability to go back” to make previously published stats from earlier seasons more accurate.
“I think that the reason we haven’t done this until now is not because we weren’t comfortable, it’s because it’s really complicated and time-consuming work to roll up things and make sure they’re accurate,” Levine said. “We’re going to continue to improve that.”
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs righty Jameson Taillon was placed on the injured list on Friday with a right calf strain, the team announced before its game against the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s expected to miss “more than a month,” according to manager Craig Counsell.
Taillon, 33, injured his calf on his last wind sprint after a bullpen session on Thursday.
“He’s going to miss a pretty significant amount of time,” Counsell said.
Taillon was 7-6 with a 4.44 ERA in 17 starts for the Cubs this season who just got lefty Shota Imanaga back from a hamstring injury. Now they’ll have to navigate at least the rest of this month without one of their other key starters.
“There’s a little room for us to be flexible right now,” Counsell said citing the upcoming All-Star break. “We’ll use that to our advantage and we’ll go from there.”
The team recalled left-hander Jordan Wicks to take Taillon’s spot on the roster, though he won’t go directly into the rotation. Instead, the Cubs will throw a bullpen game on Saturday against the Cardinals and “go from there,” according to Counsell.
Wicks, 25, went 1-3 with one save, a 4.06 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 12 appearances (11 starts) with Triple-A Iowa this season. In his past five starts dating to May 18, he posted a 1.65 ERA with 20 strikeouts, compared to just three walks, a 0.86 WHIP and a .186 opponent batting average.
The team might also consider a bigger role for righty Chris Flexen who has been fantastic for them out of the bullpen. Flexen, 31, has a 0.62 ERA in 16 games, including a four inning stint late last month.
“He’s a candidate to be stretched out for sure,” Counsell said. “He’s prepared to do a little bit more.”
Cubs brass have already stated they are looking for starting pitching before the trade deadline later this month. Counsell was asked if Taillon’s injury increases that need. He didn’t take the bait.
“The trade deadline isn’t until July 31,” he said. “I’m focused on the next week or 10 games before the All-Star break.”
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