TORONTO - The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed 18-year-old centre Carter Verhaeghe to a three-year entry-level contract. Verhaeghe, taken in the third round of last years draft (82nd overall), will join the Marlies of the AHL on an amateur tryout agreement for the remainder of the season. His Leafs contract begins next year. The Waterdown, Ont., native led the OHLs Niagara IceDogs with 82 points (28 goals and 54 assists) in 65 games this season. In three OHL seasons he put up 50 goals and 92 assists. Director of player development Jim Hughes at last summers prospects camp pegged Verhaeghe as a long-term project — someone who could be almost two years from reaching his full potential. "Where Verhaeghe is today and where hes going to be 18 months from now, well see a major transition in his game," Hughes said in July. "You can see the skill-sets and the poise with the puck and playmaking ability. He can buy time and space." 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The Kings paraded the Stanley Cup through downtown Los Angeles on Monday to celebrate their second NHL title in three seasons.At Calgarys Scotiabank Saddledome over the weekend, about 70 hockey fans and stat heads packed into a conference room to take part in the Alberta Analytics Conference, an opportunity for like-minded people to share ideas about the emerging wave of hockey analytics. The NHL off-season has often been referred to as The Summer of Analytics - with many high-profile hires in the industry ranging from the Maple Leafs bringing in a whole team of analysts after adding assistant GM Kyle Dubas, to a number of teams adding their own in-house analysts. Rob Vollman, author of Hockey Abstract, was the driving force behind the event. And it fits, as Vollmans Hockey Abstract is all about using objective analysis to evaluate players and teams. With a variety of speakers bringing different experiences, there was something for everyone who might be interested in hockey analytics - from those just wading into the pool and wanting to learn more, to hard-core programmers considering new and different ways of manipulating data. That all said, I got to attend and take a few notes: INTRODUCTION Chris Snow, Calgary Flames Director of Video and Statistical Analysis Whats it about? Snow has been working in the NHL since 2006, when the Minnesota Wild hired him away from covering the Red Sox for the Boston Globe. Snow comes to with stats knowledge and understanding, but also practical experience dealing with NHL teams. Takeaways: - Pushed Sydex Sports to create PUCKS a software system, which connects every play of the game to video. 17 NHL teams use PUCKS, according to Snow. Its more of a video tool than an analytical tool, but it allows NHL video to flow in real time. Snow feels video is the best way to illustrate data to players and coaches, so Flames players have iPads automatically loaded with game video. - Snow feels that the public perception of Brian Burke being anti-analytics -- fostered by Burkes appearances at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference -- are a gruff exterior; Snow feels that he has lots of support from the organization and recognizes that the only way analytics can work for a team is if there is buy-in from decision-makers -- coaches, GM, President. - Snow had high praise for Jacques Lemaire, who understood analytics intuitively, preaching a lot of these concepts before modern stats took hold. - New Flames GM Brad Treliving reads blogs and knows whats out there when it comes to analytics. This isnt uncommon, as Travis Yost reported earlier this year, Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill regularly consults the blogoshere to check on the latest analytics. More: Snow told a story about playing hockey every day during latest NHL lockout with Flames staff and feels like it helped him gain acceptance with new coaching staff....Even if data/video is the niche, its a human business...Some players called him Rain Man or Moneyball...He has been a one-person staff with the Flames, expects to add interns this year...Stays away from formulas, rather tries to provide lots of context...All teams track scoring chances...SportVu or PowerScout (camera tracking) info will require a lot of thought to figure out what information is useful. THE SINGLE-NUMBER DREAM AND THE MARCH TO WAR A.C. Thomas, Founder of War on Ice Whats it about? In the wake of Extra Skater going offline, new sites are popping up to fill the modern stats void. Takeaways: - Thomas spoke of breaking the game into smaller chunks, in order to determine overall value. Whats a face-off win worth? A very little bit, but its something. Whats a controlled zone entry worth? A little bit, but its something. All those little somethings add up. - Discussion about trying to adjust goaltender save percentage, based on the quality of shots they face (using distance). The adjustments arent major, but still trying to examine locations and whether shots are rebounds and whether that can be included. The challenge is taking care to not add extra just because you can. Need data that can be proved. - Is perfect the enemy of the good when it comes to creating a hockey version of baseballs WAR (Wins Above Replacement)? It is possible to go with the best data available now, recognizing that its not 100% perfect. Regression methods need a lot of data (2-5 seasons, in some cases). DOING MORE WITH LESS David Benard, Sportstec.com Whats it about? Its one thing to have tools and people to analyze data, but first the data needs to be accumulated and these Sports Code offerings make it relatively easy to use their customizable programs to track as many facets of the game as a coaching staff wants. This would seem quite useful to someone embarking on a large-scale tracking project (cc: Corey Sznajder). Takeaways: - Trying to improve data collection, by adding qualitative element to quantitative data collection. Think along the lines of a zone exit with control being different than merely dumping the puck out of the zone. - New Vancouver Canucks coach Willie Desjardins was tracking zone exits, though not differentiating between controlled or not, when he was the Dallas Stars associate coach in 2010-2011. - Australian Rules Football teams invest big money in analytics - analyst is commonly the second-highest paid in operations...There is a Calgary Baantam AAA team using coded video.dddddddddddd OPEN DISCUSSION Bruce McCurdy, Cult of Hockey Blog, Edmonton Journal Whats it about? With the Summer of Analytics taking away some of the most valued resources in the analytics community, including the Extra Skater web site and the work of Tyler Dellow (@mc79hockey), the discussion was about what comes next? Who is ready to step into the void? Takeaways: - During McCurdys discussion, Rob Vollman insisted that there is still plenty of great content, but it may require going to more than five or six core sites. - The big question: Who is going to have the site that welcomes in a broader audience? - More mainstream coverage is expected, in the same way that like something like OPS now gets regular play on MLB broadcasts. - Summer of Analytics would not have happened without fans/bloggers pushing up the hill. PROPOSAL: PITCH TALKS! Ryan Pike, Managing Editor at Flames Nation Whats it about? An idea about holding TED talks for hockey. TED talks are short talks (18 minutes or less) devoted to spreading ideas. Its been done, with some success, in baseball. Takeaway: - It can be hard to work through the noise online. Ideally, a focused topic for these talks would allow for sharing of experiences and ideas without getting lost in the online chatter. TEAM DYNAMICS AND BEHAVIOURAL ANALYTICS Allan Hamernick, Hamernick & Associates Whats it about? This would be considered the softer side of analytics, looking for matching personality types. The challenge, of course, is that we dont have a record of what personality types are necessary for a team to be successful. There may not be just one mix that can be successful. Takeaways: - While it might be difficult for a team to forego measurables in order to improve their mix of personalities, Hamernick has received feedback from coaches who like knowing this information when it comes time to fill out a coaching staff. - Use brain mapping to see subconscious reactions to questions. CFL coaches talked about potential value for use in the Draft Combine. MICROSTATS AND TRACKING RESULTS Justin Azevedo, Flames Nation Whats it about? Azevedo was tracking 26 micro-stats (passes, icings, offsides, for 68 Flames games and taking in all that data presented him with lots of questions. Takeaways: - Questions evolved from tracking: How are Icings Created? Stretch passes - two of three outcomes are negative. 62 of 355 tracked stretch passes by Flames resulted in a shot attempt. We remember the one that works, not the dozens that result in icing. - How many passes should a team make? For the Flames last season, an average of 1.9 passes led to a successful zone entry. SUPER SHOT SEARCH Greg Sinclair, somekindofninja.com Whats it about? A website that tracks shots and locations and offers many graphing options. Takeaways: - For all the discussion of manually tracking scoring chances, Greg has found that using a home plate design allows him to register scoring chances automatically and the counts are very close to subjective counts. Close enough that time could be better spent tracking other things. - There are questions about the "home plate" definition, but any of those adjustments are relatively small in the grand scheme of all the shots that are being taken into account. BEHIND THE PLAYER USAGE CHARTS Rob Vollman, Author of Hockey Abstract Whats it about? Focus was on Vollmans Player Usage Charts, which combine Offensive Zone Start%, Quality of Competition and Corsi to provide a quick understanding of how a player is utilized, and whether or not hes having some success in that role. Takeaways: - Looking at Player Usage Charts, Vollman compared last seasons Oilers and Flames rosters, showing how someone like Mark Giordano didnt have a comparable in Edmonton because Giordano excelled against such a high level of competition. - What is the next big thing in analytics? Maybe its zone entries or shot quality, or it could be something completely different. With so many smart people looking at the game from different angles, the options are nearly endless. ADJUSTING FOR RINK EFFECTS IN THE NHL Michael Schuckers, Stat Sports Consulting Whats it about? Since that vast majority of modern statistics come from NHL play-by-play files, the accuracy of those files is important. Takeaways: - Generally, the NHL data is pretty good, but certainly flawed. Rink scorer bias is pervasive because methods of tracking are suspect and its a difficult process in real time. - From 2007-2008 through 2012-2013, there were four rinks with big issues: Los Angeles, Florida, New Jersey and Toronto. - Calgary has been under-counting hits; Los Angeles typically overcounts (to the benefit of Dustin Brown). Toronto overcounts unblocked shot attempts, while New Jersey typically undercounts unblocked shot attempts. - Schuckers calculations, done in concert with Brian Macdonald (who has since been hired by the Florida Panthers) can level the playing field so that the bias of home scorers doesnt undermine the data. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '