Paul Kukla
Kukla's Korner
184
Reads
0
Comments
The Chicago Blackhawks Are Big Believers In Analytics
from Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times,
Al MacIsaac first heard of analytics approximately 4,500 miles away from his spacious United Center office.
Shortly before the Blackhawks’ 2009-10 season opener in Finland, MacIsaac sat down alongside Stan and Scotty Bowman to meet a stranger in Helsinki’s grand Hotel Kamp for a brief presentation....
“It started as a project that we were going to build on,” MacIsaac told the Sun-Times this week. “Now we have analytics for everything. ... It’s evolved from that first chance meeting in 2009 to something that we feel proud of and that our staff have come to embrace.”
The term ‘analytics’ itself is mentioned nowhere in MacIsaac’s job description, and it takes quite a bit of scrolling down the Hawks’ front office directory to find Andrew Contis, the lone listed member with it in his title.
But MacIsaac will disclose there’s a whole team of employees — “young people,” he calls them — who compose the Hawks’ analytics department, collecting and analyzing data and looking for new areas to explore.
“Our ideas can’t be cascading down from the senior guys like me and Stan,” MacIsaac said. “We want ideas cascading upwards, and that comes from guys like Andrew Contis and a number of others.”
Popular Articles

Blackhawks Chicago
Panthers Florida
Penguins Pittsburgh
Rangers New York
Avalanche Colorado
Kings Los Angeles
Maple Leafs Toronto
Bruins Boston
Capitals Washington
Flames Calgary
Oilers Edmonton
Golden Knights Vegas
Flyers Philadelphia
Senators Ottawa
Lightning Tampa Bay
Islanders New York
Sabres Buffalo
Red Wings Detroit
Devils New Jersey
Hurricanes Carolina
Blue Jackets Columbus
Predators Nashville
Stars Dallas
Jets Winnipeg
Wild Minnesota
Blues St. Louis
Mammoth Utah
Sharks San Jose
Canucks Vancouver
Ducks Anaheim