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Over the past couple of seasons, the NHL “money-puck” movement has really begun, as teams across the league have really started to buy in to the value that modern hockey metrics bring to the table.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a full analytics staff working in their front office. The Florida Panthers have assembled their own team of stat-heads. The Arizona Coyotes promoted the former CEO of a data collection company to general manager. There are plenty of other examples (the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes, and New Jersey Devils have all hired analysts from the “blogosphere”), but the general point is that teams are starting to buy in.

At the same time that statistics such as Corsi, Fenwick, and PDO gained relevance, there was another wave of statistics gaining ground in front offices.

As teams search for multiple ways to gain an advantage, the biometric statistical revolution has begun in NHL front offices, with certain teams embracing the benefits that health-based statistics can bring to player performance.

“When I first started [in 2010], it wasn’t being done at all.” said Chad Drummond, the head strength and conditioning coach for the Edmonton Oilers. “Collecting analytics and looking at some different bio-markers is actually quite new for our sport, but it’s the way of the future. We’re starting to study what we do, and get a better understanding of biomechanical loads, physiological loads, and that gives us a better idea on how to plan out player specific training programs, and recovery regimes.”

The Edmonton Oilers utilize CoachMePlus, a sports science platform that “helps teams organize all of their data, evaluate game day readiness, and reduce the possibility for injury,” says CEO Teo Balbach. The company started working with the Buffalo Sabres in 2003, but have expanded to “about a quarter of all professional teams in North America, in all sports.” In hockey, there are currently nine teams that work with the software.

Essentially, it’s a host system for any kind of information an organization wants stored on a player. “There are tracking devices for players that produce very compelling data,” Balbach explained. “No matter how compelling that data is, there’s always other information about the athlete. You need to take the device data and merge it with other information. That can be complex data from another device… or simple data, like weight, body fat percent, or even the coach’s notes.”

“This is a platform. Every team uses it differently. Some teams have complex configurations, while other teams have simple configurations,” Balbach continued. “Most teams try to measure internal load, external load, hydration and nutrition.”

An example of an internal load would be cardiac load, such as how much pressure is put on a player’s cardiovascular system over the course of a game. An example of an external load would be distance traveled, which can be tracked using GPS devices in a player’s jersey.

Biomedical statistics provide benefits to players and coaches at the micro-level, especially when it comes to managing the day-to-day performance of skaters. Drummond, who has worked with five different head coaches in his time with the Oilers, says each coach likes to use the CoachMePlus system differently.

“Every year, it’s kind of re-establishing relationships and getting [the new coach] on board with the sports science piece,” said Drummond. “I think, as the younger coaches come into the league, everything changes a little bit.”

For coaches that may not have experience with biomedical statistics, Drummond plays the role of teacher, and introduces the hockey minds to the world of health and performance.

Balbach confirmed that the system is very flexible, and that different coaches and different organizations will tailor the system to fit their own desires.

“When you start with the software, it’s empty,” remarked Balbach, who’s been the CEO of CoachMePlus since 2013. “It’s a way to pull all the various pieces together into a customizable interface. We don’t walk into a pro sports franchise and tell them what to do.”

Even though teams may use the system differently, there are still some common uses for the CoachMePlus software. One example is hydration, as hockey teams focus on keeping their players from getting dehydrated over the course of the season.

“One function the system has is a hydration piece,” said Drummond. “We can see if players are hydrated or dehydrated, and we have strategies around that to help make sure that players are at a prime state when they’re competing.”

“Hydration is one of the things that is very easy to do in our system,” commented Balbach. “If [the players] weigh in and weigh out, you can track their hydration for the day… in a sport like hockey, you’re constantly battling dehydration, so keeping those players at the right weight is a battle you’re fighting across the entire roster.”

“We’ve found that what [most teams] are trying to do is catch red flags that they might not catch if they weren’t closely paying attention. Things like hydration and load management… sometimes, guys just get exhausted. Let’s say you look at a guy who has gotten run down for a couple of days. It could just be that he needs two days off. There’s no magic involved. The reason he’s looking slow is because he’s exhausted. So, the accumulative load he’s had is too much, and now you’ve deduced the problem. It’s not that he’s lazy, or that his head isn’t clear; it’s just that he’s been over-worked.”

Coaches can use this information to their advantage. “The coach or the GM now has a decision to make,” says Balbach. “Should we make this guy a healthy scratch? Where are we in the season? Who are we playing? This information helps inform that decision.”

The system isn’t just for coaches, though. Using the hydration example, a player could make sure to weigh in and weigh out, and then check to see if they’re within the proper weight area. If not, they can immediately take steps to remedy the situation, and ensure that their bodies are at peak performance.

The players themselves being able to access the software, and use it to make sure that they’re reaching biometric goals that either they or their trainers have set, is an important feature that makes CoachMePlus so popular among teams looking to move into the field of biomedical analytics.

“One thing about hockey players is that they’re a pretty well-educated bunch. They’re smart individuals, so they need to be educated. They don’t like when you’re just collecting things, and they don’t know what the information is being used for,” noted Drummond.

“It’s important that they’re part of the equation… they want to know what this information is being used for.”

The benefit of keeping the players involved is that it becomes easy to keep players fit and ready to play throughout the entire year.

“We have off-season strength and conditioning plans, too.” Balbach mentioned, noting that many teams can help their players stay at peak levels of performance even when they’re away from the rink.

“CoachMePlus is actually a program builder,” Drummond said. “We can actually build programs for players that aren’t necessarily in Edmonton and working with us directly.”

“When we have players, say, over in Europe, I’ll build the program, and I’ll communicate with the player or their offseason strength coach, and I’ll have them administer the program that we put together. We customize all of our programs to the individual, so this platform allows us to build up these programs, and players can access via an app off their iPhone or iPad or desktop, so it allows us to customize programs.”

“That’s how we started out, actually.” said Balbach, pointing out that CoachMePlus had been helping the Sabres since 2003.

“We sent the players home with their workout on a CD, so they would go back to, say, Norway, with a CD, and they would just drop a CD into the computer and it would tell them what to do for the day.”

For a younger player striving to improve, the constant fitness updates can help ensure that they’re maximizing their potential, and playing at the highest level possible. Teams utilize CoachMePlus to make sure that their minor league teams are on the same wavelength as the professional teams, and so that coaches can have the same information available if a player gets called up.

“We use CoachMePlus at the minor league level,” remarked Drummond. “Our organization also owns the [Edmonton] Oil Kings, so they use CoachMePlus as well.”

The ability to seamlessly transition information about a player from one level of an organization to the next is also a key feature of the CoachMePlus system, says Balbach.

“When the player gets called up, all of their information is right there, right in the coaching staff’s hands, ready to go. They don’t have to email spreadsheets back and forth, or update a profile for the athlete, it’s already right there available for them.”

A coach looking to replace a struggling veteran with a rookie call-up would benefit from knowing what kind of shape the rookie was in. The CoachMePlus system allows for the information to be used in a way that benefits the organization, and helps put them on the path to success.

When asked about teams that are reluctant to dive into the world of biomedical statistics, Balbach admitted that they might not be on level footing with other teams that buy in.

“I think they’re going to be at a disadvantage. They may or may not be left behind, because if they have the best talent, and they’re better than everyone else, they’re still going to field a very competitive team. But you watch the playoffs in the National Hockey League, and games go on a very small margin. If you’re always looking for that little, little margin, you’ll want this quantification of performance and readiness if you want to be at the highest level that you can be.”

Drummond extolled the benefits of biometrics, and described the multitude of ways they could impact on-ice performance.

“We’re working on performance pieces. That’s what being a strength and conditioning coach is all about; making guys bigger, faster, stronger, and making sure they’re properly prepared to play the games.”

“This information allows us to track things like speed and strength and power over time, and build out appropriate programming for players… We’re able to tell the coaching staff we’re actually making players bigger, faster, and stronger.”

“This is such an exciting time in the industry, where people are trying new things, doing new things, and some of this stuff is cool, but you know you’ve got a game tonight,” added Balbach. “It has to work in the real world. Some stuff that works in the lab doesn’t work in the real world… it’s all about bringing the information to bear, so you can help [management groups] make decisions or support decisions that are going to help them play tonight, and win tonight.”

The concept of analytics is all about gaining value over opponents by exploiting under-valued areas. The world of biometrics is new, and especially new to the NHL, but it’s clear that there’s plenty of potential in these sports science statistics, and smart teams could improve by investing in them.

The industry is growing quickly, though, and just as teams get a handle on biomedical analysis, there will be another innovation they have to learn.

Biometrics: The statistical revolution the NHL isn’t talking about