It’s been an interesting few days in hockey’s analytics community.



The conversation here at The Athletic between James Mirtle, Tyler Dellow, and Matt Cane last Friday helped reignite a debate on several topics, most notably how actionable WAR (Wins Above Replacement) models can be and the perceived shortcomings of them. Mirtle had a follow up interview with Brian Macdonald on Wednesday to probe deeper into the conversation with someone who has built them and used them in an NHL front office.



I wanted to add my perspective on this topic, as someone who believes in the use of WAR models in hockey.



I think it’s a good thing that these conversations are being held because there has been a shift in hockey analytics from using counting stats to more sophisticated models to explain many of the simultaneous interactions occurring on the ice. Nearly every other industry is using models to improve performance and forecasting, so...