The past decade functioned as the data and analytics revolution within professional sports, which offers the logical conclusion: adapt or get left behind. This is certainly true in the National Hockey League, where analytics are no longer a profane and offensive threat to the ways of yesteryear, but a multi-department component of each team’s staff. Debating the value of analytics is to be perpetually stuck in 2014, but it’s clear that the inherent application of further information works differently for various actors in the hockey ecosystem.

Kevin Durant, one of the greatest NBA players of all-time, who dually functions as a modern Twitter laureate once postulated: who the f— wants to look at graphs while having a hoops convo? And while Durant’s suggestion is often viewed through the lens of an athlete disgusted with his game subjected to criticism that often has nothing to do with basketball, it lends itself well to other sports. Durant is one of basketball’s greatest thinkers and the rest of us — especially in the media space — have to realize we cannot process the game at the same speed, so we need further, public data more than ever.

Natural Stat Trick, MoneyPuck and NHL Edge among other resources are used daily by journalists who cover the NHL, helping us explore concepts that make it easier for us to process what we’re seeing. CapFriendly was recently purchased by the Washington Capitals to serve as their proprietary, in-house salary resource. Are these tools equally valuable for players, who can process information in real-time?

During a sweltering, 40-degree Celsius afternoon at the Deer Creek Golf Course in Ajax, Ontario, dozens of NHL players have gathered for 13th annual TFP Classic on the final day of July. At the eighth hole, Gibson’s has set up its media tent where players have graciously stopped by to discuss the world of analytics briefly with The Leafs Nation, before returning to the tournament.

Owen Tippett may be the fastest player alive, or that’s at least what the data suggests. Tippett recorded a high-speed of 38.97 kilometres per hour via NHL Edge, leading all players during the 2023-24 season. He also ranked fourth with 46 bursts over 35 kilometres per hour during the year. You can’t miss Tippett when he’s on the ice for the Philadelphia Flyers. The 25-year-old’s entire game is built on explosion, he carves into the ice with such force and torque and can whip his release through traffic. Tippett is entering his prime and is coming off a stellar 2023-24 campaign where he recorded 28 goals and 53 points in 78 games with the Flyers.

Tippett is certainly appreciative to be considered among the fastest players in the NHL, but it’s not something he’s paying close attention to — perhaps, if you’ve always been an elite skater and shooter, you don’t need the numbers to quantify it.

Tyler Seguin made an immediate impact in the NHL as a teenager, so it’s easy to forget that he’s approaching 1,000 career games and is a decorated veteran in the league. Seguin will be entering his age-33 season and he’s still a capable scorer for a Dallas Stars team that is perpetually contending for the Stanley Cup. In some ways, Seguin is a bridge between hockey’s past, which often viewed analytics and further data as an imposition, rather than a necessity, and the future, where real-time data is a rote function of daily life in the NHL.

“I would say number one, it’s used by coaches, number two, journalists and number three, players,” Seguin said to The Leafs Nation. “I’ve never been a massive analytics guy but the last few years I’ve found it entertaining looking back at certain power play statistics over the years, seeing where I’ve personally scored goals, whether it’s in the slot or if it’s on a half wall or how certain things have gone in. But that’s the most in-depth I’ve looked at it, personally.”

It’s often been said that analytics are merely are a teaching aid — they’re meant to augment what you’re seeing on the ice, as opposed to a catch-all solution to myriad problems a certain player or team are encountering. And it certainly appears that players are being fed information selectively, rather than actively seeking select information over the course of the regular season, in large part due to the reactive nature of the hyper-paced professional game.

“The coaches love analytics, especially when it’s playoff time. Looking at team versus team, more than individuals. Seeing team-wise, ‘OK Vegas is number two in neutral zone transition, Dallas is number four’ whatever, we can look at that for their strengths and weaknesses and usually it speaks to what the video shows.”

Cole Perfetti is on the verge of a breakout for the Winnipeg Jets, recording 19 goals and 38 points in 71 games during the 2023-24 campaign. Prior to the 2020 NHL Draft, Perfetti was lauded for his shooting release and he’s shown the versatility to play either wing and centre in the NHL. The 22-year-old is back home for the summer before training camp gets underway for the Jets. And it appears that Perfetti is open to using data points in tandem with video evidence to improve areas of his game entering his third professional season.

“I don’t look at it too often,” Perfetti told The Leafs Nation. “I think there’s a certain value to it. The math and the stats obviously back up a certain amount of your play and your team’s play. It is important to a certain level. Everyone can get a little bit of information from it. It breaks down the game. Obviously, there are points, goals, assists, plus-minus, the easy stats, but then when you go into the more advanced stats, there are obviously things where you can look at your game, look where your stats are and you can see where you can improve that area, and maybe that helps your play on the ice. Teams use it, players use it. I definitely use it from time-to-time, it’s good.

“The advanced stats, I definitely look at it. I think the video and watching how you play is going to give you a better idea of how you’re playing but I think the stats, if you find something in your game, you can look at the stats and see if it backs it up or see if it contradicts what you’re thinking and you can go from there, and kind of make a decision about how to improve that area of your game. I think there’s definitely room for it in the game, the players definitely need it for a certain level, and if you use it to the best of its ability and mix it with video and watching your game, then it’s definitely going to be something that’s going to be beneficial.”

Who the f— wants to talk about graphs when having a hockey conversation? That’s certainly one of the resounding sentiments of the modern age, but it’s a necessary component of the game today. The NHL has often displayed a natural aversion to third party sites providing a wealth of statistics to the viewing public, even though it’s in its best interest to develop a more informed fan base. It’s clear that the numbers revolution are important to journalists and analysts, as it’s a way for us to understand a game that often appears to be subject to plenty of random variation. It’s clear that NHL players across the board, from two generations, believe that having more information is an asset but their natural processing speed and hockey intelligence will render data as just another item at their disposal.