Toronto Maple Leaf partners with SAS Analytics

Toronto Maple Leaf partners with SAS Analytics : The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and SAS, announced a partnership that will see the Club use SAS analytics to help analyze aspects of the team’s performance. This analytics initiative includes applying a data-driven approach to everything from player performance to on-ice strategy.

This is the latest phase in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ move towards an analytics-focused approach to complement traditional hockey decision-making. Prior to working with SAS, the team had already started to invest considerable resources in analytics technologies and data insights. For 2014/2015, the Toronto Maple Leafs have now turned to SAS, a global leader in analytics, to further power their data analysis capabilities and develop more effective data-based performance insights for the new season.

Toronto Maple Leaf partners with SAS Analytics

Toronto Maple Leaf

“This partnership will add a valuable layer of context to our decision-making process,” said Kyle Dubas, Assistant General Manager, Toronto Maple Leafs. “Analytics are a big part of the future of sport, and we’re excited to add SAS’ sports analytics platform to complement our overall hockey evaluation process. Led by General Manager Dave Nonis and President Brendan Shanahan, we’re bringing a fresh method to approaching all aspects of our team development and strategy this season.”

The Maple Leafs will leverage SAS Analytics including data visualization to empower a data driven approach to maximize team potential; applying analytics to support: drafting, contract negotiations, on ice strategy and performance style of play and more.

“We are ecstatic to have the world’s number one hockey brand partner with the number one brand in analytics,” said Carl Farrell, President SAS Canada EVP SAS Americas. “As the powerhouse in business analytics SAS is well positioned to support the growing needs of the Toronto Maple Leafs as they evolve to becoming one of the most innovative teams in hockey, analyzing data to drive better performance outcomes.”

For decades, the sport of baseball in particular has used a data-driven approach for decisions regarding roster construction and strategy. Over the last 10 years, a lot of great work has been done in hockey by independent analysts, which has built a strong base of objective analysis. The Toronto Maple Leafs partnership with SAS is an effort by the Club to arm itself with as much good data as possible to aid in its decision-making.