A year ago the Devils surprised the hockey world when they hired Sunny Mehta to head the team's analytics department.
Many assumed this was a changing of the guard, so to speak, and that the Devils would be one of hockey's first teams to truly embrace the analytics movement.
Based off many decisions made last season by both the coaching and management staff that didn't appear to be the case.
A lot of choices were made on and off the ice that analytics certainly weren't in favor of. It was as if Mehta's findings were falling on deaf ears.
That won't be the case under new head coach John Hynes, though, as he is well aware of how analytics can help make better decisions and he fully intends to use the analytics staff the Devils have in place.
Via the team website: "Analytics is something we didn't use a ton at the American Hockey League. I know we have a really good system here, and that's something that we will use for sure," Hynes said. "It's another piece of the puzzle of helping develop your team, and making decisions with your team. We have two excellent guys on staff, so we will definitely be using those."
That should be music to the ears of Devils fans.
Analytics aren't everything but they are an extremely useful tool that can help you make good decisions or avoid bad ones.
There will be a lot of changes within the organization over the next few months so it's nice to know analytics will be factored into which players Shero targets, and how Hynes utilizes said players once they're here.
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