Are The Arizona Coyotes Trying To Play Money Ball?
The Arizona Coyotes have reportedly hired John Chayka to serve as an Assistant General Manager per Aaron Ward of TSN.
There are a couple of things that make this hiring interesting. First, Chayka is a former junior hockey player who co-founded a company called Stathletes.
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Stathletes is a company that manually tracks hockey games and players via video analysis to rate and evaluate each individual player. Basically, a method to find value in players in which the market may overlook or under appreciate.
Because of his work with Stathletes, Chayka has been called an “analytical guru.” From the Stathletes website,
"“Every facet of each game is observed and recorded through our intensive video analysis process, yielding over 100x the statistical resolution of typical tracking methods.”“Our ultra-low level analysis allows us to identify statistically significant factors faster and more accurately than has ever been previously possible.”“Our system statistically breaks down each area of a player’s game, providing objective insight into performance tendencies.”"
Oh, and did I forget to mention that Chayka is only 25 years old?
Yep, it seems the youth movement of the rebuild has extended to the front office as well. It’s pretty common for the players to make their big league clubs from their respective sports, but the front office is a bit different. Usually, these positions are held by individuals that basically have lifelong experience in their sport of choice.
Using analytics has absolutely found a place in Major League Baseball and is now starting to make its way over to the National Hockey League. It’s not as prominent in the NHL, but that is slowly changing as teams are starting to pay more and more attention to in depth analytics.
To me, this makes a lot of sense for the Coyotes. As we all know, Arizona is strapped for cash, IceArizona is climbing out of a pretty big hole. So, the Coyotes need to be creative when it comes to being successful on the ice without spending too much.
This is something Don Maloney has done successfully in the past in Arizona, adding Chayka should only help strengthen that game plan. If Chayka can help the front office find which players can contribute without breaking the bank, this can be an effective method to not only help with the current rebuild that’s underway, but can also make the Coyotes more cost effective in terms of acquiring on ice talent.
The latter is very important to the Coyotes. Finding ways to save money on players and still put a winning product on the ice is crucial to an organization that doesn’t have much to spend but must win if they are to continue to exist.
A “Money Puck” approach is worth a shot, as I (and many from north of the border) have said, the Coyotes are strapped for cash, and this isn’t that farfetched. At this point, I’m willing to go along with anything if it means success for the Coyotes on and off the ice.
There have been no other details announced, or even an official word from the Coyotes organization on the hiring. One thing that will be interesting to look for is what will happen to Stathletes.
I can’t imagine the Coyotes would want information gathered by their reported new employee out for anyone on the internet. Did the Coyotes buy that in addition to hiring Chayka? Does Stathletes get shut down? Do the other contributors from the company work under or along side Chayka within the organization?
These and other questions should be answered when the team officially announces the hiring.