Richard Coleman

CEO of Hockey analytics-NHL

Richard M. Coleman has been an analytics expert working with the Chicago NHL team for years, helping to predict outcomes and improve their approach. Analytics has played a vital role in giving hockey fans a greater understanding of the game, though not all aspects of his metrics are well known. Coleman’s accomplishments include winning five Stanley Cups with teams he has worked for. This esteemed award was given out by Lord Stanley of Preston, who was the Governor General of Canada in 1892. It is the oldest trophy granted to professional athletics franchises in North America. Outside of sports, Richard of Coleman Consulting Group has also written two books about his experience. When not consulting with NHL teams about data, Coleman appreciates recreational sports such as skiing which he finds liberating, and playing tennis. For him, it’s no surprise that hockey holds a special place in his heart – but he also enjoys baseball and soccer. His love for athletics began at a young age and continues even today, as does his musical talent – playing the guitar since childhood is one example of this passion. Coleman’s accomplishments in the world of sports are truly noteworthy. His wide range of interests shows that he is incredibly well-rounded and enjoys exploring other areas of life besides just sports.

COACHES REQUESTS TO RICHARD COLEMAN HOCKEY ANALYTICS

Richard Coleman worked with multiple NHL teams across 17 seasons . Below is a sample of questions he received from NHL coaches which answered with Analtyics:

Hi Richard hockey analytics

It’s interesting to me how our record on the road is similar to home record. when we play on the road, we Obviously roll our lines according to focus on our team. Example would be starting M line a lot in defensive face offs and try to get S on after that .I usually put the 4th line on when I can protect them from certain players. The interesting thing is more at home playing S vs other top two lines and 3 vs 3 and 4vs 4. I’m curious if it’s better to do it this way or have M be a checking line and have J with S and L vs 3rd line.

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Richard Chicago,

Can you send us information that would tell us how to best use #12? Basically, we are trying to determine who he is on the ice with for the majority of the points G/A that he earns. Is there someone that he plays with that really impacts his play in a positive way and vice versa.

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Hi Coleman NHL

I was curious if we could get some feedback before we start up for final stretch that you might find helpful on our vision on what we need to buy into that will get us to our goal of making the playoffs.

Examples for me would be

1) special teams

We believe if the special teams percentage added together should add up to 100+

I believe we might need to do some personal changes soon to have different chemistry

2) synergy

I believe the #1 line is back on track but the next three lines will be a big discussion. I believe J had better results with G than with S. This is a big discussion because it puts S on the third line which I believe he would do well except the issue from training camp still exist which is the third line centre.

M did a great job for a while but reality is he’s a 4 the line center. N has played well of late but u showed earlier that our winning percentage when he plays as 3rd line center isn’t great. This is where I would like to know if u have any thoughts in synergy for Fwds.

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Enjoyed our meeting today-Just to confirm the first line performs much better with A-B behind them and the checking line performs better with C-D behind them?

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Richard need some numbers from our pp I want to look at our percentage on pp
with A and B on it as opposed to A and C on the points can you find that ?

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I’ve used E last 4 games on left wing and he has 4 pts! Anything to back up the theory he would be better at left wing.

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Who does B play best with?

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Richard give me a look at the line of R,O and M as opposed to R, O and B

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Hi Richard. Is there a stat for the number of power play shots per goal in the NHL ? Or the number of Power play shots per power play?

Thanks

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Richard Coleman Chicago Blackhawks

would be curious to any observations from our last game in Washington. Till now I’ve been using M and J to play vs top players to free up E even though most games have been on the road. My biggest issue is 3rd line centre and if we upgraded that position how would that improve our overall team

Richard Coleman NHL hockey analytics Chicago Blackhawks Discusses :SHIFT STARTS AND HOCKEY ANALYTICS

Defensive matching of checking forwards versus hockey’s top offensive players is declining. It used to be a primary coaching strategy in earlier decades. For example, Bobby Hull told me in the last game of the regular season, when he and Andy Bathgate of the New York Rangers were tied for the NHL point leadership, Chicago’s Reggie Fleming was all over the Ranger forward every shift, grabbing him and preventing him from getting scoring chances. Nowadays, some teams and coaches utilize shift start strategy instead of matching. Unlike forward matching, which requires changing lines on the fly, shift start strategy requires placing your top offensive skaters on the ice during offensive zone faceoffs and your best defensive players during defensive zone faceoffs. This strategy can be applied to forward and defensemen alike.

Below one can see that the Washington Capitals heavily rely on forwards Dowd and, before the trading deadline, Hathaway on D zone faceoffs while giving Ovechkin a huge edge on offense zone starts. Of Ovechkin’s 1211 total even-strength shifts this season, just 39 started in the defensive zone. Pittsburgh also uses a shift start strategy giving Carter and, before the trade deadline, Blueger many defensive zones starts. Minnesota and Buffalo were among the NHL teams to use shift start strategy for their forwards heavily. Kaprizov had the second-largest shift start advantage among all NHL forwards, with 249 set shifts starting in the offensive zone and just 50 in the defensive zone.

TEAM	PLAYER	SHIFTS TAKEN	SHIFTS ON THE FLY	SET SHIFTS	SET SHIFTS OFF Z	SET SHIFTS DEF Z	NET SET SHIFTS	IMPACT
WSH	DOWD	829	430	399	40	219	-179	-0.22
WSH/BOS	HATHAWAY	1010	540	470	56	248	-192	-0.19
CBJ	KURALY	1021	515	506	70	247	-177	-0.17
PIT/VGK	BLUEGER	746	461	285	33	139	-106	-0.14
PIT	CARTER	1113	643	470	77	229	-152	-0.14

BUF	TA THOMPSON	1183	636	547	238	86	152	0.13
BUF	J SKINNER	1106	587	519	229	83	146	0.13
NYI	BARZAL	1125	760	365	189	40	149	0.13
MIN	ZUCCARELLO	1082	657	425	222	58	164	0.15
MIN	KAPRIZOV	1191	727	464	249	59	190	0.16
WSH	OVECHKIN	1211	742	469	247	36	211	0.17

Two San Jose players have the largest shift start disadvantages among defensemen: Benning and Vlasic. Offensive-minded defensemen Gustafsson (WSH/TOR)and Krug (STL) had the largest advantages. When considering player analytics, such as net shots, net chances, net goals, etc., it is important to remember if the player had a large shift start advantage or disadvantage.

TEAM	PLAYER	SHIFTS TAKEN	SHIFTS ON THE FLY	SET SHIFTS	SET SHIFTS OFF Z	SET SHIFTS DEF Z	SET SHIFTS NEUT Z	NET SET SHIFTS
SJS	BENNING	1376	957	419	45	174	200	-129
CHI	MURPHY	1446	986	460	56	183	221	-127
SJS	M VLASIC	1344	908	436	52	160	224	-108
BOS	CARLO	1238	789	449	78	177	194	-99
WSH	JENSEN	1435	885	550	109	222	219	-113
ARI	MOSER	1416	855	561	103	213	245	-110

WSH	CARLSON	645	412	233	101	54	78	47
CBJ	A BOQVIST	613	412	201	87	40	74	47
COL	MAKAR	1091	611	480	206	112	162	94
WSH/TOR	E GUSTAFSSON	1378	864	514	216	97	201	119
STL	KRUG	1048	663	385	189	64	132	125

About the author: Richard M. Coleman was the Chicago Blackhawks hockey analytics leader for 13 seasons.