Cassidy was asked about advanced stats and his answer is perfect
When the Bruins head coach started his coaching career back in 1996-97, there was no such thing as analytics.
But in today's hockey, advanced stats are becoming inscreasingly popular as years go by. Experts are constantly looking for new ways to measure a team's tendencies, a player's success and much more.
For an old-school guy like Bruce Cassidy, it's hard to include all those new approaches into the style of coaching he's been practicing for decades. However, adapting is the key to surviving in today's NHL.
Boston's bench boss was asked to share some of his thoughts on advanced stats and how he uses them in his game preparation. And while he did admit that he uses a ten-game sample to analyze how his team and opponents are doing with certain elements, Cassidy's overall point of view seems to indicate that he doesn't care much about the whole analytics side of things.
Here's a little excerpt from the conversation, where Cassidy talks about the reports and stats he gets handed by the Bruins analytics department.
"At first, [I always ask] how do you calculate it? Because there are a lot of different columns in there. A lot of nerds upstairs are inventing new columns too", said Cassidy. "And good for them. Gives them something to do, keeps them busy and it keeps them upstairs and not downstairs."
"We have two good guys up there by the way!", added the coach with a smile. "They're good nerds alright!"
While Cassidy was clearly joking with his remarks, it does show that he's another one of those coaches who rely mostly on video and their feel for the game, rather than on advanced metrics.
Let's hope the nerds upstairs have a game plan to get back in the series against the Carolina Hurricanes!
Here's the full segment of Cassidy on advanced stats:
