This timely article dropped yesterday.

How AI is creeping its way into NHL front offices and can become a game changer
There’s still a gap in hockey between teams that embrace data and those that don’t, but the beginnings of the next wave of innovation have already started rippling.
New York PostEthan Sears

This is very much worth your time. I don't agree with this author's definition of what analytics is for and I think he's a bit out of date in his estimations of how widespread its use is in the NHL, but he found the right people to talk to about how AI is and can be genuinely used by NHL teams.

From a HALO hackathon contestant using Gemini to help code the project to a speculative bit about focusing player acquisition by sorting the emails from agents around free agency, there's some viable real-world uses for the tools that exist now.

He does mention the reliability of these tools and does not mention the environmental impact. But much like the discussion around analytics itself any critique that starts with "don't wear your skates on your hands" levels of concern about teams assuming that AI solves all their problems is not worth much consideration.

Last word goes to the hackathon participant:

[Lanari-Collard said,] "I think fundamentally you still need really good people. Those people may be able to implement AI models to develop metrics and things like that, but you definitely can’t just sort of hand off analytics to an AI and expect to get particularly good results.”

I saw an article today about Ilya Samsonov – it was in Swedish and was a rip of something in Russian, so I'll just tell you what it said. He signed in the KHL this year after not performing well in Vegas last year, and his two-year deal is about to be terminated by the KHL team. He's being dumped, in other words. He barely played for them, with only 14 games, and his Sv% was .903, which is garbage in the KHL.

I am sad for him. Something beyond his wild swings in results he had in the NHL seems to be going on. He's 29 now, and is again looking for a new team.

Meanwhile:

Team Canada Worlds has some new names:

Also Jet Greaves and Jordan Spence have been announced. There is lots of time yet for the team to pick up players from first-round losers.

Speaking of the playoffs.

That's all for now.

From The Branches