from Aaron Vickers of CalgaryFlames.com,

“The first analytics system I see that will help us win, I’ll buy it and I’ll pay cash so that no one else can use it,” Burke said. “I’m not a dinosaur on that.”

Burke has been widely regarded as an opponent to the advanced stats wave, which includes the use of measures like Corsi and Fenwick, possession barometers used by measuring the plus/minus of shot attempts.

But he’s been miscast in that role, Burke declared.

“What I think has happened is one quote from the MIT conference has been broadcast all over where I said, ‘statistics are like a lamppost to a drunk -- useful for support but not for illumination’,” he said. “I also think people confuse statistics and arithmetic and mathematics with analytics. Analytics to me are ‘can you take data and do some predictive work that will help me draft or trade better’?

“I haven’t seen a system that comes close to doing that. Statistical analysis about faceoffs and where guys play, we use that all the time. We’ve been using it for 20 years. To me, that’s not analytics. Anyone here that has a system worth buying, we pay cash.”

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