Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Can A Drone Help A Team In The Faceoff Circle?

08/29/2015 at 5:46pm EDT

from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

It’s a good bet that in a future practice, when Mike Fisher leans over to take a faceoff, the Nashville center will have a drone hovering overhead to film his technique. The Predators are one of the teams that have expressed interest in the Phantom 3 ($799) and the Inspire 1 ($2,899), two drones manufactured by DJI. The Predators, who are more invested in video coaching than most organizations, are considering drone use to complement traditional fixed-location cameras.

“They really want to use it as an eye in the sky to track players, track specific plays, and track the puck,” DJI marketing manager Michael Shabun said of teams considering drone use. “For example, they really love looking at the overhead shot for faceoffs to see exactly what the player is initiating. Before, you couldn’t really see a lot of things because of obstruction with pads and players. Anything overhead is extremely valuable for these guys.”

Outdoors, the FAA restricts drones from flying 5 miles from airports, over stadiums, or higher than 400 feet. Inside a rink, such regulations do not exist. Teams can employ drones as they like — over the faceoff circles, over the net to film goalies, or near the ceiling to capture breakouts, forechecks, and power-play formations. Currently, teams seeking multiple angles would have to build and break down traditional camera-atop-tripod setups around the rink. Such time is hard to find in a midseason road practice between games.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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