from Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star,

The first thing Jim Corsi wants the world to know? He didn’t invent the Corsi stat.

If that is a mystery to you, maybe you don’t know who Corsi is or what the stat named after him represents. If so, you haven’t been paying attention to the statistics revolution in the NHL that has made the last two months hockey’s summer of analytics.

Throughout the NHL, teams like the Maple Leafs, Devils, Penguins and Oilers have been gobbling up executives and statisticians who can walk them through what the blogosphere has been promoting for years — what some call analytics, or advanced statistics.

It’s growing social-media-powered movement with a fanatical following that believes there are means to measure a hockey player’s contribution to a team beyond the obvious stats of goals, assists and ice time.

And it all started with Corsi, hired this summer as goalie coach of the St. Louis Blues; he was previously with the Buffalo Sabres. He might otherwise be known as the WHA goalie who got a cup of coffee in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers and, though born in Montreal, played on Italy’s national team.

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