Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Lee Stempniak’s New Position With The Arizona Coyotes

01/30/2021 at 1:53pm EST

from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Lee Stempniak’s career spanned almost 15 years in the NHL. He played for 10 teams, posted 469 points in 911 regular-season games, and figured one day his economics degree from Dartmouth (Class of 2005) would come in handy.

“Had I played only one or two years in the league, I probably would have used my degree in a more traditional job,” mused Stempniak, hired this past week by the Arizona Phoenix Coyotes in a newly created analytics role. “But as I played, I gained such an appreciation for all the experience of learning, from different coaches and different players … 10 teams, 12 coaches … I feel that’s a huge asset for me and where I can add a lot of value.”

Stempniak, who’ll turn 38 this Thursday, was hired as the Coyotes’ first hockey data strategist. The job, which he’ll be able to perform full time from his home in the Boston suburbs, will be acting hand in hand with Matt Perri, the club’s director of analytics. Stempniak will interpret the raw numbers through the eye of an ex-player and then share his thoughts across the organization, from the coach-player side, as well as throughout hockey ops, scouting, management, and ownership, even the Zamboni driver if that’s where the numbers go.

“It’s essentially serving as the filter, or the liaison and link between hockey operations and analytics,” he said. “It’s really intriguing to me.”

It’s a position new to the NHL, but one that other sports, particularly Major League Baseball, increasingly have utilized in recent years. Hockey has become more numbers aware over the last 8-10 seasons, and it was during his three-year stop in Calgary (2011-14) when Stempniak began to appreciate what role analytics can play for players and throughout an organization.

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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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