from James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail,

“We’ve gone from very little analytical information to we have two guys we just hired that are considered two of the smartest analytical guys in the game of hockey today,” Leiweke said, likely referencing Dubas and Metcalfe, an engineer who built wildly popular analytics hub extraskater.com.

“Including one that owned his own website that every general manager used and we bought the website. When he came, that website came with us and we took it down. We don’t want anyone else seeing it. It’s called a monopoly. It’s good.”

Leiweke also made the point that the Leafs will continue to pursue “character” as well as players with good analytics, noting that “there are players we have in our organization today whose numbers are off the chart good and whose character is just terrible. I don’t care how good your numbers are, if you have bad character, you are doomed for failure.

“We are very convinced analytics make us smarter,” he added. “We are very convinced that analytics will reduce our mistakes. We are convinced that analytics at the end of the day will be key to getting this team back on track. But that said they will never ever replace our ability to determine one’s character and passion for the game of hockey. You have to be good at both, not just one.”

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