from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

...the Friday Five has its sights set on the future....

Here are five thoughts on what the NHL might look like by 2030:

What impact will player and puck tracking have on the game?

The hockey world is about to get its hands on millions of data points that never existed, whenever the NHL finally introduces player and puck tracking technology. The NHL has committed to that rollout for the upcoming 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, whether or not that comes to fruition remains to be seen. But it’s coming.

So what is the Holy Grail? What questions are the analytics community hoping to answer?

“I think it’s going to be accurately valuing players,” one NHL team analytics director said Friday. “Look at baseball and how data enabled them to accurately price players. All of the sudden, a few guys were making wild money and other guys were seeing their price collapse. That’s data driven.

“I look at Edmonton and they’re about to maybe pay [Zack] Kassian for playing with [Connor] McDavid. With better data, I think you’ll see teams accurately pricing players, which changes the pay system and creates all sorts of issues for the [NHLPA] that they don’t now have.”

4 more questions to ponder...