from Katie Strang of ESPN,

Over the years, the NHL has earned itself a reputation as the type of fraternity that fortifies its rank with men of a like-minded ilk. Old-school, battle-tested, and often resistant to change.

This summer, however, we have seen that infused with new faces, diverse backgrounds and fresh ideas.

Nowhere is that more apparent than the league's movement toward embracing analytics.

Whereas champions of advanced stats have previously been the subject of scorn and derision from the mainstream hockey world -- labeled as nerds or contrarians, mocked for never having played the game at the professional level -- their insight is now being courted. Many of these bloggers and statisticians have made huge leaps in collecting and interpreting data, primarily possession statistics, as predictive for a team's success.

And now teams are starting to recognize that as a valuable asset.

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