from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

The perch above the Toronto Maple Leafs practice rink was once a spot where executives could stand and watch what was going on below.

Not now.

When training camp shifted back home from Halifax, the balcony was occupied by a laptop and some high-tech equipment designed to give the organization an entirely different view of what is happening on the ice.

The Leafs are one of the NHL’s early adopters of the Catapult Sports tracking technology, which sees GPS units placed inside or below shoulder pads that transmit approximately 300 pieces of data per second — per player — in real time.

There are a whole host of different ways to use that mountain of information and the Leafs naturally declined to elaborate on what exactly they have planned. However, the mere fact they’ve invested in the pricey technology suggests that biomechanics is now an area in which the organization hopes to use its financial might to gain an edge.

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