Hockey Roundup: Flyers Hire More Analytics Staff and Boucher to replace McGuire
We interrupt your evening Phillies/Reds game and fawning over the Eagles’ impending Week 1 game for some hockey action, yo.
Flyers make some Analytics Department hires
Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher came to Philadelphia with a reputation for building a solid analytics corps around him from his time with the Minnesota Wild. In fact, in the interviews Anthony and I did with Paul Holmgren and Bob Clarke, both men spoke extensively about Fletcher’s ability to best utilize cutting, modern day analytics trends along with traditional metrics to make balanced decisions. With that in mind, today’s announcement that Fletcher has added to an already impressive analytics department.
Internal Promotions
Ian Anderson received a promotion to the position of Director of Hockey Analytics. Originally hired under former general manager Ron Hextall, Anderson has served as the Flyers’ Manager of Hockey Analytics since 2014 and is the second-longest-tenured analytics staff member in the entire NHL.
Joining Anderson in the promotion club is Jacob Hurlbut. A 2015 graduate of St. Lawrence University, Hurlbut worked with the men’s hockey program in an analytics role and was part of a research fellowship that sought to develop analytical ratings of NHL players. That experience led to Hurlbut joining the organization as a Hextall hire in 2016. He’s now been promoted to the hockey analytics department’s Lead Developer.
New Hires
Tom Minton and Matthew Karliner have been brought to the Flyers organization with varying degrees of experience.
The former served as a hockey operations intern for the Flyers while attending St. Joseph’s University and was the fourth recipient of USA Hockey’s Brendan Burke hockey operations internship and worked with the organization for two years in that role. He’s spent the last four seasons with the Minnesota Wild, including multiple seasons under current Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher. Minton will be the team’s Director of Hockey Information/Video.
Karliner comes to the Flyers as a hockey analytics department Analyst. The former St. Joesph’s University graduate worked in data-based roles for Lockheed Martin for four years and as the Director of Basketball Analytics at St. Joseph’s University for two seasons.
Brian Boucher to Replace Pierre McGuire
Here’s a massive bombshell regarding the #1 team on NBC’s NHL coverage. Per The Athletic‘s Ricke Carpiniello, former Flyer Brian Boucher is expected to join Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk on NBC’s #1 NHL broadcast team:
Per impeccable source, Pierre McGuire has been removed from NBC Sports' No. 1 hockey team, to be replaced by Brian Boucher.
— Rick Carpiniello (@RickCarpiniello) September 4, 2019
Carpiniello followed up his original tweet with a clarification that he’s heard that McGuire will remain with NBC Sports, but will drop to a lower broadcast team. This was further quasi-confirmed by John Ourand of Sports Business Journal:
NBC Sports: "Identical to last year, we will begin the season with Doc, Eddie and Brian working the early Wednesday Night Hockey game, with Pierre anchoring the late game of the doubleheader." https://t.co/GwTQRH0SOf
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) September 4, 2019
The move is an interesting one. Boucher does a pretty excellent job as an analyst, but McGuire has been a staple of that #1 team. Who will end every interview with “have fun out there” or wax poetic about Sidney Crosby… Sidney… Sidney Crosby…
Back to you, Doc.
For more Flyers coverage, check out Snow The Goalie with Anthony SanFilippo and Russ Joy.
https://art19.com/shows/snow-the-goalie-a-flyers-podcast/episodes/7c0a7663-b677-4ab9-bf28-3dfcdf0e68aa