Upon their arrival, Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes said they wanted to establish an advanced statistical service in Canadians.
They took a first step in that direction on Friday with the appointment of Christopher Boucher as director of their advanced statistical analysis division.
A Quebecer, Boucher was the first person to hold this position in the history of the Hab. The hiring process has begun over the past few weeks and Gorton and Hughes have interviewed several candidates, from what we’ve learned.
Returning to Boucher, he has spent the past two seasons as a professional scout for the San Jose Sharks. He built his expertise in the field of sports statistics analysis and artificial intelligence Sportlogiq.
Within this company, he served as Director of Hockey Services and Analytics.
“Christopher is an expert in advanced statistics and we are thrilled to have him added to our organization,” General Manager Kent Hughes said in a statement.
“We understand the importance of advanced statistics in the National Hockey League [LNH] Today we are confident that he is the right person to lead this new department.”
Boucher will be responsible for supporting management and training staff in assessment and strategic decision making. However, he was not available for an interview on Friday.
From Twitter to the NHL
Boucher began sharing his knowledge and analysis of statistics on Twitter and Eyes on the Prize beginning in 2010. At the time, this aspect of hockey was not widely known. Focus mainly on the lanes in the pocket and exits from the area.
In 2015, Sportlogiq hired him and combined his expertise with the AI company. Asked
“Pop culture maven. Unapologetic student. Avid introvert. Gamer. Problem solver. Tv fanatic.”