Coyotes’ youthful GM driven by data
Analytics will be prominent tool in building team
John Chayka has been so busy in his first month as Arizona Coyotes’ general manager that even returning an email to Chicago Cubs’ president Theo Epstein has been pushed to the back burner.
The 27- year- old has spent the first month of his term as the youngest GM in pro sports history assembling an off- ice team, preparing for the draft and free agency, tailoring the Coyotes to his vision and simply learning the job of GM.
Though he spent one season as Arizona’s assistant GM, everything about the new gig is somewhat foreign to Chayka, who as a teenager started Stathletes, a hockey analytics company.
The first task, he said, was establishing a “starting point” for the organization. Chayka said it’s imperative the Coyotes be realistic about where they are, where they need to go, and what that outlook may be in oneyear, three-year and five-year increments.
“And I think that was the key for me is coming from a startup background, looking at how you build a business plan, you look at operations, you look at marketing, you look at finance, and it’s the same thing ( here),” Chayka said.
That means assessing the coaching, management and medical staffs, as well as the roster and player- development team, and then making projections to not only formulate a plan for the future, but determine whether those projections have been successful down the line.
The Coyotes are still looking to add an experienced assistant GM to complement Chayka, but they’ve added pieces to their development team, including former NHL player Mike van Ryn as well as full- time skills and skating coaches.
Chayka wants to optimize the Coyotes development process, ensuring the club converts on as many picks as possible. That conversion rate, Chayka says, “in our minds is going to be what separates us from the pack, from the other teams.”
Arizona boasts a rich pool of young talent, including Dylan Strome, the third overall pick from the 2015 draft, and Christian Dvorak, the co- captain of the OHL’s London Knights.
The Coyotes hired Chayka because they believed his smarts, new- age approach and use of data would override any inexperience he might have.
An example of this is the Coyotes’ use of a sports psychologist at the draft combine earlier this month. Chayka and his group determined that “mental approach” was one key variable in the success of the club’s current players and wanted to better understand how prospects learn, how they approach development and whether they have a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
Data will be prominent under Chayka, be it at next week’s draft, where the club holds the seventh overall selection, or next month in free agency. For Chayka and other data- driven thinkers, numbers, or added insight from a sports psychologist, don’t so much make decisions, but inform them. It’s about gaining as much information as possible to minimize mistakes.
“I think it helps you get a more thorough look and I think our duty as managers to our ownership group is to be as thorough as possible so analytics is a way of increasing thoroughness,” Chayka said. “The numbers, for me, sometimes they might be right, sometimes they might be wrong, but they’re honest. They don’t change their view, they tell you what you think and I guess if they were a person that would be how I feel about them.”