‘Game changing’ iPad Pro app will feed NHL coaches real-time data

The NHL has created a new iPad Pro app for coaching staff by providing real-time data about players such as faceoff percentage, shot charts, and more.

The app follows on from a previous collaboration between Apple and the NHL, allowing teams to review video highlights during games. The new tool takes this to the next level by giving coaches the ability to take a deeper dive into data to make better informed decisions about play.

“This will provide real-time data, analytics and metrics to complement the video and give them what they want in the live game environment,” Dave Lehanski, the NHL’s senior VP of business development and innovation, told ESPN. “As far as we know, we’ll be the only sports property delivering real-time video and data to the benches for the coaches and the players.”

According to Chris Foster, the NHL’s director of digital business development, the app is primarily designed to give up-to-the-moment data concerning faceoffs and time on ice. “With time on ice, you want to manage your top players to make sure they have gas in the tank at the end of the game, or if they’re coming back from an injury,” he said.

The app, called SAP-NHL Coaching Insights, is designed with ease of use in mind, using a clear interface that will provide maximum information at a glance. In the app, faceoff success or failure shows up a series of green circles with check marks for success, and red circles with Xs for failure. Faceoff percentages are also divided into where they were held, and who they were against.

Players nearing the end of their time on the ice during a game will be highlighted in a UI element that’s “similar to a ‘check engine’ light on a car dashboard.”

In the future, the app will supposedly expand to track other types of data, such as the distances players have skated to the velocity and placement of their shots.

Tim Cook highlighted ESPN’s article about the app in a tweet sent over the weekend. In his tweet, he referred to the tool as a “game changer.”