The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired Jordan Bean as a video analyst.
The hire fills the vacancy left by previous Leafs/Marlies video coach Ryan Ward, who accepted a job with the Soo Greyhounds in an assistant coaching role this offseason.
Bean has an impressive resume for an individual still in his early 20s. A graduate of the sport management program at Brock – just like assistant GM Kyle Dubas — Bean has worked for two OHL organizations (Guelph and Kitchener) as well as Hockey Canada while also working as a video analyst for Stathletes, the sports data-tracking company that garnered mainstream attention this summer after the hiring of co-founder John Chayka by the Arizona Coyotes as their new GM.
Very excited to find out that John Chayka is the next GM of @ArizonaCoyotes – he is an incredible talent
— Jordan Bean (@Jords82) May 5, 2016
Bean has worked as the eye in the sky for the Rangers the past few seasons, supplying in-game and post-game analysis for Mike Van Ryn (former Kitchener head coach, now a Coyotes player development coach under Chayka) and his coaching staff. He worked for the Rangers on a casual basis prior to last season before taking on a full-time role with the team, including road trips, in 2015-16.
During games he relays key plays on a two-way radio to the Rangers’ bench and cues up videos for intermission viewings. Off-days see him examining numbers in preparation for future foes.
“We knew he was a fit,” said Mike Van Ryn. “He’s a kid that wants to learn. He’s a guy who works extremely hard and does more than what his job description is and goes above and beyond.”
Such a role with Toronto will involve communication with the Leafs’ video coach on the bench, assistant Andrew Brewer. Where there’s evidence that a few analytics hires elsewhere in the league are supplying reports that are used for little more than coffee coasters by the decision makers in charge, that the Leafs filled this role with someone with a distinct analytics background would seem to serve as further affirmation that Brewer and by extension Babcock are incorporating an analytics perspective as they go about their day-to-day process behind the bench.
Bean would appear to fill the same sort of role that Babcock referred to in a quote about the young statistical analyst he hired back in Detroit, who provided an additional set of eyes in the Wings’ video room:
What I’ve tried to do is surround myself with as many young, smarter people than me, more learned in that area than me, and they give you information. Sometimes, the information they give you, you don’t think it’s very good, but lots of times it’s great ideas. I hired a kid last year; I phoned out to the University of Michigan, I said I need a math guy, a real smart guy, just graduated, real good social skills, loves hockey. Can you find me that guy? Couple days later, it just so happened my kids knew who he was. We put him in our office next to our video coach, I said, “I don’t know what your job is, figure it out.” My point is pretty soon that guy was making a huge impact. He had found things that we could use, reoccurring situations in the game, that led to success. Staying on offense, or getting out of the defensive situation fast, it was a great little thing he gave me. The next thing you know he’s evaluating my pregame talks. I come in after and say, “what did I say?” He’d tell me. There’s a 24 year old kid making you better. There’s so many great ways to use information that’s great, you just have to make sure it makes sense; you can’t cloud your vision of what’s going on. That to me is what analytics is.
For further reading, The Record wrote a feature on “The Bean Counter” last November.
“The thing that scares people off in analytics is that it’s all math or equations,” he said. “As long as you collect the data and have a good database that you can reference, that’s all you need.”
So he studies entry zones and scoring areas. He ponders puck possession and high percentage places. It means eyes on the ice before, during and after games.
“It’s a lot of hockey but I love it,” he said. “When I was young there was nothing I loved more than going to the rink. I would have given both my legs and arms to be able to get a sniff of playing a higher level of hockey.
