It would have been a dozen years ago when the Edmonton Oilers hired Tyler Dellow. In between the Leon Draisaitl draft and the Connor McDavid lottery win, as I recall. Please read this.

Dellow was identifying what wasn’t working before the Oilers hired him. Consider this from Dellow from his blog before it went dark:

• What does this all tell us? I see three issues. First, the Oilers have become much more likely to dump pucks into the offensive zone with Hall on the ice at 5v5. Second, (in this sample at least but keep in mind that it was picked because it was pretty representative of the whole), they suck at retrieving those pucks. Third, they’ve gotten worse at generating shot attempts when they do carry the puck into the offensive zone.

Dellow was hired by the Oilers, but didn’t stay. It was the organization’s loss. The team’s analytics department is in good hands with Michael Parkatti now, but years were lost and we can only dream of the holy trinity that McDavid, Draisaitl and analytics could have been if Dellow had remained.

Dennis King was probably the most electric guest in the history of the Lowdown. Combine rapier wit with no fear and a furious desire to crush the addled, he remained true to what he believed in when posting online. The only thing that could stop him? Carolina Hurricanes hired him as a scout.

I dont have a quote from Dennis via a blog, but do know he questioned Magnus Paajarvi’s rookie season (15 goals) by asking where the goals would come from over time. MPS didn’t have a big shot and he didn’t drive to the slot ala Patrick Maroon. Dennis said that during the 15-gpal season. I didn’t believe him, but time told the story. Dennis is part of a Stanley Cup winner today.

Cody Nickolet used to write a blog called WHL From Above. He was impressive in his ability to identify talent. He was the first person who mentioned Brandon Davidson as a real prospect of note, and fretted over Curtis Hamilton’s injury history before he was drafted. Nickolet has been a scout for the Hurricanes for several years, and he is part of a Stanley Cup winner today.

As an aside, Carolina employed Bert Marshall as a scout for many years, and I talked to him several times about the draft and how he evaluated talent. He told me he was so strong on Justin Faulk he drove the scouting director crazy. Hurricanes picked him in the second round, 2011, and he’s at 1,058 games now. He isn’t listed as a scout for the team, but I hope they give him a ring anyway.

I think what Eric Tulksy did was bring together a bunch of people who were wicked smart, curious, able to make decisions and then married those outlier math people to traditional hockey assessment. Not every part of the Carolina organization is mathy, but they uncover talent and nurture it using the eye test and the math. A team could learn a lot from the Tulsky regime. Could hire one or more of these fellows, too.

The bright young people who took no prisoners in discussions online finally put all of the verbal to bed. This isn’t a time to gloat, but the war is over. The Hurricanes won with a waiver goalie, four lines and three pairings who worked like demons every shift and contested every puck, and dominated a playoff spring.

In doing so, Tulsky and his people sent a shiver down the spine of every NHL team that refuses to take innovation seriously. The data is one thing, reading it properly and expressing it so everyone can understand is quite another. It begins with surrendering to the fact you are not the smartest person in the room. I wonder how many NHL teams are run by people who have done that?

On the Lowdown today, Jason Gregor is our feature guest and we’ll talk SCF, NBA Knicks and the Oilers offseason that is about to kick into high gear. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.