The Toronto Maple Leafs are the latest team to use biomechanics to try to gain a competitive advantage.
In a great feature on Sportsnet.ca, Chris Johnston discussed the Leafs implementing a new tracking technology which the club will start to use in the near future.
The Leafs are one of the NHL’s early adopters of the Catapult Sports tracking technology, which sees GPS units placed inside or below shoulder pads that transmit approximately 300 pieces of data per second — per player — in real time.
The Leafs brought in Dr. Jeremy Bettle in a new role as director of sports science and performance this offseason, and the club has doubled down on the position by investing their practically unlimited resources into the expensive Catapult Sports tracking.
The data has multiple applications, but as Johnston notes reducing injuries might be the most important.
The biggest benefit it has in hockey, according to [performance manager] Ben Peterson, is reducing the number of repetitive-use injuries by quantifying the workload of each player throughout the season.
For example, when a skater’s force output starts to drop in one leg and not the other it’s usually a sign that some rest is required.
Sports Illustrated did a lengthy piece on the tech and its possible benefit to the sport.
The Leafs aren’t the first team to use Catapult, as the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres are the only other teams known to use it publicly. The technology is not yet approved by the NHLPA, so it’s not yet allowed in games.
For more information on the technology, check out Johnston’s detailed piece.
