I remember a conversation I had with someone within an NHL Front Office around this time last year. He reminisced about some of the statistical analysis he tried to perform in the past and told me about how he spent countless hours analyzing where teams spent their money and if there was any sort of market deficiency that could allow for a more ideal avenue to build a team. He said after relentless amounts of work, he found nothing.
On more than one occasion I've heard in hockey circles the hyperbolic statement that there is no "right" or ideal way to build a team. Here is a quote on that exact matter from L.A. Kings coach Terry Murray:
"There's not really a wrong way or a right way. No one's smarter than anybody else when it comes to building teams, it's our way of doing things, it's Dean's way of doing things."
Whenever I hear such statements, I think that it doesn't make a lick of sense. There is no way there isn't a more ideal way to increase shot differential, goal differential and ultimately wins, even if it's by the slimmest of margins. Teams cannot have drastically different team-building philosophies and all be on a level playing field. One has to be the best.
The rest of this article is restricted to Hockey Prospectus Subscribers.
Not a subscriber?
Click here for more information
on Hockey Prospectus subscriptions or use the buttons to the right to subscribe and get access to the best hockey content on the web.
From Daigle To Datsyuk (03/24)
0 comments have been left for this article. 
