How does a southerner from Tennessee, now living in Georgia, become a consultant to executives in the National Hockey League? Write a blog charting Kobe Bryant 30,699 career shots. At least that’s how SAS Analytical Consultant Sam Edgemon landed the gig. Combining his love of analytics and sports, and a WHOLE lot of play-by-play data provided by the NHL, Sam helped the NHL team better understand the importance of “shot value.” Specifically, Sam discovered that there are key spots on the ice where the probability of scoring is much higher. Using the percentage of goals scored based on location on ice where the shot was taken, he created a “shot value” metric for each shot. The metric, and the visualizations Sam created in support of it, now helps the team in so many ways – how they attack the net, how they draft, how they pursued free agents, and more.