The best, err… only, photo of Barnes on the net. (via CBC.ca)

The Capitals have, kinda notoriously, not been friendly to analytics in recent years. In a blog post this summer, owner Ted Leonsis made a crack about fans complaining that the team didn’t acquire “Joe Corsi and Peter Fenwick” during free agency.

Now, the Caps have hired the creator of the Corsi stat to run analytics for the team.

Washington Capitals have hired Tim Barnes as an analytics consultant.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 11, 2014

Barnes also goes by the name Vic Ferrari. He ran the seminal blog Irreverent Oilers Fans, which pioneered much of the shot-based analysis that dominates modern hockey. There, Ferrari began to use shot attempts as a proxy for zone time, he talked about how fluctuations in shooting percentage drive goal differential, and  discussed how the context of a player’s deployments inform his results. Basically all the stuff I discussed in my stats crash course and a whole lot more. He’s the foundation, the source, of practically all contemporary hockey analysis.

Barnes’ blog, long dormant, went offline last week.

Elliotte Friedman ran a profile on Barnes this summer. You need to read it, but here’s a quick summary:

Tim Barnes is 47. He is… an engineer who moved into finance. He’s from Alberta, went to university in Calgary and lived in England, Toronto and Edmonton before settling in his current Chicago.

Update: Please also read Bob McKenzie’s item about the origin of Corsi, including more insight from Ferrari.

This is a huge coup.

Congratulations to Tim, aka Vic. And bravo to Ted Leonsis, Dick Patrick, and Brian Maclellan.

More from the Caps:

#Caps GM Brian MacLellan: “We are pleased to have hired Tim Barnes as our analytics consultant. (1)

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 11, 2014

"Tim is very experienced and well regarded in that field and will be a valuable asset to our organization.” (2)

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 11, 2014