Penguins promote analytics guru Sam Ventura to Director of Hockey Research

The Pittsburgh Penguins are making some changes to their front office. Perhaps the most relevant one is promoting analytics guru Sam Ventura to a new Director of Hockey Research position. 

The NHL is finally starting to catch up to the rest of the major professional sports leagues in analytics. For a while, teams didn’t care too much about advanced statistics. But now, almost every NHL team has an analytics department, or at least employs an analyst. One of the biggest success stories in hockey analytics has been Sam Ventura, the founder of War On Ice. Two years after the Pittsburgh Penguins hired him as an analyst, he’s an official member of their front office.

"Ventura, 29, had been working with the Penguins as a consultant for the past two seasons. In his new full-time role, Ventura will report directly to [Jason Karmanos], providing a quantitative perspective on hockey operations decisions, including player acquisition and on-ice strategy."

His official job title is Director of Hockey Research. Due to the departure of Jason Botterill, Pittsburgh is doing some front office reshuffling. 2009 Stanley Cup champion Bill Guerin will now serve as the alternate governor and general manager of their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He will continue to serve as an assistant general manager for the Penguins.

Karmanos will serve as an assistant general manager after spending three seasons as Pittsburgh’s vice president of hockey operations. Mark Recchi, another former player, will serve as the director of player development. The departure of Botterill is harsh, but with a strong supporting cast, including Ventura, the Pens shouldn’t miss a step.

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Pittsburgh is believed to be the first NHL team to put an analytics person in their front office. Ventura has a PhD in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon, also serving a visiting assistant professor from 2015 until 2017.