Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres have, again, shuffled the deck from Terry Pegula’s original plan of cutting down the hockey operations department.
In an effort to improve the team's analytics department, the Sabres have hired Sam Ventura away from the Pittsburgh Penguins and given him the title of Vice President of Hockey Strategy and Research. Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman was the first to report this news.
Analytics has been an area that has been particularly weak for the Sabres, and the man that was in charge of analytics, Jason Nightengale, has been moved out of the department. He will now serve as assistant director of amateur scouting under Jerry Forton.
With Pittsburgh, Ventura was the director of hockey operations and hockey research, handling contracts, the salary cap, the CBA and analytics.
According to Penguins team reporter Michelle Crechiolo, when Ventura was hired in 2015, he was in charge of re-shaping the team’s use of analytics to take the club to another level when it comes to analytics.
***Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins