Official Sam Ventura Hired as VP of Hockey Strategy and Research

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Can he play net?

[PerreaultForever]

Guess he'd rather work with Karmanos than Burke.

Okay, lets see if all in on analytics yields us better draft results than the last decade has (with whatever methods they have been using over that time). 

I don't really pay attention to them, but do the Pens have a stocked cupboard of young promising prospects?

[thewookie1]

Seems like a rather solid hire.

 

From the way it looks Nightingale was demoted again. He's gone from Director of Analytics and Scouting to Head of Analytics and Director of Pro Scouting to now merely Asst. Director of Pro Scouting. I guess he's well liked by Adams, but didn't impress with his one year stint at the top hence he has been supplanted. 

 

 

[KC Scouts]

Right about now I think we are down to rubbing two sticks together for a spark....so let's see what he can do 

[Brawndo]

 

[North Buffalo]

3 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Any relations to Ace??? Sorry had to go there bettin he's heard this all his life.

[SwampD]

8 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Is that Dave Grohl?

[PromoTheRobot]

Can we call him Ace?

[FogBat]

2 hours ago, nfreeman said:

Interesting.  He has a PhD in stats from Carnegie Mellon, which is an excellent university, and he co-founded War on Ice, which is a well-regarded hockey analytics site.  He was also involved in salary-cap planning and the planning/interaction between the Pens and their AHL team.

This seems like a pretty senior-level hire.

Good for KA, and good for the Sabres for being able to bring in a guy like this.

At what point do we start calling him "Ace"?

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

 

5 hours, wow I would go nuts.

[sabrefanday1]

1 hour ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

Can he play net?

You just reminded me that we are in serious need of a goaltending upgrade...hopefully KA is making that a priority cause as we have seen in the playoffs you gotta have a good goalie for sure

[kas23]

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

Seems like a rather solid hire.

 

From the way it looks Nightingale was demoted again. He's gone from Director of Analytics and Scouting to Head of Analytics and Director of Pro Scouting to now merely Asst. Director of Pro Scouting. I guess he's well liked by Adams, but didn't impress with his one year stint at the top hence he has been supplanted. 

 

 

I agree this doesn’t reflect well on Nightingale’s analytics resume. Maybe he just couldn’t get it done by himself in his past environment. The good news is we now have both. 

[FogBat]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Ventura on the case with Finkle and Einhorn headed out of town?

I've seen this movie before 

Alongside a cameo appearance with Cannibal Corpse.

[SDS]

Assuming that Sam has the right to his own work and opinion on the drafts, one could easily go draft by draft and compare his would have been recommended selections to ours.

[FogBat]

2 minutes ago, SDS said:

Assuming that Sam has the right to his own work and opinion on the drafts, one could easily go draft by draft and compare his would have been recommended selections to ours.

We shall see...

[kas23]

Isn’t this a strange pickup right before a draft? May mean he had little to no input on the Pens draft board?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

50 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Dude looks familiar, but I can't quite place him.

[Huckleberry]

With a name like that you just can't go wrong 😛

[Derrico]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

No. He’s strictly assistant scouting director now, although I imagine that includes analytics.
This guy is now our chief analytics guru.

Good.  I don't know if Nightingale is just ***** at his job or Sabres GM's of the day didn't listen to his advise.  Either way I am more then fine with bringing in a new analytics guru.  

Sabres were simply not getting results under Nightingale.  It was beyond time for a change there. 

[Curt]

3 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

The guy might be great, and at this point just bringing in anyone with some kind of talent is better than the vast wasteland that the Sabres have had just about everywhere recently, but another Penguins guy?

I don't get as upset as many on here, but at some point...are the best people to hire REALLY just from Pittsburgh?  You wonder if they are doing a thorough interview process to fill these roles...or are just bringing in people they are comfortable with.

Karmanos worked with Ventura previously on championship teams.  No surprise that he wanted to bring him in to work together again.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

53 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Is that Dave Grohl?

That's him!!

With a liberal amount of young Charlie Sheen mixed in.

[Derrico]

1 hour ago, woods-racer said:

Gotcha.

It's passing the sniff test that it may be one of the better run Sabres teams we have seen since the *old days* of Darcy and company. A good person brings in a good person, who reaches out to another good person. The timing on this hire is very significant also.

I've drank that kool-aid before.  I'm not getting too excited until I see real improvement under this management.  

People were saying the same things when Nightingale was hired in....gulp.....2013.  Since then it appears we haven't given two shits about analytics.  I'll believe it when I see it......  

[Taro T]

On 1st glance this seems to be a good hire.

Hopefully he and Karmanos live up to expectations.  Would be nice to have some hope again.

[Curt]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Guess he'd rather work with Karmanos than Burke.

Okay, lets see if all in on analytics yields us better draft results than the last decade has (with whatever methods they have been using over that time). 

I don't really pay attention to them, but do the Pens have a stocked cupboard of young promising prospects?

The Pens do not, but they also keep trading away draft picks and prospects for NHL players.

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

Seems like a rather solid hire.

 

From the way it looks Nightingale was demoted again. He's gone from Director of Analytics and Scouting to Head of Analytics and Director of Pro Scouting to now merely Asst. Director of Pro Scouting. I guess he's well liked by Adams, but didn't impress with his one year stint at the top hence he has been supplanted. 

 

 

He’ll be taking coffee and lunch orders soon.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, bunomatic said:

So do we call him Sam Spade or Ace Ventura ?

 

1 hour ago, North Buffalo said:

Any relations to Ace??? Sorry had to go there bettin he's heard this all his life.

 

47 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Can we call him Ace?

 

35 minutes ago, Crosschecking said:

At what point do we start calling him "Ace"?

Same joke 4 times... about as funny as paint drying.