The Edmonton Oilers announced some additions and changes to their hockey operations department Saturday afternoon, bolstering their front office with a few fresh faces and some familiar names as well.
Warren Rychel has been promoted to #Oilers Director of Pro Scouting, Zack Kassian has rejoined the organization as Pro Scout & the team has also added Aaron Nagy, Erik Elenz, Dominik Zrim & David Evanochko to their hockey operations staff. https://t.co/4dLnIszPbN
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 21, 2024
When Jeff Jackson first came aboard as the Oilers’ new President and CEO of Hockey Operations, he said that he wanted the team to be best in class in all facets of the organization. Today, the team took another step in that direction as they added an array of new (and 0ld) faces to their hockey ops department, including some additional resources on the data and video side.
First up, Warren Rychel has been bumped up to being Edmonton’s new Director of Pro Scouting. If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because Rychel played 406 games in the NHL across eight seasons with the Kings, Leafs, Ducks, Hawks, and Avs, where he won the Stanley Cup in 1996. After shutting down his playing career, he spent the next six seasons doing some scouting for the Coyotes before buying the Windsor Spitfires, leading them to three Memorial Cups in 14 seasons. This will be Rychel’s third season with the organization.
Even though we found this news out a few days ago, Zack Kassian has officially been named to Edmonton’s pro scouting team with his primary focus being in Ontario. After 13 years in the NHL, including seven seasons here in Edmonton, Kassian racked up 661 games, 92 goals, 111 assists, and 913 PIMs before announcing his retirement just last year. While there’s little doubt that Kass knew how to mix it up on the ice, I’m eager to find out how he’ll do from the other side of the glass. There’s little doubt the Oilers need skill on their depth chart, and I’m hopeful our former sideburned friend can be part of the solution.
Next up, the Oilers added Aaron Nagy as an amateur scout. Nagy comes to Edmonton after running the Georgetown Raiders in the OJHL for the last four years and working as a player agent with Newport Sports. He’s got a solid resume from his playing days too, having skated for London and Owen Sound in junior, followed by four seasons at Western University and a cup of coffee in the ECHL.
On the video side of things, the team brought in Erik Elenz, who spent the last two seasons with the Coachella Valley Firebirds (Seattle’s AHL squad) as their video coach. A University of Vermont grad with a background in video and analytics, Elenz will be keeping the Oilers sharp on the video side of the equation as the team’s new Video & Analytics Coaching Coordinator.
Rounding out the hires, the team brought in Dominik Zrim as the Director of Hockey Strategy. If you were a fan of the now defunct CapFriendly, you’ve seen Zrim’s work in action. He was one of the co-founders of CapFriendly and brings over 20 years of experience in systems analysis with companies such as TMX, Ubisoft and BCE. Zrim also did some work with the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks in a similar role to the one he’ll be handling with the Oilers.
And finally, David Evanochko joins the team as the new Lead Solutions Architect, taking charge of the technical side of the Oilers’ data and analytics group. Evanochko was the VP of Software Development at Conexus Credit Union and now he’s coming in to help the Oilers up their technical strategy and keep the team ahead of the curve when it comes to data driven solutions. What does that mean exactly? I have no idea, but it certainly sounds smart to me.
Of course, given the positions these men will be handlings, only time will tell how effective they will be in their respective roles. That said, there’s no cap on team management in the NHL and I love seeing Jeff Jackson continue to add new voices to the hockey ops department across varying lanes of evaluation. For years, the perception was that the Oilers ran a skeleton crew in this regard, and I personally love seeing them invest in more tools of evaluation. By no means do I think these new hires will automatically turn the Oilers into a Cup winning team overnight, but I would rather have a full tool kit and not need everything instead of having it the other way around.
