The Edmonton Oilers have made a front office hire, their website reveals.
While there’s been no official announcement, the Oilers staff page reveals they have hired Erik Elenz as a video and analytics coaching coordinator. Elenz’s hire was first highlighted on Twitter by Blue Bullet Brad.
A screengrab of the Edmonton Oilers website reveals their staff on July 25th, 2024.
Elenz, 23, got his start in hockey working for the University of Vermont as a director of video in 2018, holding the role for four years, before joining the American Hockey League’s Coachella Valley Firebirds in July 2022, where he’s spent the last two seasons, according to his LinkedIn profile. The Firebirds won the AHL Western Conference championship in both seasons he was there, but fell in both Calder Cup finals to the Hershey Bears. He also worked with the German national team as their video coordinator in the 2022 IIHF World Hockey Championships.
He will presumably work alongside the Oilers video coach, Noah Segall.
Last December, Elenz was profiled by theahl.com, speaking about what his role is and how working in unison with the coaching staff is key.
“It’s about specifically knowing what your coaches want and need – that’s most important,” he said. “A video coach can tag a thousand things every game, but it’s knowing, say, the hundred things that our staff is really looking for. And from those, it then becomes about finding the handful which really matter – but even with that, all hundred things need to be exact.
“The big thing is when the first and second periods end, intermissions start, coaches walk down the tunnel and I’ve got 30 seconds to make sure the computers are all good for them. Everything needs to be ready in seconds. (Then-head coach) Dan (Bylsma) will come in with four or five things and he’ll go, ‘All right. Eleven minutes on the clock.’ I’ll bring up that time on video, show it to him, he’ll say, ‘Go back’ or ‘Move forward.’ Or, he’ll ask something like, ‘Show me every O-zone faceoff,’ and I’ll bring all of those up for him.”
Elenz marks another addition to the Oilers front office under CEO Jeff Jackson. Last year, he named Michael Parkatti senior director of data and analytics, and Rick Pracey as the director of amateur scouting. This year, he brought in Kalle Larson as the senior director of player development, and on Wednesday, named Stan Bowman the team’s newest general manager.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
