It feels like a long time ago, both in Tulsky’s life and the way data has changed in hockey and the way that hockey has changed because of data.
“I think over these 10 years,” Tulsky said, “the kinds of questions that data can answer have evolved, and our ability to provide useful answers in more areas and more complete answers in some areas has really a step forward.”
Acceptance too.
“I was in Atlanta for 12 years and it wasn’t even talked about from ’99 until 2011,” Waddell said. “You see where our game comes from, now most of it [teams] you have four or five people in the analytics department where you didn’t even think about having an analytics department.
“I think there’s a lot of room to continue to grow because some of the tools that are coming into play through the NHL, with ball tracking and all the things that the NHL is doing and the things that individual teams are doing, it’s only going to continue to grow. .
“Analytics can’t drive your decisions, but they can certainly support what you’re seeing and what you’re thinking and certainly be part of decision making.”
There is more understanding around the NHL about what data can provide, how to incorporate it, its benefits and limitations.
It has simply become part of the way business is done.
“In every single industry, the initial reaction from people who have done it their whole lives without data is to say, ‘I’ve done it my whole life without data and I’ve done well,'” Tulsky said. “This is a very, very natural reaction and it’s universal.”
But during his 10 years with the Hurricanes, through the evolution of the NHL, Tulsky has seen attitudes change, acceptance grow. He has seen praise for the way he solves the puzzles and problems hockey throws his way.
The Hurricanes have always been a collaborative organization, ensuring that everyone’s voices have a place, that ideas are shared and valued. Waddell made sure that while Tulsky was with the Hurricanes, he mentored him and tried to help him grow in his thinking, how to deal with issues and, most importantly, how to find some solutions.
He saw that Tulsky had what it took. He saw how he led people, how they liked and respected him and his work, the ethics he brought to his work.
“What happens in our business, you’re faced with all kinds of adversity and different problems,” Waddell said. “Some people can handle it and some people can’t handle it maybe all the time. And Eric is one of those people who throw something at him, he’ll figure out what the answer is.
“I think one of the things that elevated him to this position was that being a GM, as much as it has its ups and downs, it’s tough sometimes because you have to make tough decisions and sometimes those decisions, I always say , they’re not what fans want to hear, not what anyone else wants to hear. But you make decisions based on what’s best for your hockey club and I think Eric is capable of that.”
And then there was sheer intelligence.
Waddell called Tulsky “probably the smartest person I’ve ever dealt with. I always said, ‘You told me once, now tell me in plain English what you just told me.’
As Hurricanes defenseman Jacob Slavin said, “He’s just outthinking everybody in the room. He walks in and I think he knows he’s the smartest person in the room, but he doesn’t carry himself that way.”
It’s enough that he — not a former player or former agent — is now in charge of Carolina.
“I just remember that there was a stereotype when I was following baseball as a kind of calculator — this machine that didn’t understand people — but I think maybe Eric’s best quality is that he’s really high-sensitivity and he understands that these are not just numbers, these are people,” Yang said.
That’s why, when Waddell left the Hurricanes on May 24, hired as the Columbus Blue Jackets GM four days later, Tulsky was elevated to interim GM before taking the full-time position in June.
“I’m 100 percent ready,” Tulsky said. “I’m fortunate to have an incredible coach (Rod Brind’Amour) and an incredible management staff, and so there are a lot of people there to make my job easier. There are many ways in which I don’t need to change anything dramatically. I just have to keep things going the way they have been.
“So that helps a lot for a first-timer. I’m not walking into a place that’s broken and needs a major overhaul. I’m walking into a place that’s really running smoothly and it just needs a new person to help keep it on track.”
When Tulsky took the job this offseason, however, he wasn’t just faced with multiple player contracts that needed to be done — including those of forwards Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis, with the latter ending up with a unique deferred payment structure that sat down. his average annual value from $7.9 million to $7.5 million in an eight-year deal — but about 80 percent of the Hurricanes’ pitching staff contracts had increased.
There wasn’t much downtime.
There was also an assistant general manager position to fill.
And there, he dipped back into his old well, the group that had found each other on Twitter in those early days, one of the first hires in analytics in 2014 and 2015. In addition to Yorke’s promotion from assistant GM at associate GM, Tulsky hired Dellow, who was the New Jersey Devils’ senior vice president of hockey strategy and analytics, as the Hurricanes’ new assistant GM.
It just made sense.
“He’s a numbers guy first and foremost, and he’s making us all look good,” Orach said of Tulsky. “He’s very thoughtful, he’s very hardworking, he’s such a good guy that you’re happy for him, just excited that he took that risk, that he took that gamble and, of course, that the Hurricanes they took that gamble on it and it just worked, it seems.
“He’s very, very smart. And I’d like him to be in charge of my favorite NHL team.”