Edmonton Oilers have added three new hires into analytics department
The Edmonton Oilers have strengthened their analytics department with three new hires this past week.
Back in January, the team advertised three new job openings as they looked to round out their analytics team. Among the jobs posted were positions for a senior data scientist, a hockey data engineer, and a full stack developer.
Those were unique opportunities to get hands-on with an NHL organization, and it appears that the Oilers have found the people for the job. Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) took to LinkedIn earlier this week to introduce the three new hires who will take over those positions, and they all have some interesting backgrounds.
The most interesting hire of the trio is Hassaan Inayatali, who will take on the senior data scientist role. Inayatali studied at the University of Toronto and has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science. He was seemingly interested in sports science early on in his career, having been President of a Sports Science club at the University, and even becoming an NFL Big Data Champion in 2023.
That led to him being employed in the Chicago Blackhawks analytics department as a data scientist between 2024 and 2025. He was most recently working as a data scientist with sports tech company Teamworks before joining the Oilers.
The other two hires both have connections to the Alberta capital.
Jordan Vani was hired for the hockey data engineer position and studied at both the University of Alberta and NYU. Vani possesses a Bachelor of Science with a double major in earth and atmospheric sciences and biological sciences with distinction, as well as a Master of Science in applied urban science and informatics. He has spent the last eight years working at Sayari, a firm that specializes in commercial risk intelligence, where he has served as the senior vice-president of Engineering since 2022.
Lastly, the Oilers have brought aboard CJ Gilroy to be a full stack developer. Gilroy also studied at the University of Alberta, where he got a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He’s spent the last five years working with Jobber, a home and commercial service software, as a senior software engineer.
Inayatali, Vani, and Gilroy will now join an Oilers analytics department that has seen tremendous growth in the past few seasons. The organization already has Michael Parkatti acting as the senior director of data and analytics, Dominik Zrim as the director of hockey strategy, David Evanochko as a lead solutions architect, Justin Mahe as the director of hockey analysis, and Shaun Mahe as the manager of hockey systems and design.
With new people continuously being added to that group, the role of analytics in the Oilers’ decision-making process is sure to become more pronounced than ever before.