The Nashville Predators have added another name to Barry Trotz’s hockey operations group, hiring Dawson Sprigings as an Assistant to the General Manager.
It’s the fourth front office move the Predators have made in the last month, a clear sign they’re continuing to reshape the staff around roster building and decision-making. Sprigings arrives with a background that ties directly into one of the NHL’s fastest-growing areas: data science.
Before landing in Nashville, Sprigings spent time with the Colorado Avalanche organization from 2019 to 2022 as an analyst under Chris MacFarland. He was later promoted to Director of Analytics, with the title of Associate Director of Analytics & Lead Data Scientist attached to that role.
MacFarland made it clear in a press release that Nashville is getting someone he already knows well.
“We are pleased to announce Dawson has decided to join our hockey operations department as Assistant to the General Manager,” MacFarland said in a press release. “He will be a key staff addition and will help us in many areas, including, but not limited to, analytics, team-building strategy and some scouting work. I have first-hand knowledge of the type of work Dawson can produce, and he will be a valuable asset to the Predators.”
The hire fits the direction the league has been moving in, with data science becoming a bigger piece of how teams identify what actually drives success on the ice and how they turn that information into a championship-level roster.
Sprigings’ rise in Colorado continued after the Avalanche won the 2022 Stanley Cup, when he was promoted to Director of Analytics.
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