You never know, the next general manager of your favorite hockey team could be writing on a blog you read every single day. It happened that way for the Carolina Hurricanes newest GM, Eric Tulsky.
Tulsky was named the interim GM a few weeks ago after Don Waddell resigned. After a brief search, the Hurricanes informed candidates that they were going to be hiring from within the organization. And with that, Tulsky had the interim tag removed on Tuesday morning.
Tulsky has quite the background since joining the Hurricanes organization back in 2014. He first graduated from Harvard University with a degree in chemistry and physics. Tulsky then earned another chemistry degree from the University of California, Berkley. He began working in nanotechnology with Life Technologies for five years.
Eric Tulsky wrote Flyers articles before working with the Carolina Hurricanes
Shortly after, Tulsky started writing analytical pieces for Broad Street Hockey in 2011. Overall, he contributed 94 articles to the site from 2011 to 2012. His first piece looked at the numbers behind Sergei Bobrovsky's play and whether he was ready for a playoff run in 2011. His last piece was during the 2012 playoffs where he analyzed the line matchups between the Flyers and Penguins, namely when Claude Giroux and Danny Briere were on the ice.
During this time, he was also working as a Senior Scientist for both Solexant and Nanosys. Tulsky spent almost two years with QuantumScape starting in 2013 while the Hurricanes hired him as a consultant in July 2014. He has climbed the ladder in the organization over the last 10 years. After working as a consultant for a year, Tulsky was hired full-time as a hockey analyst, a position he spent two years in.
Tulsky became the Manager of Hockey Analytics in 2017, a position he spent one year in before becoming the VP of Hockey Management and Strategy. Over two years later, he was named the Assistant General Manager.
Tulsky's journey has been a wild one. His promotion to general manager is important for a few reasons. For one, it shows that no one's background is the same when it comes to working in hockey. But it is important for a much different reason as well.
Of course he's the 1st public analytics person-turned-GM. He should be! And no one else will quite have his credentials. But it opens the door. And if he succeeds, maybe it increases the likelihood that other less credentialed (but still v qualified!) people get these roles too.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) June 18, 2024
Tulsky has proved that his work with analytics meant something. There have been and will likely continue to be detractors when it comes to analytics in sports. But Tulsky's rise in the sports world should go a long way.
You just never know where the next general manager will come from.