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NHL’s San Jose Sharks Teams Up with Cambridge Consultants, part of Capgemini, and Sportsology to Shake Up Hockey Coaching with AI
Cambridge, UK – June 23, 2025 – The NHL’s San Jose Sharks have collaborated with Cambridge Consultants, the deep tech powerhouse of Capgemini, and leading sports advisory firm Sportsology to explore new approaches in ice hockey coaching through the adoption of AI in sport.
“There are established and accepted norms and beliefs that have dominated how strategies are employed in sports – and especially within the game of hockey,” says San Jose Sharks president Jonathan Becher. “We want to challenge these long-held beliefs, with AI being a new voice in the conversation that offers a unique perspective based on its interpretation of match data.”
Sport is a data-rich environment, but the data is mostly fan-facing and static. The San Jose Sharks want to use AI to not only draw more insight from data in play, but also to spot game intelligence that human coaches might miss.
Brian Leona, VP, program management, intelligent services, at Cambridge Consultants says, “Our goal is to take a unique, AI-driven approach to hockey coaching. Currently, coaching tends to start with theory. Data is then used to try to validate that theory. We are using AI to look at the data with no preconceived notions about what is true, and letting the data tell us what is happening.”
Chris Brady, CIO, Sportsology, adds, “Humans naturally tend to agree with each other or follow more preconceived notions of what an approach to problems might be. In other words, they spot patterns in data based on education and experience but will gravitate towards a common approach.”
Based on Cambridge Consultants’ experience, AI has the potential to suggest totally novel approaches to problems; spotting patterns in data not recognized by humans or discounted because of educational bias or groupthink.
The Sharks aim to create an ‘AI coach’ as an additional member of their team. Through the adoption of AI, they will be able to perform deeper and unbiased analyses on the positions of players across sequences of play, rather than snapshots in time. AI will help determine geometries in motion that result in key moments of success or failure for the team, reimagining new game plays and team tactics.
Sharks director, hockey projects and analytics, Charlie Townsend, adds, “We are trying to identify whether there are untapped, unbiased solutions by utilizing technology to observe, digest and translate data points within a game that can assist with solutions to complex hockey problems.”
Brady suggests, “We are using AI to provide better insight and deeper game intelligence not possible by human analysis alone. Our aim is to create an AI coach – a teammate, not a toolbox. Ultimately, this isn’t about replacing coaches with technology, it’s about creating a blended approach, adding AI to the team.”
Sharks president Jonathan Becher concludes, “While we acknowledge the challenges and complexities of this project, we are also extremely excited about the journey to explore what may be possible and its potential game-changing payoff.”
This Cambridge Consultants engagement with the San Jose Sharks supports Capgemini’s continued commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology for transformative change. Through its global sports sponsorships, Capgemini is focused on enhancing the experience for athletes and fans alike.
For press enquiries, please contact:
Niall Hunt, head of external communications, Cambridge Consultants
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About Sportsology
Sportsology Group is a global firm that offers strategic guidance, human capital, M&A, and knowledge management services to sports organizations. Learn about their team, values, insights, clients, and partnerships. Sportsology Group exists to help solve your biggest challenges. We have an international network of advisors who are transformational change leaders with proven track records across global sport and business. We have deep expertise across all major sports, having experienced many of the challenges these organizations face – acquisition, expansion, turnaround, and growth.
About San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks, founded in 1991, are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks play at SAP Center in San Jose, known locally as “The Shark Tank”, and compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. The franchise is owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises.
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About Cambridge Consultants
Cambridge Consultants (CC) is the deep tech powerhouse of the Capgemini Group. Deep tech is a mindset, a bold strategy that harnesses radical science and engineering to achieve things no-one else can. It delivers transformative business value and growth for our clients, who gain defendable commercial and operational advantage from new-to-the-world products, services and processes that they own. We overcome the ultimate business challenge: turning something that doesn’t yet exist into a reality. Our advice is built on practice, with over 750 scientists, engineers, designers and consultants working globally across more than 20,000 sq. m of state-of-the-art R&D facilities. As part of Capgemini Invent, CC is backed by 340,000+ Capgemini team members in more than 50 countries.
About Capgemini
Capgemini is a global business and technology transformation partner, helping organisations to accelerate their dual transition to a digital and sustainable world, while creating tangible impact for enterprises and society. It is a responsible and diverse group of 340,000 team members in more than 50 countries. With its strong over 55-year heritage, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to unlock the value of technology to address the entire breadth of their business needs. It delivers end-to-end services and solutions leveraging strengths from strategy and design to engineering, all fueled by its market leading capabilities in AI, cloud and data, combined with its deep industry expertise and partner ecosystem. The Group reported 2023 global revenues of €22.5 billion
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