NHL’s Lehanski named Technology Executive of Year by Sports Business Journal

David Lehanski, NHL executive vice president of business development and innovation, was named Technology Executive of the Year at the Sports Business Journal’s Sports Business Awards: Tech held at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York on Tuesday.

Lehanski, who has been with the NHL for more than 18 years, led two initiatives that were for nominated for awards Tuesday -- the “NHL Big City Greens Classic,” and NHL Blast on Roblox. 

He also guided projects that introduced a new NHL Edge IQ analytic called Opportunity Analysis in partnership with AWS, an NHL Venue Metrics sustainability platform in partnership with SAP, and guided the launch of the NHL EDGE advanced statistics section on NHL.com in October in collaboration with Sportradar.

The NHL was nominated for Best in Fan Experience Technology for NHL Blast on Roblox. The NHL’s first Roblox experience featured compelling tech integrations. In addition to a core hockey game and customizable gear, the League partnered with Beyond Sports and The Gang to recreate highlights of goals from the 2023 Stanley Cup Final in 3D for users to immerse in, among other personalized features. Live game scores also were distributed via a digital jumbotron in the experience, a first for Roblox.

The League was also nominated for Technology Collaboration of the Year for its work with ESPN and Beyond Sports on the “NHL Big City Greens Classic.” The pioneering broadcast of a game between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals on March 14, 2023, rendered NHL EDGE Puck and Player tracking data into the animated environment of the Disney show. It also attracted a dramatically younger and more female viewing audience that set an ESPN alternative broadcast record.

The NHL will do its second “NHL Big City Greens Classic” broadcast this Saturday when the Boston Bruins host the Pittsburgh Penguins (3 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, TVAS, DISNEY, DISNEY+, DISNEY XD).