IN-GAME
STRATEGY
TRANSFORMING IOT data into actionable coaching STRATEGY
Overview
An NHL, SAP and Apple partnership, the NHL Coaching Insights App for iPad delivers real-time player and puck analytics directly to coaches on the bench—transforming how teams access and act on live performance data during games.
Role
Senior Product Designer
SAP
2018-2022
Challenge
Replace paper-based reports with instant, visual insights by designing a fast, reliable, and intuitive tool that fits seamlessly into the high-pressure, on-bench coaching workflow.
Approach
I led design across five seasonal releases—guiding research, prototyping, and collaboration with coaches to merge traditional strategy with modern, IoT-powered data analysis.
PREGAME
Game-day decisions don’t start at puck drop—they begin days in advance.
Mapping the full decision timeline revealed a gap in pregame preparation, where coaches lacked a centralized system to review opponent context, previous performance, and strategic inputs before entering live game conditions.
This pregame screen establishes a decision-ready starting point—bringing scouting reports, prior game data, and configuration into a single, accessible context.
The result is a structured transition from preparation to execution, ensuring that key decisions are informed before real-time constraints take over.
IN-GAME OVERVIEW
A real-time decision hub designed for the seconds between shifts.
During live play, coaches operate within tightly constrained windows where decisions on deployment, matchups, and fatigue must be made instantly.
This system structures key signals—Time on Ice, faceoff performance, and critical KPIs—into a glanceable format, reducing the need for interpretation in high-pressure moments.
Contextual player data is accessible on demand, while threshold-based alerts highlight when players reach critical usage limits, enabling faster, more confident adjustments.
The interface supports rapid navigation across team and opponent metrics without disrupting focus, aligning directly to the pace and rhythm of in-game decision-making.
ICE VIEW
A spatial decision layer for real-time tactical adjustments.
In-game decisions often depend on understanding where events are happening—not just what is happening. Traditional stats obscure this spatial context, limiting a coach’s ability to quickly assess patterns and exploit opportunities.
Ice View translates performance data into a rink-based coordinate system, allowing coaches to immediately identify shooting tendencies, defensive gaps, and goaltending patterns as they emerge.
By mapping key signals directly onto the ice surface, the system reduces the cognitive effort required to interpret abstract data, enabling faster tactical decisions during live play.
Filtering and focus controls refine the view by player, team, or period, supporting rapid scenario assessment without disrupting the flow of the game.
VIRTUAL REPLAY
A replay system built for real-time decision analysis.
In fast-paced environments, knowing what happened is not enough—coaches need to understand how and why outcomes occurred in order to adjust strategy.
Virtual Replay transforms tracking data into a dynamic sequence, revealing player movement, spacing, and timing across each play. This enables coaches to identify breakdowns, recognize patterns, and evaluate execution beyond what traditional video review allows.
The system supports rapid navigation across key moments, allowing coaches to move between events, isolate sequences, and assess game flow without disrupting the pace of decision-making.
By making cause-and-effect visible, Virtual Replay enables more informed adjustments during intermissions and between shifts.
HEAD TO HEAD FACEOFFS
Compressing complex matchup data into a decision made in seconds.
Faceoffs are one of the most time-constrained and strategically critical moments in hockey, requiring coaches to quickly select the right player based on matchup dynamics, zone, and game context.
This system compresses multi-variable data—player performance, opponent tendencies, and situational context—into a clear, comparable view, enabling immediate evaluation of the strongest option.
By structuring information around the decision itself, coaches can rapidly assess matchups, confirm confidence, and communicate strategy without breaking the flow of the game.
PLAYER SPEED
A performance signal for managing fatigue and deployment in real time.
Time on ice shows how long a player has been active—but not how effectively they are performing within each shift.
This system translates tracking data into speed-based performance signals, revealing how players sustain effort, where performance drops off, and when fatigue begins to impact output.
By structuring speed data across shifts and time intervals, coaches can quickly identify readiness for deployment, adjust line rotations, and prevent overuse before it affects in-game performance.
The result is a clearer, more actionable view of player condition—enabling faster, more informed decisions during live play.
IMPACT
The NHL Coaching Insights App shifted analytics from post-game review to real-time decision-making at the bench.
Photos property of the NHL
Within its first two seasons, adoption grew rapidly as every NHL team integrated the app into game-day operations, with consistent use across both bench and video-room staff. Feedback from early forums and in-season surveys confirmed its value in enabling faster, more informed decisions during live play.
Coaches described it as “a regular resource during games and intermissions,” highlighting the impact of having instant access to faceoff stats, time on ice, and shot tracking—all previously handled through paper reports.
4x
Increase in adoption since launch
138%
2021 Annual growth in
daily logins
148
Avg. monthly usage per club in 2021
21
Avg. minutes used by clubs during the 2021 Playoffs
Photo property of the NHL
APPLE PARTNERSHIP
“Game changer! iPad Pro helping NHL coaches make faster decisions with real-time stats”
TIM COOK
Apple CEO
Twitter • Jan. 2019
Photo property of SAP
Apple CEO Tim Cook, discussing the success of the NHL Coaching Insights App
onstage with SAP CEO Bill McDermott at SAP SAPPHIRE 2019.
Tweet from Apple CEO Tim Cook, declaring the NHL Coaching Insights App
a “Game changer!” for coaches.
Twitter • Jan. 2019
“Chris did an exceptional job of understanding the unique needs of our end users (in this case, NHL Coaches, often on bench in game) and crafting a great experience and environment for them. He is a great person to collaborate with and a pleasure to work with.”
Brant Berglund
Sr. Director Coaching & General Manager
Tech/Platforms National Hockey League
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
The NHL Coaching Insights App earned a Bronze Clio Sports Award (2021), was recognized by Fast Company’s Innovation By Design Awards (App Design, Data Visualization, User Experience), and earned an SAP Innovation Award (2019), The app received press coverage from Forbes and ESPN.
Disclosure
Quotes, media references, and imagery presented above are sourced from publicly available press releases and news coverage related to the NHL SAP Coaching Insights App for iPad.
All trademarks, logos, product imagery, and interface mockups remain the intellectual property of the NHL, SAP, Apple and their respective owners, and are shown here solely for illustrative and informational purposes. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.