MONTREAL -- Club de hockey Canadien general manager Kent Hughes announced Thursday the hiring of Philippe Desaulniers as chief technology officer, hockey analytics and Miranda McMillan as hockey data analyst.
They will work under the supervision of Christopher Boucher, director of advanced statistical analysis.
A graduate of Polytechnique Montreal, Desaulniers has been a professional in the technology space for more than 25 years, working on early applications of artificial intelligence in the mining sector and becoming involved in Montreal's aerospace and telecommunications technology hubs before moving into the world of big data analytics.
After several years of developing analytics software and AI systems at Averna and Radialpoint, Desaulniers took on the challenge of the startup world by partnering with the founders of Sportlogiq, where by combining cutting-edge AI with pioneering approaches to hockey analytics, he led the engineering of the company's core technology and created a revolutionary hockey data analysis system that, within a few years, became the standard advanced statistical tool of choice for NHL teams.
McMillan, 32, began playing hockey at age eight. She played for the Dalhousie University Tigers for five seasons, where she completed a Bachelor of Science degree with combined hours in math and statistics.
McMillan also has experience behind the bench, having served as an assistant coach and head coach of the U18 AAA women's team in Halifax from 2013-2017. A Level 3 on-ice official, she has served as a line judge at two USports Women's National Championships.
Prior to joining the Canadiens' advanced statistical analysis department, the Truro, Nova Scotia native spent nearly six years as a statistician and data team manager at Kinduct Technologies in Halifax.
- Montreal Canadiens
