{"id":889256,"date":"2026-09-09T13:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T13:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/889256\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T13:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T13:24:09","slug":"sprintai-signs-the-buffalo-sabres-as-its-first-nhl-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/889256\/","title":{"rendered":"SprintAI signs the Buffalo Sabres as its first NHL team"},"content":{"rendered":"

SprintAI, an artificial intelligence startup founded to help improve athlete performance, has signed its first NHL team client, the Buffalo Sabres. This deployment will include a new general manager module designed to aid hockey operations with administration and management.<\/p>\n

Sabres general manager Jarmo Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen previously advised SprintAI<\/a> before joining Buffalo as a senior advisor in May 2025 and receiving a promotion to GM last December. Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen helped SprintAI conceive of and develop the GM module prior to joining the Sabres organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe massive amount of information and data that we get these days, how you can pull it into one desktop and have a whole view on your screen where the data gets processed into a simple form by AI?\u201d Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen said. \u201cIt gives you alerts, recommendations and info that\u2019s already been brought into one place and processed rather than you getting different reports from different silos on your desk where you\u2019re trying to put five different reports together in your head.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NFL\u2019s Rams<\/a> are the one other publicly identified pro sports team partner of SprintAI, which also supports the Association of Sports Performance Centers, a consortium of 114 Olympic, Paralympic and elite training facilities.<\/p>\n

SprintAI is a Finnish company founded by Juha Tiihonen, a longtime digital media executive who worked on projects with Nokia, Disney, FIBA and NBC\u2019s Olympics coverage. The other co-founders include former NFL executive Mikko Simon and mobile games creator Timo Soininen. F1 driver Valtteri Bottas is an investor and motorsports advisor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgentic AI changes the model from people constantly having to search for information to an environment where the system understands context, monitors what is changing and proactively helps prepare the organization for its next decision,\u201d Tiihonen said.<\/p>\n

As data and analytics continue to proliferate sports team front offices, SprintAI seeks to help decision makers \u2014 whether coaches and sport scientists or, now, general managers and other executives \u2014 distill the disparate inputs into more actionable insights. Its algorithms work on each organization\u2019s proprietary data and workflows.<\/p>\n

After leaving his post as GM of the Blue Jackets, Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen used the time as a sabbatical of sorts, delving deep into the potential of AI to help a club. The experience led him to SprintAI and helped him realize the importance of being a first mover, which he believes will help the Sabres gain an edge.<\/p>\n

Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen said embracing AI will be \u201ca bit of a cultural shift\u201d but necessary to improve efficiency and evolve. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that I really believe in, that it\u2019s common and it\u2019s going to be part of the future,\u201d he said. \u201cThe sooner we get on it, the more of a competitive advantage we can get rather than let five different teams get on it before we do, and then we\u2019ll be the ones couple steps behind. I\u2019d rather be a couple steps ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SprintAI, an artificial intelligence startup founded to help improve athlete performance, has signed its first NHL team client,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[276,49004,49,48,448,199631,82],"class_list":["post-889256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-athlete-performance","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sabres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}