Flyers add two to Hockey Analytics Department, including Kathryn Yates as first female hire

The Flyers added Kathryn Yates and Cole Anderson to their growing Hockey Analytics Department on Thursday.

The Philadelphia Flyers continued to make additions to their front office staff this week.

On Thursday, the Flyers added two additional staff members to their Hockey Analytics Department, according to President of Hockey Operations & General Manager, Chuck Fletcher.

This comes just days after naming Daniel Briere a Special Assistant to the General Manager.

Kathryn Yates

Philadelphia Flyers

First up is Kathryn Yates, the Flyers’ new Hockey Analyst. Yates is the first woman the Flyers have hired in their hockey analytics department.

Yates joins the front office after two seasons with the University of Massachusetts Men’s Hockey team where she served as the Director of Analytics. In addition to her role at UMASS, she has been working as a Graduate Student Research Fellow within the Analytics department for the Boston Bruins since May 2021. She is on track to graduate in the spring from the University of Massachusetts with a dual-Masters in Business Administration and Sport Management and will join the Flyers at the conclusion of UMASS hockey season.

A native of Harrison, NY, Yates also served as the Director of Analytics and Hockey Operations Coordinator for the Boston University men’s ice hockey team. She graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 2014 in biology, concentrating in physiology and biotechnology. She completed a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Boston University in 2016 while part of the Terriers’ hockey staff.

ESPN did a cool feature on Yates back in 2017:

“As a grad student, Yates worked at Agganis Arena. One day, she approached men’s hockey head coach David Quinn and proposed that the team use analytics to enhance the program.

‘The very initial conversation was pretty brief: This is something that a lot of people are doing, and we should definitely think about it. Let’s see how it goes, see if we like it,’ Yates said. ‘They definitely gave me a lot of, sort of, it was OK, we’re into it, you’re the boss, you decide what we need.’

Yates began working with the team, analyzing video and advanced statistics. In November, after completing her degree, she was hired as the program’s first director of analytics.

‘It definitely feels good,’ Yates said. ‘Especially with our coaching staff being who it is and how well-known and well-respected they are in the community, to have them come out and have them put their seal of approval for everybody to see is … I’m very proud.’”

I recommend checking out the whole article here, in which Yates tells her hockey analytics story in her own words.

Cole Anderson

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers also added Cole Anderson as Lead Data Scientist

Anderson joins the Flyers staff as Lead Data Scientist and previously worked in the same role across various industries, most recently in software and e-commerce. He has applied his quantitative skills in hockey analytics in the public domain as well as various consulting roles including Sportlogiq, a sports statistics vendor, and as an analytics advisor for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League (USHL).

Prior to a career as a Data Scientist, Anderson was an Antitrust Economist, where his project work included support of NHL CBA negotiations. Anderson played four seasons as a goaltender for Amherst College in Massachusetts where he was named First-Team All-American and earned NESCAC All-Academic honors, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

Yates and Anderson join the Flyers Analytics department, which now consists of five full-time staff members led by Ian Anderson, Director of Hockey Analytics, and includes Jacob Hurlbut, Assistant Director of Hockey Analytics, and Matthew Karliner, Hockey Analyst.

The Flyers need all the help they can get to turn this ship around. Adding two more smart people into the mix certainly can’t hurt.