NEW YORK -- Presidio, a leading global digital services and AI solution provider and the National Hockey League (NHL®) today announced a multiyear renewal of their North American partnership. The renewal builds on three years of collaboration to modernize the technology behind key League operations.
Presidio will remain an Official Technology Innovation Partner of the NHL and continue to help enhance the League’s technological infrastructure, integrating data, designing, and creating applications to support the broadcast of more than 1,300 games annually, and leveraging managed services to support day-to-day operations. This also includes the NHL Draft Application, which will be used at the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft in Buffalo, and has been used at NHL Drafts since 2023.
The application transitioned the NHL Draft onto a new platform, which utilizes a hybrid-cloud environment where all information is centralized, synced, and integrated across various facets of the NHL, including Operations, Clubs, Communications, Central Scouting, and Central Registry. Intuitive and extensible, the application enhances the NHL Draft process, including securing, accessing, and transmitting vital data such as Player information, submitting Player picks, announcing Player selections, trades, and more. The application also integrates NHL Draft information with NHL Central Registry and NHL Central Scouting beyond Draft day. The application enhances the NHL’s ability to:
- Quickly scale and respond to inputs from multiple sources in real-time.
- Optimize workflow and efficiency for every NHL Draft Application user.
- Improve NHL Draft security and confidentiality.
“In just three years, Presidio and the NHL have turned a shared vision for technology innovation into three major solutions that support some of the League’s most critical operations: the NHL Draft Application, the Virtual Technology Operations Center, and the NHL Watch Comms App,” said Bob Cagnazzi, Chief Executive Officer, Presidio. “This renewal is a reflection of the trust we’ve built together and the opportunity ahead to continue modernizing the technology foundation that supports the League, Officials, broadcasters, and fans.”
“Presidio is a core partner in the NHL's technology transformation helping us modernize our infrastructure, advance our AI capabilities, and deliver smarter experiences for our teams and fans,” said Peter DelGiacco, NHL Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer. “We're building something genuinely differentiated here, and this extended partnership reflects the confidence we have in what we're creating together.”
As part of the partnership, Presidio worked with the NHL to design and operate the Virtual Technology Operations Center (VTOC) – a centralized, cloud-based control system that integrates dozens of production workflows and venue feeds into one unified interface, supporting live game production across the entire NHL season. With VTOC, the NHL can:
- Deliver thousands of uninterrupted live broadcasts to fans globally.
- Scale broadcast operations efficiently using cloud infrastructure.
- Enable real-time visibility and decision-making for production teams.
Presidio also helped the League create the NHL Watch Comms App, which impacts the game in real-time. Developed by Presidio in partnership with the NHL and Apple, this custom Apple Watch application gives on-ice NHL Officials a critical tool – allowing them to receive real-time, haptic notifications for critical information without ever taking their eyes off the play. By syncing with NHL arena game clocks, the NHL Watch Comms App delivers timely alerts for:
- Period countdowns, including custom haptics at 10, 3, 2, and 1 seconds.
- Penalty box expiration timing to prevent collisions between a Player and an on-ice NHL Official.
- Remaining time on the game and penalty clocks.
Today, the app is used by 95% of on-ice NHL Officials, underscoring its role as a trusted tool for in-game updates.
The NHL Draft returns to Buffalo for the first time in a decade with the Sabres set to host the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft on Friday, June 26 (Round 1: 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, Sportsnet, TVA Sports) and Saturday, June 27 (Rounds 2-7: 11 a.m. ET on NHL Network, ESPN+, Sportsnet) at KeyBank Center.
