Turns out Eric Tulsky didn't need to go back to chemistry

Looking back at an interview with the new Carolina Hurricanes GM.

The Carolina Hurricanes formally named Eric Tulsky their general manager on Tuesday.

He has undoubtedly the most impressive résumé of any hockey GM.

Tulsky has a Ph.D in chemistry and holds 27 U.S. Patents. He worked in the tech industry for a dozen years, managed research teams for nanotechnology, DNA sequencing, and solar energy.

Tulsky also had a passion for hockey and data on the side, he ran a hockey blog and would often spam teams with emails about his findings. Eventually the Carolina Hurricanes offered him part-time contractor work, a role that eventually led to Carolina offering him a full-time job.

This is when Tulsky made one of the biggest decisions of his life, effectively changing careers, and he did it after advice from a friend.

“He told me look, there is always gonna be another job at Apple or whatever company it is,” Tulsky said on my podcast Expected by Whom? “There’s no chance you look back 65 and kick yourself and say, ‘Why didn’t I take the job with Apple?’ and he basically talked me into giving it a shot. So I signed a two-year contract to start, I figured if it didn’t work out I could go back to chemistry after two years and it would be ok.”

A decade later he’s know the GM of an NHL team.

Chemistry now applies to building a team, and he’s tasked with helping keeping Carolina amongst the NHL’s top teams in the league.

I figured it was a good time to re-share the podcast appearance from last May, the interview with Eric starts around the 32-minute mark.

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On a programming note, I’ll have something more early tomorrow morning at this site following whatever happens in Game 5 tonight in Florida.

Once the Stanley Cup ends, maybe tonight, I’ll move into some summer programming here. I’m also open to any ideas/comments from readers on what you’d like to read about looking back in the next couple weeks.