CAA Sports is turning to the man behind Alex Ovechkin’s enviable endorsement earnings to help its stable of high-profile hockey clients find new off-ice earning opportunities.
The firm’s hockey division, led by agents Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry, has hired David Abrutyn as its first global chief business officer. In the new role, he’ll help the firm’s roster of elite NHL talent build their personal brands, forge marketing partnerships and launch business ventures.
Abrutyn will be based out of CAA’s New York office and work closely with Brisson and Barry, and collaborate with Jennifer Entin Kardosh, head of hockey operations, marketing and client management. CAA Hockey has nearly 40 employees in 14 markets, covering seven countries.
Abrutyn
CAA Sports’ hockey division is among the largest and most influential talent representation outfits in the sport. The practice has 151 active NHL contracts that are worth nearly $2 billion, according to PuckPedia, putting it behind only Ontario-based Newport Sports Management in scale. CAA’s client roster includes many of the league’s brightest and best-paid stars, including Sidney Crosby, Jack Eichel, Nathan MacKinnon, David Pastrnák and John Tavares.
Abrutyn, an original employee at Sports Business Daily when it launched in 1994 and a 2008 Forty Under 40 honoree, has spent the past nine years as a founding partner at sports investment firm Bruin Capital. The lifelong Capitals fan and one-time ticket-seller has also represented Ovechkin for most of the team captain’s Hall of Fame career, a relationship that started during Abrutyn’s 15-year stint at IMG. He’s made the Russian star the league’s most prolific pitchman since Wayne Gretzky through deals with blue-chip brands such as Coca-Cola, Hublot, Nike and Papa John’s. Abrutyn will continue to represent Ovechkin.
Even among top-tier talent like Ovechkin, however, the earning potential for NHL players pales in comparison to their counterparts in other major American sports. According to data compiled by Forbes, the NHL’s 10 highest-paid players made a combined $13 million off the ice in 2023, a figure obliterated by the top 10 NFL ($69 million) and NBA ($330 million) earners.
“NHL players, for a variety of reasons, have lagged behind their peer groups in other sports in exploiting both on- and off-ice opportunities,” Abrutyn said. “The opportunities in hockey as the sport is ready to go through another growth cycle are really exciting to think about.”
Abrutyn believes the sport is having a renaissance that CAA can help its clients capitalize on. This season, the NHL saw its best national viewership in the U.S. since 2015-16, an indication that its media deals with ESPN and TNT are providing the sport with wider exposure than its previous agreement with NBC Sports. In addition, NHL players are on the verge of returning to international competition for the first time in nearly a decade, including at the Winter Olympics beginning in 2026.
“Hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, are spent by sponsors of the Olympic Games, and in the years where hockey players have participated, they certainly have been some of the bigger stars at the Games,” Abrutyn said.
Perhaps the biggest reason for optimism, according to Brisson, is that hockey culture is evolving. Players coming into the NHL today tend to be more comfortable in the limelight than previous generations, who were socialized not to put themselves “above the team.”
“Our culture has been a little bit behind in terms of players expressing themselves publicly as well as other athletes in other sports,” Brisson said. “We’re seeing a major change in this new generation of young hockey players — they’re more willing.”
