Many successful teams have what is called a “super scout.”
The Detroit Red Wings have Hakan Andersson, their Director of European Scouting and the New York Rangers of yesteryear won the 1940 Stanley Cup largely of the work of Al Ritchie, who found most of their talent in Western Canada.
A good prospector knows which streams to avoid.
Panning for gold is hard enough work as it is – and time consuming – so when you have little or no chance of finding nuggets, you stay away.
Some companies just make quality merchandise. You can trust that you’re getting good value and something that will last. Maybe you own a toaster or a coffee maker that’s never let you down. So when you’re looking for blender to make some shakes or smoothies, you go with the brand that you know. You can apply the same logic to hockey teams. Some scouting departments do a good job identifying hockey players. Even better, some teams do this and do a good job developing players.
One team that does this is the Detroit Red Wings. By necessity, the Red Wings have had to do a good job spotting talent that others haven’t noticed and they’ve burnished that talent with a development strategy that preaches patience. Quick! Name me the last Red Wings prospect that was got rushed to the NHL. Now, you could argue that because they haven’t had a high first-round pick – or any first-round picks in some years – that they haven’t been tempted to rush any prospects to the NHL. That is true of junior-aged prospects, but not so of minor pros.
When you think of the ideal top pairing defenceman, you think of a guy that you can put out in any situation – whether you need a goal or to shutdown the other team. P.K. Subban (the P.K. stands for Pernell Karl, by the way) has the offensive skills that you can’t teach. Luckily, the defensive skills that he lacks are skills that you can learn – with a little effort and good coaching.
All players face challenges making it in the NHL. For big players, they sometimes struggle to keep up with the pace of the game. It can take a while to grow into their frame and their skill can lie largely untapped until their early 20s. For small players who catch the eyes of scouts, skill is rarely a problem. They usually ooze it. It has been this way for a few decades now. Smaller players need to prove that they can handle the rigours of the pro game. Many have done it before, and more are doing it now, but there is still a bias against the smaller player. It does take a special breed of player to make it as a small guy and work ethic and courage are usually the key attributes.
Never count a player out just because he was never drafted. The NHL draft lists are full of players who have never amounted to anything. Getting drafted is merely the beginning of a journey to the NHL. Some players who are drafted take it as a sign to coast, and conversely those who aren’t drafted often become determined to prove that NHL teams were wrong to pass on them.
This week, we’ll look at two such players – Roman Cervenka of the Czech Republic and Cory Conacher, a Canadian speedster playing in the NCAA.
The quest in Calgary to find a centre to mesh with Jarome Iginla might still be going on by the time Mitch Wahl is ready for the NHL.
The quest continues partly because of a lack of quality centre prospects in the organization, but also because finding good chemistry between linemates is sometimes elusive when you’re relying on logic – no matter how sound. Sometimes, plain intuition, a coach’s gut instinct or dumb luck can be the catalyst for a potent line combination.
A good way to avoid wasting your time as a prospector – and your draft picks as a fantasy hockey GM – is to learn to spot fool’s gold.
For the past couple of months, I’ve been touting players that I thought might be worth having a look at. This week, I’m going to try to get you to steer clear of a player.
Hardcore hockey fans probably didn’t know who Matt Halischuk was in December of 2007. Halischuk was a 4th-round pick of the New Jersey Devils that summer after scoring 66 points in 67 games for the Kitchener Rangers the year before.
Sometimes, prospectors blaze a trail and go out on a limb and pan for gold in a stream where no one has been before – and, sometimes, they go back to a stream that they know produced some nuggets before.
NHL scouts are no different and a fantasy hockey GM should be aware of the importance of good bloodlines. While they are not a guarantee of success – these are hockey prospects we’re talking about – they do help improve the odds of making it in the NHL. And since every little edge and advantage helps you win in this game, it is something worth paying attention to.
