SCOUTING THE FUTURE
Dec 6, 2015By Tom Witosky | Follow @toskyAHLWild
When the Iowa Wild takes the ice at Wells Fargo Arena for a game, the bottom row of the arena press box is usually full of watchful eyes.
Scouts from every National Hockey League organization at one time or another during the season can be found sitting there with their laptop computers, electronic tablets and cell phones at the ready. These are the men who are in integral part of every club’s future – short-term and long-term – as they assess the talent and development of prospects in the American Hockey League.
Les Jackson, assistant general manager and veteran scout for the Dallas Stars, recently spent four days using Des Moines as his base of operations on a scouting trip to the north. Over four days, the 61-year-old veteran watched three Iowa Wild games, a college game in Omaha as well as a Minnesota Wild game in St. Paul.
At the end of his trip, he sat down to answer a few questions about scouting and how Des Moines steadily is becoming an excellent location for scouts to spend days looking and assessing young hockey talent.
Q: So where have you been since you got to Des Moines?
Jackson: I started here with the Thursday morning game, then went to Minny on Thursday night. Then I went to Omaha to watch a college game on Friday. Saturday I came back here and then this afternoon.
Q: Where do you go from here?
A: Dallas tonight, Tuesday I go to Nashville and then Wednesday I go to Cedar Park where we play at home. Then Thursday we have a home game against Winnipeg, Friday we are in San Antonio, then back to Cedar Park for a home game.
Q: Any idea how many miles you travel during a year?
A: It is hard to say, but I average about 20 games a month.
Q: Is Des Moines a good location for scouting?
A: It is one of the best because you have Minnesota just up the road. You also can get to a lot of USHL games as well as college games around the region and get back here. This is a fun place to come. It is a great building.
Q: The Iowa Stars played here for a couple of years. Do you think Minnesota is a good fit here?
A: The Wild has done a good here. They run a good operation and they are going to be getting better as they get more players back in the line-up. It is a good spot.
Q: Describe what do you do when you are a scouting game?
A: Basically, we take all of the players under 24 and do a report on them. Most of them are young players who are in the first and second year in the AHL. You want to get a book on them so that you can compare them to the players you have. That helps because whenever you are making a player change, you have a good idea of what the other teams have.
Q: How is your scouting structure set-up?
A: We assign different scouts to different teams. I have Minnesota and Iowa so it is my job to know all the players in that organization and we do it with every team. Basically, you become the manager of that organization. You do a top to bottom analysis of all the players. First you do the NHL team, then all of their top prospects, then those you think have a chance to be short-term call-ups.
Q: Do you scout the ECHL much?
A: We don’t go to ECHL very much because quite often their top players will be up in the AHL when there are injuries. It is always a better evaluation when you can see them playing against top American teams. It is just a better situation to look at them at that point.
Q: Talk about the importance of the American Hockey League in developing players Does it serve as a wake-up call for young players?
A: Yes, particularly for the ones coming out of juniors and from Europe. You sell them on being National League hockey, but most are not ready to play in the NHL. The American League has a long history of developing players. It is always important for them to get down here and transition into the pro game. The guys from juniors, Europe and college all come from different avenues and cultures so it’s a big step for all of them. The young kids in Canada when they get drafted high, they are thinking they are going right to the NHL because that is what their agents are telling them. But when they get to camp they find out that they are not quite ready to play and that they have to go to the American League. It’s a real wake-up call for a lot of guys because they don’t understand how good the American League is. The young ones get to see first-hand just how far they have to go.
Q: What do you look at in players? How do you assess what is in their hearts and heads?
A: Hockey sense is always a factor. You look to see how they handle the puck, the way they execute plays, the way they handle pressure, how they skate. You can see those things. So then you try to assess just how much better they can get – their improvement or growth potential. As far as the heart, you can tell sometimes by how they compete, how they play in different situations, but that is always the unknown. It is the hardest thing to figure out.
Q: Without divulging any team secret is there anyone on Iowa that impresses you?
A: There are a couple of young kids on defense who are impressive. (Mike) Reilly is someone everyone knows how good he is. Right now, he is learning his trade. (Gustav) Olofsson is a good player as well. They both have a style that connects with how hockey is played in the NHL. They have puck skills, they can advance the puck and they can skate. At the same time, they are like a lot of young kids who have to spend time learning how to play on both sides of the puck – offensively and defensively. They both have a good chance, but how much they are going to develop we just don’t know. They are learning their trade here, they are learning where they fit in.
Q: How much of playing in the AHL is about learning a role for an NHL team?
A: A lot of it is playing to your skill set, like if you can skate and handle the puck. Focus on that and being the best you can be. If you are in the bottom 6 or a fourth-line player, then you learn to play that role within the concept of the game that is being played. It all depends on what types of players you have and how to develop that into something that your team can use.