Okay so I wasn't quite sure where to put this (or whether to try and make it its own thread), but just a few random thoughts I had on our team's drafting/scouting:
First, I wonder what all goes into having a "scouting presence" in different areas of the world, and on the other hand, whether it even matters all that much, given how often players come over from Europe and play USHL/CHL nowadays. But still, not everyone does, and there have to be a lot of "diamonds in the rough" out there who either never get "discovered", or don't get the encouragement to develop into NHLers (or both). I wonder if it's just a cost-benefit analysis thing, where teams like the Wild determine that it's not worth the cost to have a scouting presence in, say, Germany because the likelihood of finding an NHL prospect there is low enough that it's not worth paying for the scouting involved?
A second (related) thought: What keeps NHL teams from having European soccer (and hockey, for that matter) development pipelines? Is it against some rule I'm not aware of, or is it, again, a cost issue? What I mean is, instead of having affiliations with an AHL club, and drafting players from all over the place in the hopes that a handful of them become useful NHLers, why not have like the "Minnesota Wild Hockey Club Association" or something where the top level club sponsors a whole tiered system going all the way down to kids, where the best players can graduate to the next level if they're good enough? Seems like it would help ease a lot of issues teams consistently have with new guys not knowing the system, having to relearn everything everywhere they go, etc. The obvious counterpoint is that Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan, and NY (in about that order) would have a massive advantage over, say, Florida and Nashville, just based on sheer numbers, but still, nothing would preclude the NHL draft from still existing (there could still be junior teams in non-NHL markets).
Like I said, just sort of something I was wondering about, since it's worth remembering that even our "modern" version of how players get into the NHL is only really like 50 years old. Things can change, and this would be an interesting one. It seems like it would also help with the whole "growing the game" angle, since if you had this system in every NHL city, it stands to reason that the locals might be more involved and feel like they have more of a stake in the team themselves.
