I'm not sure but I think the head scout was Klatt. And I don't think his record was stellar on top picks during his tenure. I recall posting about that once but don't feel like going through the exercise again.
And I agree about speed. Jankowski seemed to value hockey sense. Klatt maybe liked size? It's kind of early to judge Jorma Kaukonen
but hopefully he places more value on speed.
I agree with your assessments of Janks and Klatt. Klatt seemed to utterly disregard foot speed as a problem when it came to making picks. Here's every skater we drafted in the top 3 rounds with Klatt as head scout:
2011: Strome, Mayfield, Sundstrom
2012: Reinhardt, Pokka, Pelech
2013: Pulock, Cammarata
2014: MDC, JHS
Other than JHS, foot speed is a concern for every single one of those guys. Possessing size does seem to be a common theme, with half of them having above average size and only Cammarata and Ho-Sang being below average there.
So far under Kautonen, the top 3 rounds have looked like this:
2015: Barzal, Beauvillier, Mitchell Vande Sompel
2016: Bellows
2017: Salo, Ben Mirageas
We still have Bellows and Salo as players drafted in spite of foot speed issues, but the rest are considered at least plus skaters, with Beau and MVS being excellent skaters and Barzal arguably being in the elite territory. So, overall it seems like there has already been much more importance placed on skating/footspeed.
Granted, this doesn't give Snow a pass, since he hired Janks and Klatt and the final decision on a pick is his. But hopefully it'll be better under Kautonen.
Agreed. I think an issue with using "he was the consensus pick" argument is it fails to address the fact that NHL teams have their own scouting departments to analyze these prospects for themselves, and should be able to pick up on certain character traits or skillsets that will or won't translate to the pros. If drafting came down to essentially picking whoever CSS or Red Line or TSN says you should pick at the spot you're picking, then why even send scouts to games?
While I agree with you, since many of the same people who complain about Snow drafting MDC are the same people who lambaste Snow for thinking his scouting team knows more than the consensus or the commonly accepted knowledge, it's still worth pointing out that in this case, MDC was the consensus pick.
Then there's the idea that Snow and Co. insist they place a high emphasis on character when drafting. But are they evaluating the right thing? Those same Top-5 picks all seem to be lacking a bit in character or heart. So what "character" are they drafting, when none of the guys they took seem to be the heart and soul type?
With Dal Colle specifically, I wonder if he's a case of a player who simply plateaued at an early age. Similar to how some boys grow tall at an early age, but then stop growing by 14. Sometimes hockey players look great at 17/18, but then that's the best they ever become. Could that be the case with Dal Colle? Ahead of the curve at 16-18, but then he essentially reached his peak at 18? Because usually you see a marked improvement post-draft year. Dal Colle, even at his best in Kingston, looked the same player he was at 17 in Oshawa.
The character focus I believe was more when Jankowski was the head scout. My understanding (and I could be wrong, this sort of thing is not widely reported on) was that the lengthy personality tests started under Jankowski's time as head scout and ended when Klatt took over.
Your assessment of MDC could very well be correct, as he certainly seems to have plateaued. He could still hit the next tier though, as progression often times is not linear. But I do think something needs to happen to spark that, and I have no idea what it may be.