Confirmed with Link: Avs move on from director of amateur scouting Alan Hepple

[S E P H]

I don't think this is all that shocking. Not a huge amount of success in the meat of a draft... and Klippenstein is the clear heir apparent.

#Grocery bagger confirmed. Beautiful call mate!

How big is he in analytics?

 

[henchman21]

#Grocery bagger confirmed. Beautiful call mate!

How big is he in analytics?

Not really a call when it is a poorly kept secret!

I don’t really know… I’d imagine given his background and work with the Avs he’s at very least open to it.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[Pokecheque]

Not worried about Hepple--Pracey found scouting work with Philly right away.

Norm Robert? That was an Avs guy or some other organization?

 

[PAZ]

Rolston was the only guy they traded up for in the Sakic era lol

Maybe they weren’t sure exactly where to pick Stienburg and was a debate to do it then or not but to get caught off guard at the first pick of the third round means they were woefully unprepared and I just don’t believe that. It would be incredibly inept and unprofessional.

Hepple couldn’t even hide it was total nepotism talking about how they knew the family and the character and that he has “some skill” and “could be a 4th liner”. Rolston is pretty much the same story.

Doesn't the draft immediately roll from the 2nd into the 3rd round with no delay? So if their plan was to pick Alexandrov I can see how they might've got taken off-guard. I imagine Steinburg was probably going to be their 2nd pick in the 3rd round, and they just ended up picking him a bit earlier because they didn't have anyone else rated higher than him.

Really wish they ended up just picking a player that fell like Dorofeyev since their plan A was gone and Stienburg would've still been there with one of their later picks though.

 

[henchman21]

Not worried about Hepple--Pracey found scouting work with Philly right away.

Norm Robert? That was an Avs guy or some other organization?

Avs OHL guy

 

[Pokecheque]

Rolston was the only guy they traded up for in the Sakic era lol

And the only time I can remember them trading up in the Sherman era was when they snagged Michael Bournival...and they traded him too. Kinda weird but...whatever.

 

[Pokecheque]

Avs OHL guy

Ah, gotcha.

Buffalo is quietly trying to hire back scouts when they pared down to near nothing last offseason as directed by cheapskate Pegula--maybe a bunch of guys end up there. Buffalo could do worse than have Hepple in their front office.

 

[Barklez]

And the only time I can remember them trading up in the Sherman era was when they snagged Michael Bournival...and they traded him too. Kinda weird but...whatever.

As with the Stienburg pick, may be an element of knowing they’re valued by other clubs and may be a useful asset down the road in that regard. Especially with a kid like Rolston where some teams will always value the pedigree.

 

[Pokecheque]

Doesn't the draft immediately roll from the 2nd into the 3rd round with no delay? So if their plan was to pick Alexandrov I can see how they might've got taken off-guard. I imagine Steinburg was probably going to be their 2nd pick in the 3rd round, and they just ended up picking him a bit earlier because they didn't have anyone else rated higher than him.

Really wish they ended up just picking a player that fell like Dorofeyev since their plan A was gone and Stienburg would've still been there with one of their later picks though.

I can't imagine any NHL draft war room being completely unprepared to have a guy be taken off the board...it still just seems weird how that all played out though. I kind of admire Hepple's candor in that interview though, just flat-out admitting that it didn't go as well as you had hoped.

In the end that little hiccup or whatever it was likely didn't hurt him any, this all sounds like it was a move a long time in the making, and Hepple's body of work wasn't quite enough to them I guess.

 

[Alex Jones]

As with the Stienburg pick, may be an element of knowing they’re valued by other clubs and may be a useful asset down the road in that regard. Especially with a kid like Rolston where some teams will always value the pedigree.

I think it's less that the Avs think other clubs value the pedigree, and a lot more that the Avs are a club that values the pedigree.

 

[PAZ]

I can't imagine any NHL draft war room being completely unprepared to have a guy be taken off the board...it still just seems weird how that all played out though. I kind of admire Hepple's candor in that interview though, just flat-out admitting that it didn't go as well as you had hoped.

In the end that little hiccup or whatever it was likely didn't hurt him any, this all sounds like it was a move a long time in the making, and Hepple's body of work wasn't quite enough to them I guess.

I wouldn't say they were completely unprepared, but using words like 'we got beat', 'tough', 'I think it worked out' post-draft doesn't exactly convey optimism. Plus he mentioned having to adjust after some players getting picked right before them (I really think this was in relation to Stienburg). So they had to decide how they wanted to approach the rest of the draft and who their targets would be if they take X player with their upcoming pick since their Plan A was taken. It definitely didn't seem as simple as taking the next player on their list.

 

[Chiarelli]

Hepple gone cuz he took Byram over Seider

 

[Pokecheque]

I wouldn't say they were completely unprepared, but using words like 'we got beat', 'tough', 'I think it worked out' post-draft doesn't exactly convey optimism. Plus he mentioned having to adjust after some players getting picked right before them (I really think this was in relation to Stienburg). So they had to decide how they wanted to approach the rest of the draft and who their targets would be if they take X player with their upcoming pick since their Plan A was taken. It definitely didn't seem as simple as taking the next player on their list.

I imagine that takes place a lot more often than any team is willing to admit, so I don't mind the peek behind the curtain there.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I wouldn't say they were completely unprepared, but using words like 'we got beat', 'tough', 'I think it worked out' post-draft doesn't exactly convey optimism. Plus he mentioned having to adjust after some players getting picked right before them (I really think this was in relation to Stienburg). So they had to decide how they wanted to approach the rest of the draft and who their targets would be if they take X player with their upcoming pick since their Plan A was taken. It definitely didn't seem as simple as taking the next player on their list.

Yes it is that simple, it’s why there’s a list and it is certainly not exhausted by the first pick of the third round. It’s why they have countless meetings going over and over the list and to be prepared for anything. They have to be ready in case of trades and to suddenly have a pick in any scenario. They might look and see who their next forward and defenseman is and have a debate over which one they should go with but to characterize it as completely unprepared like they had no idea what to do is just so mind boggling it has to be false. If anything it’s Hepple saving face for making that dumb Stienburg pick. He knew it was nepotism the whole way. They travelled to Sochi for a tournament for god sakes and just ended up taking the last real asset from the Duchene trade to satisfy org nepotism. That’s not scouting and he knew it.

 

[PAZ]

Yes it is that simple, it’s why there’s a list and it is certainly not exhausted by the first pick of the third round. It’s why they have countless meetings going over and over the list and to be prepared for anything. They have to be ready in case of trades and to suddenly have a pick in any scenario. They might look and see who their next forward and defenseman is and have a debate over which one they should go with but to characterize it as completely unprepared like they had no idea what to do is just so mind boggling it has to be false. If anything it’s Hepple saving face for making that dumb Stienburg pick. He knew it was nepotism the whole way. They travelled to Sochi for a tournament for god sakes and just ended up taking the last real asset from the Duchene trade to satisfy org nepotism. That’s not scouting and he knew it.

Not quite sure why you think i've said they were completely unprepared, because I didn't. If it was as simple as picking from a list, Hepple sure had a weird way of saying that. It sounded like the draft didn't go as planned, and they ended up taking players higher on their list than they would've liked - to me that sounds like they should've had a better back-up plan if it didn't go as expected. Was Steinburg going to become an Avs? Most likely, but I highly doubt it was the original plan to pick him with the 63rd pick.

The Avs drafting after the 1st/2nd rounds shows how inept they are at preparing for the later rounds of the draft. Whether that is from a lack of preparation to account for different scenarios, inability to scout/rank players, or just a poor system in reconciling all the scouting reports - it's not a good look and the results speak for themselves.

 

[McMetal]

I think we might be reading too much into the Stienburg pick, but if it's true that Hepple was caught flat-footed there it would make sense that they would bring in a guy like Klip to manage the team of scouts better.

I'm still skeptical that they weren't genuinely enamored with Stienburg there, though. He has a very low ceiling but I think he has some tools that could translate if he can find his offensive game in college. He does a lot of the little things and on-ice details that coaches love from their safe 4th liners. He's not who I would have gone with there either but I can see what they might have liked about him, and if he had been a fifth or sixth rounder I think he would be better liked based on expectations.

 

[Avs_19]

MacKinnon rubbing it in when asked about Ranta today: "Usually we don't have later round picks come in and play......"

He then said some really good things about Ranta so I guess it can go both ways.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

MacKinnon rubbing it in when asked about Ranta today: "Usually we don't have later round picks come in and play......"

He then said some really good things about Ranta so I guess it can go both ways.

MacK trying to increase the productivity of the scouting department.

 

[Foppa2118]

Norm Robert gone too? He was probably responsible for the Timmins and Foudy picks.

Wonder if he thought he might have been next in line?

Like Klippenstein, Robert was Director of Scouting in junior for Peterborough, but he did it longer than Klip. 10 years compared to 3 for Klippenstein in Brandon.

 

[S E P H]

It's funny though and I am not saying he's responsible for all of these picks, but it seems so weird to fire him while we're signing his players lol.

Not really a call when it is a poorly kept secret!

You don't need to be 'umble mate, we all know that your bagging skills are legendary west of the Mississippi and by that you gain a network of insider knowledge. That's how McKenzie started too!

I dislike losing Hepple, I think he was average but you can most definitely get worse besides just him. He seems like a funny bloke and good overall guy. No doubt he'll quickly find a job somewhere, probably by this offseason even if it won't be head of anything. Which teams had changes to their scouting teams this year? If I remember it was Canucks and Wild who I think will go after him.

 

[MarkT]

Not quite sure why you think i've said they were completely unprepared, because I didn't. If it was as simple as picking from a list, Hepple sure had a weird way of saying that. It sounded like the draft didn't go as planned, and they ended up taking players higher on their list than they would've liked - to me that sounds like they should've had a better back-up plan if it didn't go as expected. Was Steinburg going to become an Avs? Most likely, but I highly doubt it was the original plan to pick him with the 63rd pick.

The Avs drafting after the 1st/2nd rounds shows how inept they are at preparing for the later rounds of the draft. Whether that is from a lack of preparation to account for different scenarios, inability to scout/rank players, or just a poor system in reconciling all the scouting reports - it's not a good look and the results speak for themselves.

The thing with the lists and all that, is I don't get the impression that every team has detailed information about every player potentially available. We hear all the time about teams finding players that no other team knew about, and finding talented guys hidden away somewhere. I think the issue is that no team is going to draft a player unless their scouts have actually watched the kid play (likely in person). So even if various scouting services rate a guy highly, if they haven't scouted him, what do they do?

So take the Steinberg situation. Maybe they were aware that there are higher-rated players available, but since they hadn't scouted them, they didn't feel comfortable drafting them. As a result, they went with the next guy on their "list" who they had actually scouted. The reason he was scouted was probably nepotism.

Generally, I doubt teams like the Avs actually operate with a full list of every player available. I think the reason they tend to pick certain types of players only with later draft picks is because they're operating on little to no information on those guys.

I'm not a scout and know next to nothing about it, so everything I just said might be complete bull, but it seems to me that the goal of a scouting department would be to get film (and watch it) of every single draft-eligible player in addition to watching as many players as possible live.

 

[PAZ]

I dislike losing Hepple, I think he was average but you can most definitely get worse besides just him. He seems like a funny bloke and good overall guy. No doubt he'll quickly find a job somewhere, probably by this offseason even if it won't be head of anything. Which teams had changes to their scouting teams this year? If I remember it was Canucks and Wild who I think will go after him.

Ya I agree. While he hasn't been great in the later rounds, he's been near perfect in making the right picks in the 1st - i'd be surprised if any other team has a better record in the 1st round than us in the past decade. It makes sense to pivot away from him since we won't have many picks in the top 20 for the near future.

 

[Pokecheque]

Here’s what I wonder—was the recent improvement in drafting (or at least what appears to be a trend in the right direction) mostly the work of Hepple or was that the result of Klippenstein’s growing influence?