Dennis Cholowski signs a 3 year EL Contract

The Zetterberg Era

Ball Hockey Sucks
Nov 8, 2011
40,957
11,577
Ft. Myers, FL
I understand your thought process, but nothing I've heard or read about teams drafting process really makes me believe it works the way you say.

You just can't know if you are rating someone higher than anyone else, and in the end it doesn't really matter. What matters is getting the players you want. If the #1, #2 and #3 players on your list are available, what would feel worse to miss out on? The #2 or #3 player, or the #1 player? And if you are ranking someone higher than others, doesn't taking other players mean that player you really, really like will climb on other teams lists by process of elimination? I mean, if Wings take Vilardi or Necas, Rasmussen probably gets taken by Carolina or LA. You need to have a VERY good idea of every team's plans in order to play these games you are talking about.

Scouts are very aware of what other scouts are up to. That is a big part of the profession.

They have ideas of what other teams are doing just because they are all in the same process. You notice who is at what rink, that is a big part of the job. I think what really surprises me is how different their lists are compared to the general rankings out there for us. Also how a team board is actually made up from scouts is interesting. Some teams defer to regional guys, but it really is a big process. Even if you love a guy, he might wind up way down your team board as you haven't successfully argued your placement of the player with your colleagues.

I know we think of it as Bobby Mac (my favorite list) or Craig Button but it is complex from what I have been told by those that have done it. For instance I am not going to share which team but I have a friend that is a amateur scout with a different organization that had McIsaac as his highest player we drafted on his board last year. But he is massively a fan of McIsaac and had a top 10 grade on him, but that also gives a glimpse into he isn't as big a fan of Zadina as a lot of his colleagues. Now he has been both right and wrong in the past, you hope he is right on having McIsaac that high and Zadina is more than he thought. But that is a crazy part of this process when I have talked to those that have lived it.
 
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