News Article: Kris Draper, has been promoted to the Red Wings’ director of Amateur Scouting.

GBFP

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Where are you getting this from? He’s been very adamant on being based there for years now.

Hiring a scout with 10 years experience to scout Sweden seems a bit redundant with Hakan himself based out of there. In the very least it hints at changed duties even wearing the same title.
 

Frk It

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Hiring a scout with 10 years experience to scout Sweden seems a bit redundant with Hakan himself based out of there. In the very least it hints at changed duties even wearing the same title.

There are a ton of leagues and ground to cover in Sweden. Seems totally reasonable to hire someone to help Hakan out.
 
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Bench

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to me hakan hasnt come up with anything in ages and this new guy may be a sign that yzermans moving on from hakan

Yzerman drafted 3 players in the top 60 picks from Hakan's European region in his first draft and that tells you he's moving on from him?

Because I got the exact opposite impression. And subsequently all the NA scouts were replaced, while Hakan is getting more staff.
 

Ghost of Ethan Hunt

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Hakan is here to stay.

Good read: Håkan Andersson (ice hockey) - Wikipedia

a few excerpts...

Scouting method

"Andersson, along with several other scouts who work under him, has the responsibility of monitoring every league in Europe where future NHL talent might be found. From September to April every year he watches around 200 hockey games looking for players whose skill sets indicate they could be a fit for the Detroit Red Wings system.[8] Starting in Stockholm, he moves on to cover the rest of Sweden, then Finland, and will sometimes go as far as the Czech Republic and Russia."

The primary focus of Andersson and the rest of the Red Wings scouts is skill. They will often draft players such as Pavel Datsyuk who were overlooked by other teams due to small size when they feel the on ice ability of the player warrants it. Generally Andersson likes to watch each player two or three times, but never more than ten times; too few visits does not give a full picture of what the player can do, while too many visits can result in "picking on the player's minor weaknesses."[8]
Once the season is over he makes a list of 65–70 players he believes could make it to the NHL. This list is merged with a similar lineup made by North American scouts to come up with a closing tally of 60 prospects that the Red Wings will seek in the NHL Entry Draft.
 

deca guard

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Yzerman drafted 3 players in the top 60 picks from Hakan's European region in his first draft and that tells you he's moving on from him?

Because I got the exact opposite impression. And subsequently all the NA scouts were replaced, while Hakan is getting more staff.
im just guessing because of the new hire . but i said this because haks not reeled in a big fish outta europe in forever , he aint impressin me much
 

Bench

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im just guessing because of the new hire . but i said this because haks not reeled in a big fish outta europe in forever , he aint impressin me much

Do you usually expect big fish in the 5th round and later? Because that's been almost exclusively his draft capital under Holland. Even so, you have players like Tatar and Nyquist, both punching in well above their draft position out of Europe. That kind of success with picks beyond 60 is extremely difficult.
 
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deca guard

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Do you usually expect big fish in the 5th round and later? Because that's been almost exclusively his draft capital under Holland. Even so, you have players like Tatar and Nyquist, both punching in well above their draft position out of Europe. That kind of success with picks beyond 60 is extremely difficult.
dude hes been a wings scout about forever . and tats n nyquist arent big fish , only 2 or 3 liners . ide prefer hes replaced , has lived on the euro twins draft picks too long
 

Bench

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dude hes been a wings scout about forever . and tats n nyquist arent big fish , only 2 or 3 liners . ide prefer hes replaced , has lived on the euro twins draft picks too long

So can you name a team, and specifically a scout, that has landed bigger fish with late round picks consistently over the last 20 years? I just want to make sure I'm understanding you. If Hakan isn't getting it done, alright... who is?
 

Pavels Dog

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dude hes been a wings scout about forever . and tats n nyquist arent big fish , only 2 or 3 liners . ide prefer hes replaced , has lived on the euro twins draft picks too long
Can't find what doesn't exist.. who has drafted any big fish steals out of europe in the last 10 years? If we're talking outside of the first round or two.
 

InjuredChoker

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Can't find what doesn't exist.. who has drafted any big fish steals out of europe in the last 10 years? If we're talking outside of the first round or two.

ducks (frederik andersen and ondrej kase) and preds (saros and arvidsson) are probably the best, at least only teams that found at least two solid players. though saros has only proved to be a good backup so far.
 

Run the Jewels

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ducks (frederik andersen and ondrej kase) and preds (saros and arvidsson) are probably the best, at least only teams that found at least two solid players. though saros has only proved to be a good backup so far.
Which begs the question why our best scout was rarely given picks in the first two rounds until this past draft. At least Hronek - who was picked at #53 - is trending very strongly. I'm really happy to have Yzerman as GM and that he is giving Hakan more say in drafts and more support to build out his European scouting staff.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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So can you name a team, and specifically a scout, that has landed bigger fish with late round picks consistently over the last 20 years? I just want to make sure I'm understanding you. If Hakan isn't getting it done, alright... who is?

The only notable guy I can think of him missing on is what Klingberg and Arvidsson in terms of low round gems in Sweden? With as often as Hakan says players compete level reminds him of Arvidsson, not sure he wasn't trying to pound the table for him anyway and just didn't get his way...

I think he still does a good job in Europe and it is clear Yzerman thought we were understaffed for a while in terms of several areas by the looks of his expansion. It was probably one of his bigger points when he first started discussing the job with Holland and the Ilitch family. In fact you could tell this was actually something that was bothering Holland as well when he would talk about his brain trust drain for several years. Glad the change woke the family up to spend more money on the front office, it's important and it is an area we should flex our brand and money towards over a lot of the other NHL franchises.

You don't need less smart hockey people, collect as many as Chris and Marian are willing to allow you to have and it seems like that was the focus of Yzerman's off-season and first step in charge.
 
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Run the Jewels

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The only notable guy I can think of him missing on is what Klingberg and Arvidsson in terms of low round gems in Sweden? With as often as Hakan says players compete level reminds him of Arvidsson, not sure he wasn't trying to pound the table for him anyway and just didn't get his way...

I think he still does a good job in Europe and it is clear Yzerman thought we were understaffed for a while in terms of several areas by the looks of his expansion. It was probably one of his bigger points when he first started discussing the job with Holland and the Ilitch family. In fact you could tell this was actually something that was bothering Holland as well when he would talk about his brain trust drain for several years. Glad the change woke the family up to spend more money on the front office, it's important and it is an area we should flex our brand and money towards over a lot of the other NHL franchises.

You don't need less smart hockey people, collect as many as Chris and Marian are willing to allow you to have and it seems like that was the focus of Yzerman's off-season and first step in charge.
This isn't directed at you, but I hate the "pound the table" route to decision making. And it wouldn't shock me if Hakan wasn't into that type of decision making. It's just cringe-worthy. Hopefully the last time we hear about "pounding the table" leading to a decision is with the decision to draft Antti Tuomisto.
 

Frk It

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This isn't directed at you, but I hate the "pound the table" route to decision making. And it wouldn't shock me if Hakan wasn't into that type of decision making. It's just cringe-worthy. Hopefully the last time we hear about "pounding the table" leading to a decision is with the decision to draft Antti Tuomisto.

Well it doesn’t need have to be done literally, it’s definitely a scout’s job to “pound the table” for those they believe in.

You have to lobby for those you have put the work in for. If your guys never get picked and turn into something, you won’t have a job. All of the scouts are going to think they have good players. (A big) part of it is selling everyone else on your guys.
 
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The Zetterberg Era

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Our entire scouting staff liked Tuomisto, people are grabbing the Wright loved it a little too much. He might have been his biggest backer, Yzerman went to a couple of his games and Hakan likes him too.

I know we as fans have deep concerns about the pick and it is easier to portray the pick as that lone gunman scenario in Wright. If they knew they weren't renewing his contract like most of us figure, do you really think they are giving him 35?
 
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Retire91

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I don't see any conflict in having multiple scouts in a hotbed like Sweden they can expand the knowledge base compare notes and find more talent.

This is such an awesome summer finally seeing the organization overhauled when it was so long overdue
 
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Bench

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Our entire scouting staff liked Tuomisto, people are grabbing the Wright loved it a little too much. He might have been his biggest backer, Yzerman went to a couple of his games and Hakan likes him too.

I know we as fans have deep concerns about the pick and it is easier to portray the pick as that lone gunman scenario in Wright. If they knew they weren't renewing his contract like most of us figure, do you really think they are giving him 35?

Damn right. Yzerman knew before the draft Wright's time was coming to a close. I'm sure he took his opinion seriously, but if there's one thing we know for sure about Yzerman, is that he's going to do what he thinks is right despite how it might look. We're talking about a guy that played hardball with Martin St. Louis in Tampa. That would be like if Holland had played hardball with Zetterberg. This isn't a man that's going to do something just to appease norms. He wouldn't take Tuomisto at that spot unless he believed it was the best choice.
 

Bench

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ducks (frederik andersen and ondrej kase) and preds (saros and arvidsson) are probably the best, at least only teams that found at least two solid players. though saros has only proved to be a good backup so far.

These are good examples. As is Klingberg. And Klingberg was drafted by a guy that got fired shortly after, so ya know... that's life. And it's absolutely worth noting goalies are far more frequently taken in later rounds, so the number of late round goalies that emerge as impact NHL starters is always going to be higher, as we see from our brief list.
 

Run the Jewels

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Totally different situation IMO. With Yzerman just coming back to the organization I don't think he was doing anything other than following what his scouts suggested. Obviously he leaned heavily on Hakan and I feel that was the correct decision based on his long-established track record. Yzerman also knew him from his time in Detroit prior to leaving to run the Bolts.

If you listen to Hakan's interview at the draft he was talking up how much Wright loved Tuomisto. We'll see how it plays out.
 
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InjuredChoker

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The only notable guy I can think of him missing on is what Klingberg and Arvidsson in terms of low round gems in Sweden? With as often as Hakan says players compete level reminds him of Arvidsson, not sure he wasn't trying to pound the table for him anyway and just didn't get his way...

we did draft ehn when arvidsson was still available. and then preds took him few picks later.

but even the best miss at times.
 

Henkka

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we did draft ehn when arvidsson was still available. and then preds took him few picks later.

but even the best miss at times.

That pick has a little bit bad taste, because Ehn was only known from Frölunda, where Andersson sits on the board of governors.

And, overager, 21-year-old Arvidsson was shining at Swedish playoffs, where they did won a Championship. Scored 16 points in 14 playoff games.

So everybody knew Arvidsson. He wasn't hiding anywhere. They even had Jimmie Ericsson on that Skellefteå team (Jonathan Ericsson's older brother) to ask something about personality if needed.

Quite sure Ehn would have been there at 5th round. 11 points at 45 games at Swedish U20 junior level games was kind of, meh.

Of course, he was 18-year old and on this draft age and Arvidsson was 21-year-old.

But mostly, I think Red Wings other scouting brazz could have terminated picking a 5'9 overaged midget. Who knows if Andersson suggested him, but others could have denied. Because in 2014 we had the old NHL, and the management was saying that "we need to get bigger and tougher". Ehn had that skinny but tall 6'3 frame to build around.

They couldn't see the NHL future (which started after 2016 World Cup) where small skating players could thriwe.
 
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