OHL Scouting Staffs

[PuckDrop123]

Just a thought that crossed my mind the other day, how do most fans view OHL scouting staffs? Interested to see how people rank them. For example, with London/Kitchener having biggest staffs, do most have them as 1st/2nd? Or do teams with smaller staffs rank higher (NB/KNG)?

Post your rankings based on your opinions below from 1st-20th

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[nelli27]

Just a thought that crossed my mind the other day, how do most fans view OHL scouting staffs? Interested to see how people rank them. For example, with London/Kitchener having biggest staffs, do most have them as 1st/2nd? Or do teams with smaller staffs rank higher (NB/KNG)?

Post your rankings based on your opinions below from 1st-20th

That's a difficult task given that most posters are simply not familiar with all 20 scouting staffs (myself included). Hence, a ranking would be virtually impossible.
Having said that, I think that the Soo, Erie, Oshawa, Owen Sound and Kitchener have drafted very well in recent years. London's 2018 draft could very well be the best in quite some time.
Another point to consider. There could also be teams that have good scouting staffs but are unable to convince players to report--that's not the fault of the scouting staff.

 

[Tarantula]

Who can really tell, even with sucess many scouts move up with promotions onto other teams or up to other leagues. Names you don't know or hear about for thr most part. Interesting topic, have wondered about this a few times as I am sure others have when front office moves get made. Development league for those guys as well, so there can be turnover with promotions not just firings.

Getting players to report could make some staffs look a lot smarter as well.

 

[belair]

From a fan's position, I have to give props to all of the scouts who are out there working with those kids before their draft years. It's got to be a pretty tedious task with all of the travel and tournaments while likely balancing their own personal work schedules considering the pay is likely minimal at this level. When you assume that some of the kids they likely pour hours into scouting individually simply choose not to commit to their teams, I can see that job being rather frustrating at times.

 

[Tarantula]

Labour of love for the game. Low pay considerering the travel and hours as you said. I remember reading how some NFL coaches who didn't have a playing career basically were unpaid interns breaking down film, and gradually moving up. Married, young family, and no garantee anything comes out of it. I give the scouts alot of credit, and their families.

 

[Generalsupdates]

No offence to OHL scouting staffs, but for the most part, there isn't a league the scouting staff is less important to than the OHL. If you're the best scout in the world, but are with the Petes, it doesn't matter because the players likely arent coming. I could have never watched one minor midget game and go the top prospect and say hey I'm with London, you $$$hould come. He's probably coming lol

 

[TcNorth]

Flint has a staff of about seven. Dave McParlan is the head scout and has done an outstanding job IMO. He, Tom Wilson, and Joe Stefan are holdovers from the Plymouth Whalers and we are lucky to still have them.

 

[AttackSound]

Owen Sound's scouting staff consists of a fairly large group of scouting staff.

The team has 1 American scout and a range of scouts across the province of Ontario, from my knowledge of the spotty details but if there's anything accuracy

Owen Sound scouting staff by area

1 Windsor/ London/ Sarnia area scout

2 Northern Ontario/ Barrie area scout

3 Toronto Area Scout

4 Ottawa/ Eastern Ontario scout

5 St, Catherine's/ Niagara Area scout

So to knowledge 5 area's of scouts I believe that the Attack have 1-2 scouts in each area so I'd say 10-20 scouts in total.

But a clear accuracy of how many scouts in to total I'm not sure

 

[InSuL1nImP]

Sarnia only has 3-5 scouts.

 

[BeaverSports]

No offence to OHL scouting staffs, but for the most part, there isn't a league the scouting staff is less important to than the OHL. If you're the best scout in the world, but are with the Petes, it doesn't matter because the players likely arent coming. I could have never watched one minor midget game and go the top prospect and say hey I'm with London, you $$$hould come. He's probably coming lol

That's why I'd argue the opposite on this. If you're a team that's not a London, Kitchener, etc. you need to have excellent scouts. Not only do they need to find guys who would report, they also need to find a few gems who over perform expectations to fill rolls.

It's a random, undereducated thought, but I'd be interested in looking at the Soo's scouting staff and their models. Lately, they've hit fairly well for a smaller city and they've found some real unexpected gems — Villalta perhaps chief among them.

Not sure if that's the blueprint Dubas supposedly left or Raftis and his scouts, but that's an organization that seems impressive at first glance.

 

[Fischhaber]

The Greyhounds have six scouts. They have their style of play and they target players that will fit into that system. It's a bit of a departure from the bpa at all costs model that most fans like, but it seems to work for them.