Scouting is subjective, it lends itself to interpretation. Scouts project, that’s the essence of the job, but that’s still up for interpretation. Every team, every scout may have a different list or evaluation of a player. Every scout, every team has a different approach when formulating their list. There are so many moving parts to the equation. Where’s the team drafting? What are the organization’s needs? Who’s the coach? What cycle is the team in? What opportunity does the player have going forward? There’s always going to be questions, and many of those go unanswered until the player in question steps on to the ice.
From my experience it’s all about learning and growing, but more importantly learning from your mistakes, gaining experience and channeling that into the next scouting experience. Every scout may have their top five “lookfors” or evaluation techniques when assessing and projecting players, but for me the mistakes continue to shape my future decisions, evaluations and projections.
As one NHL Pro Scout once told me, ‘Craig, you carry your mistakes with you, so you can learn from them.’
The learning process continues, and in the meantime, I’m going to continue to pour my heart and soul into my projections and evaluations, but I’m sure there’s some players that will continue to prove me wrong! Perhaps one QMJHL scouting colleague may have said it best.
“Scouting is all about giving a kid a chance, whether your drafted or signed as a free agent, it’s about giving them an opportunity.”
You see everyone sees the players name, height, weight, their team and ranking listed by the QMJHL’s CSR, but very few look at the date of birth. As of right now, there are several “2008” born players ranked on the CSR’s Final List, only two of them are ranked within the Top 90.
How many players on the CSR’s List were from Midget Espoir? How many players on the CSR’s List were from the U16 AAA League or High School here in Atlantic Canada, or how many of the players on the list play at prep schools abroad? What’s the difference between those leagues?
Well, some questions are more difficult to answer than others and we are just going to leave it at that. Now isn’t the time to start naming “2008” born players that are deserving of being on the list, but I’m sure there are some Q teams have already added them to their list before draft. Getting back to the “2008” born players, in some cases it might be the best thing to ever happen to those players not being added to the list because it potentially deviates their direction and path in the game.
Players that fall through the draft in their first year of eligibility are understandably devastated but become galvanized and arguably better for it in the long run. It’s difficult to suggest that not getting drafted is a blessing in disguise, but for some players it drastically impacts their mindset, direction and trajectory in the game for the better.
Age is just a number, unfortunately for some hockey players it’s a count down, it’s never too late, keep working hard, never give up, have faith, it’s not the end, be ready to take advantage of your next opportunity. Let’s hope QMJHL teams will overlook the age factor and draft the best player available for their organization no matter if they’re in the first or second year of eligibility and just give them an opportunity to showcase what they can do!
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