The creation of a junior hockey club is not a simple things. The construction of a club that wins games, playoffs and will make money is even more difficult to do on a regular basis too.
Constantly being able to collect the highest possible talent is what will make or break any coach. There is a reason why the most successful coaches seem to be able to build great teams every year. Scouting.
Scouting and what specific things that coaches are looking for vary from team to team. Everyone has an opinion on players, and these opinions are always subjective, which makes the recognition of talent difficult at times. Some scouts like certain types or kinds of players. This is why the head coach must trust that scouts looking for the right kind of player that the coach wannts.
Scouts are some the most important people within an organization. Without the right people, who are dedicated to the success of the team, you will be looking for a new job coach very soon. A coach can only coach players the scouts find for him.
It has always been very rare for me to really scout a lot of games. During the season, it is not too often that a coach can actually get to the rink to watch the other players. Probably happens when half a dozen times during the season. Unless its a local player, it is very likely that the scout who makes the call for the organization.
As a coach, I want all the information I can maybe get on a player. Scouting reports and video screening are essential in the evaluation of individual players on the ability of the ice.
I count on my team scouting staff, agents, family advisers and a group of bird dogs to find me the player that others do not know about. We all know who the top players are, the only way we get those players is by not having a good season and being able to draft them. It is the player that is not at the top that is the core of the team. Not everyone can be the super star.
We are looking for players in the bantam and midget age groups. Tier III Hockey is not a place where top teams are looking for players in most cases. The CHL bantam has bantam, and drafts in American leagues. Most players are from the bantam and midget groups of these programs, very few come from Tier III.
I want to know if a player drinks alcohol, tobacco sets, drugs, or other habits that can effect the player. I want to know if the players and the ego too big. There are few players in the world right to have an ego, it is the men who are already in the show, and most of them do not have the ego as big as some young players that I have known.
Very important is also an idea of what his parents are like. No coach wants to play a lot with parents who constantly call, e-mail and are never satisfied with their time son. Parents have ruined the careers of more players over the years simply because we wont deal with them in order to get their player. Unless your name is Crosby, Stamkos or Chara, your kid is not as good as you think he is.
Parents, nobody really cares what coach you know. If you knew him very well and he thought the player was great, he would have called and told me about him if we are were friends. Nobody cares who “Johnny” played with in recent years, or that he has played with in the past, that are in the NHL. No amount of name dropping will get “Johnny” a roster space if he can not compete.
Let’s face it, not everyone was supposed to be an NHL player or players in the NCAA. Chances are you will not. But that does not mean you should not try. “Trying” is about effort. The effort is what makes sure the average player does not go unnoticed. It is what makes the top players in the world, most of the players who are at the highest level, who demonstrate “effort” do it every day.
If you being scouted to play junior, coaches already know that you have a certain level of competence. Coaches already know that you play at a high level. What we are trying to understand, if you have or have reached a peak of can you continue to be developed and will you continue to improve.
Other than coach effort level, coaches are constantly looking for smart hackey players.
Do you make the right decisions, and if you do not, you should be able to correct those decisions. Do you can think of the game and allow your mind to help you anticipate the direction the game is something that hockey is a natural quality. You can learn games, and you can learn the system, but the best players think the game better. A smart player is able to save energy by playing efficiently and playing efficiantly and smart in one season, allows them to better prepare for the playoffs.
An important indication that a player will not be higher calibre when the word “but” is used. As they try to divert attention from their error when a coach to try to correct the error. They blame other players for what they may or not have done. Accepting responsibility is an attribute that coaches are looking for, is essential to the process of evaluating players.
Finally, I was asked by a reader to talk about player size.
The best coaches do not know the size player does not matter. If you can not skate and are six foot five, you’re just a big pylon. If you can play five feet five inches, most of the time, you will eventually make a team.
Do we look for players that are larger to start out with? Of course we do. A great player is usually physically mature and generally keeps the rigors of a long season. But if you’re a small player and avoid getting hits, or play smarter your size does not matter. The top scorer in the USHL is five feet seven, in Nahl he is five feet nine, OHL five feet eleven, QMJHL five feet eleven and WHL five feet nine.
Ultimately, they are the best players who make it. The best players are those who have the ability, intelligence, effort, and right attitudes off ice that make it beyond midget hockey.
