for those who didn't want to listen, here's a 5-10min summary read, Morehouse is our Dir Amateur Scouting:
- Conversation with Macklin didn't reveal much. Talked about his injury, talked about growing up in Vancouver, talked very briefly about the Warriors, revealed nothing about whether he is planning to sign or go back (seems silly) - the hosts said he really did seem like he's being thoughtful about whether to come to SJ or not. Seems generally very laid back. Talked about Eiserman as "one of my best friends." Talked about video review with Jay Pandolfo at BU. Talked about Bedard "a magician on the ice." No superstitions, not much routine before games, wrist shot over slapshot.
- Convo with Chris Morehouse. Talked about Celebrini off ice, "everything you read and hear about the kid is true, family did an incredible job," etc. All glowing reviews, he just "has it." Talked about how the kids that "have it" stand out, cited interviewing Makar in the past asking scouts questions, talked about Bedard having "it" as well. Says "compete" is the one thing that's always present in the best and important to them. Says they really want to let Macklin decide what he wants to do next year - what's best for him and the future.
- "We also have 14, 33, and 42, really good opportunity to continue building what we put together last year."
- 70 interviews this week, get as much info as they can, talk to as many kids before they become property of other teams. Trying to build info on psychology, physiology.
- Club's philosophy behind drafting: "Don't want to reveal too much, but an eye on where you are, an eye on where you want to go, but also keep thinking about not drafting players like you already have because it diminishes that asset."
- On pick 14: BPA, or leaning toward a player type? "Hard question to answer but in that area you're gravitating toward talent aspect. Some situations where you start to consider need, want, best talent available, but also draft kid with best situation to succeed." "The media starts the list, then everyone reacts to that... the idea BPA from the media might not be what ours is. A value of a player on our team might not be the value of the player on another team. You have to pay attention, but you have to keep a mindset that there's a lot of noise. Our job is to figure out if the media is right or who is falling between gaps."
- "Everybody likes the clear cut 1 vs 2, we get why the press does it. We get central scouting's list as well, they work their tails off, it's just more we have to figure out the middle ground of 'the general talent list' versus what works for us."
- "The best part about Mike (Grier) is the communication, inclusivity, I always know where his head's at and where we want to go, the team we're trying to build. We have a really unique opportunity to have an impact on how the Sharks look for the next 5-10 years."
- Asked about Jiricek and Lindstrom: "we get all the medical info we can, both kids played a lot underage and enough international events, both kids played enough that teams will have an idea, more about where are we at with the injury today. Both injuries require you to make sure that they're going to heal properly and be OK. Seems like they're both on their way. Now it's ultimately figuring out if they're healthy."
- "Yes, it's tough not having the Russian kids here. We're lucky, the agencies are putting together camps."
- "When you're looking at the good prospect pool before and this year, what's the excitement level for what you're building in San Jose?" -- "For us, it's just one step at a time. Sounds cliche and it is. Last year was my first draft in San Jose, we had a process in place and executed and felt really good about the draft. Credit our scouts for that. If we can end every year saying all our prospects have a chance to play... no one wants to admit it, but you know pretty early if they don't have a chance... they show up to the prospect game and you say 'uh oh...' if we can end every year saying our prospects took a step, that's all we want to try and do." "Build up that foundation and get to the point where Mike can start trading all our picks away (laughs)."
- He played with Brad Marchand -- says he could see the competitiveness in Junior even if it was a bit rough/troubled. "exceptional athlete, exceptionally competitive. There's an example of he is what he is because he was so highly talented, but also smart, adapted down to 4th line, worked his way up, doesn't surprise me because he's driven to be the best."
My takeaway: whoever we draft at 14 is going to be really competitive and driven. And we're not likely to take a player that looks like other players in our pipeline if we have too much of an archetype (e.g. big 2-3rd line C/W, possibly smaller skilled W). I could see them evaluating Eiserman and saying "he wants to win so badly, he just needs guidance how to do it better than he currently does." We'll see. MBN, Solberg, Jiricek all still in play, all about Jiricek's knee.
