Beyond the salary cap: Questions about the Bruins hockey operations

[Sully OReilly]

I've been a reader on this board for a long time. There are so many legitimate criticisms about Neely and Sweeney as the head admin of our Bruins. But for some of the more informed posters who might know, I have a question. The only financial piece we know about is player salaries and where they fit within the cap. My question is, does the Bruins organization devote the right amount to scouting and development in terms of personnel and payroll? Is there anyway to know where Boston is in terms of what other clubs do? With all the hand wringing about scouting and misses at the draft, shouldn't there be a top to down audit of that department and comparing to what other clubs spend and invest in? I'm not saying the Bruins don't spend in this area, but frankly I just don't know. This question, for whatever reason, never seems to be asked whenever ownership, Cam, or Don are at the podium. Anyone have any insight on where the B's rank among this?

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

I've been a reader on this board for a long time. There are so many legitimate criticisms about Neely and Sweeney as the head admin of our Bruins. But for some of the more informed posters who might know, I have a question. The only financial piece we know about is player salaries and where they fit within the cap. My question is, does the Bruins organization devote the right amount to scouting and development in terms of personnel and payroll? Is there anyway to know where Boston is in terms of what other clubs do? With all the hand wringing about scouting and misses at the draft, shouldn't there be a top to down audit of that department and comparing to what other clubs spend and invest in? I'm not saying the Bruins don't spend in this area, but frankly I just don't know. This question, for whatever reason, never seems to be asked whenever ownership, Cam, or Don are at the podium. Anyone have any insight on where the B's rank among this?

Great question, I don't know the answer but I have read over the last 5 years they have put more resources in the field.

 

[sarge88]

I don’t know the answer, but I remember posting about this in the past.

My main point was that even though every team had to abide by the same cap number, what is stopping them from putting together a scouting “dream team”?

I think I read that the average scout makes about $100-$125K.

Why not raid the cupboards of the other teams and offer their best guys $200-$225?

You wouldn’t get everyone you wanted, but you should be able to pry some quality guys away.

 

[TD Charlie]

Wouldn’t shock me to find out there’s a strict industry standard for those sorts of things. Bruins or Mammoth, a scout assigned to a given area is paid commensurate to years of service.

 

[BruinDust]

The NHL is basically a cartel and the teams all conspire to keep scout wages relatively low. No team wants to be the one to step out of line and start doubling scout compensation.

 

[incidental otter]

Interesting questions. One way of gauging a team's commitment to scouting by the size of their scouting staff. For historical perspective this is a link from 2014 listing the number of scouts employed by each team. Back then, Boston was on the low end of the list.

Go to the team's site, now, and there are 17 names under "Scouting Staff"... so the team has added bodies to the effort under Sweeney.

For comparison, Toronto had 24 scouts in '14 (most in the league), and has 21 listed, today. Florida is up from 12 to 18, in that time.

 

[PlayMakers]

I've been a reader on this board for a long time. There are so many legitimate criticisms about Neely and Sweeney as the head admin of our Bruins. But for some of the more informed posters who might know, I have a question. The only financial piece we know about is player salaries and where they fit within the cap. My question is, does the Bruins organization devote the right amount to scouting and development in terms of personnel and payroll? Is there anyway to know where Boston is in terms of what other clubs do? With all the hand wringing about scouting and misses at the draft, shouldn't there be a top to down audit of that department and comparing to what other clubs spend and invest in? I'm not saying the Bruins don't spend in this area, but frankly I just don't know. This question, for whatever reason, never seems to be asked whenever ownership, Cam, or Don are at the podium. Anyone have any insight on where the B's rank among this?

NHL Scouting Departments: A League-Wide Survey

A comparison of scouting departments across the league and initial conclusions

www.silversevensens.com

That article is from 2014 when the Bruins had 15 scouts on staff, which was about average. Now they have 20.

You can see how many scouts the Bruins have on their website. Official Boston Bruins Website | Boston Bruins