Does Tampa have the best Pro Scouting Department?

[Dipsy Doodle]

The approach of paying a first round draft pick and a bit for a solid middle sixer with term instead of paying a first for a player like Foligno helped them take two cracks at a run by landing players such as Coleman, Goodrow, and Hagel.

They made the right decision by letting the two walk and keeping Hagel. And I know he’s an elite player but Guentzel was a great add and fit in well.

Does Tampa have the best pro scouting resume in the last decade?

Doesn't take a genius to see Guentzel's value and ability to fit in great on any line. He's the ideal complementary scoring winger, and proved it every single year since he joined the league.

Dubas didn't understand that value, but he's obviously no genius.

 

[DownIsTheNewUp]

Hot take: Tampa won because of their elite core and their trade acquisitions are overrated because they ended up winning the cups anyways.

Not saying they aren't/weren't good players

I don't think that's a hot take at all. The trade acquisitions were very solid role players but never core players. Hagel is the only one who's become a core player but he came after the cups.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

What made Coleman and Goodrow special is they were good fits on a special core that completed the championship puzzle, but it’s not like they were that special as actual players. Add them to any other team it’s not like you have 2 cups to show for it.

Having guys like JT Miller, Verhaeghe before they popped might be better examples of great pro scouting. They might be better examples similar to Hagel.

Strength of the Lightning came from amateur scouting. But they’ve also had brain drain with Yzerman, Verbeek moving on over the years and not sure how intact that scouting staff is. Al Murray was replaced as head scout a couple of years ago.

Like everything else with Tampa right now, I file their scouting under the heading: declining power.

The fact that TB apparently couldn't see the talent in guys like Verhaege and Marchessault makes the answer to this a pretty clear no.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

I don't think that's a hot take at all. The trade acquisitions were very solid role players but never core players. Hagel is the only one who's become a core player but he came after the cups.

I think it's become a more accepted concept over time, but I remember it being a very unpopular opinion at the time of Yzerman's move to Detroit as GM. He seemed to be universally seen as a very good GMz largely because of those trades in Tampa.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I would probably give Florida the crown for the best pro scouting and Carolina the crown for the best overall scouting (when balancing amateur and pro). The thing that impresses me so much about Florida is how they're able to re-load constantly through waivers and non-tendered players. Zito and Co. constantly unearths useful players from the fringes of the league and places them into roles that help them exceed expectations. It's particularly crazy because they have almost no farm system to work with.

Carolina has really good pro scouting, as well, but their work is more fortified by great drafting and draft strategy than Florida's is. Years of trading down in the draft are only now starting to pay real dividends with the likes of Jackson Blake, and there's much more coming on the horizon as far as that is concerned (Nikishin, Morrow, potentially Artamonov).

 

[RedRocking]

Not to be too much of a homer, but I think the Caps pro scouting is a big strength of the organization, and maybe overlooked.

In the Ovi era, they’ve been able to fill out the roster with solid guys: Eller, Connolly, Kempny, Niskanen, Dowd, Hathaway, Jensen

And they’ve been really successful at targeting talent that needs a change of scenery: Oshie, Strome, Milano, Chychrun, Sandin, PLD, Logan Thompson