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Ottawa Senator Scouts

Vesa Awesaka

#KeepTheSenate
Jul 4, 2013
18,236
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Just curious because i couldn't find the exact information i wanted but who are or were our main scout for drafting out of Sweden and Czech Rebublic/Slovakia ?

When looking at our past rosters we seem to be one of the best teams at spotting talent from these areas and acquiring them through either the draft or trades.

The main reason i posted this thread is because we were one of the best teams at making NHL players out of Czech/Slovaks yet it seems we haven't drafted much there in awhile.
Who was responsible for seeing talent in Mezaroes, Hossa, Havlat, Chara, Michalek, Prospal ect
 
The reason we haven't been drafting Czech's and Slovak's is because both countries, whether people from there will admit it, will be the Germany's and Belarus in 10 years. Essentially what I'm saying is that they will be largely irrelevant.

I doubt that Chara and Hossa will be around for the 2018 Olympics, and if they are, they won't be the players that they are today. Their U18 and development teams are really bad. Czech Republic is less crappy, but they are still nothing like the Czech Republic that was the best in the world in 1998. They don't have any Hasek's or Jagr's in their system.

Switzerland will overtake both Czech Republic and Slovakia within the next decade.

Fun fact: In the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Great Britain and France had more players drafted than Slovakia. Let that sink in.
 
The reason we haven't been drafting Czech's and Slovak's is because both countries, whether people from there will admit it, will be the Germany's and Belarus in 10 years. Essentially what I'm saying is that they will be largely irrelevant.

I doubt that Chara and Hossa will be around for the 2018 Olympics, and if they are, they won't be the players that they are today. Their U18 and development teams are really bad. Czech Republic is less crappy, but they are still nothing like the Czech Republic that was the best in the world in 1998. They don't have any Hasek's or Jagr's in their system.

Switzerland will overtake both Czech Republic and Slovakia within the next decade.

Fun fact: In the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Great Britain and France had more players drafted than Slovakia. Let that sink in.

The Czechs have steadily been going downhill as a program for over a decade now. Look at the best drafted players coming out of the Czech Republic since the new millennium:

2000 - R. Klesla (1st round pick), R. Cechmanek (6th)
2001 - A. Hemsky (1st), T. Plekanec (3rd), M. Zidlicky (6th)
2002 - J. Hudler (2nd), T. Fleischmann (2nd)
2003 - M. Michalek (1st), J. Hejda (4th)
2004 - R. Olesz (1st), L. Smid (1st), D. Krejci (2nd), R. Polak (6th)
2005 - M. Hanzal (1st), J.Kindl (1st), O. Pavelec (2nd), V. Sobotka (4th),
2006 - M. Frolik (1st), J. Tlusty (1st), M. Neuvirth (2nd)
2007 - J. Voracek (1st), M. Repik (2nd)
2008 - (no one of note)
2009 - (no one of note)
2010 - P. Mrazek (5th)
2011 - (no one of note)

And the bust rate on Czech players has been immense: in 2002, 4 Czechs were taken in the 1st round (Taticek, Klepis, Koreis and Vagner), and every one of them busted. As a whole, the bust rate for Czechs (not just 1st rounders) is way higher than it should be.
 
From what I've read the Czechs just dont put their resources into hockey like they used to it, there's an even bigger focus on soccer development now.
 
Ruutu and Burda covers all of Europe together. Mostly Ruutu up north, but obviously they both attend the big things.
 
They nominally have a "European" scout in Vaclav Burda but based on the way the Sens have drafted since 2008 when Murray put his full staff together, he may as well just park himself in Sweden and not move all year. As mentioned, Forsberg had an amazing record in Sweden until he left the organization to coach there. He mentioned at the time that he would still provide player evaluations if the Sens wanted them since he was not affiliated with another NHL team but it's unclear whether the Sens have any contact with him anymore as it's been a couple years now. Ruutu (who is Jarko and Tuomo's brother FYI) is now working Sweden and the Sens are still drafting players from there so the pipeline appears to be open.

Just as a reminder, in the 6 drafts from 2008 up to the most recent draft, the Sens have taken exactly one player who wasn't from North America or Sweden and that was Jakub Culek in 2010. But that's kind of a cheat since Culek was already in North America with Rimouski when the Sens were scouting him prior to taking him in the draft.

I would assume that Burda helps to coordinate some of the Swedish scouting as part of his duties otherwise they are paying someone to do nothing.
 
I heard one of the Gretzky brothers is now a Scout for some NHL team. Didn't catch the whole ticker on the bottom off the TV screen in time.
 
I heard one of the Gretzky brothers is now a Scout for some NHL team. Didn't catch the whole ticker on the bottom off the TV screen in time.

Keith Gretzky got promoted to Director for Amateur Scouting for Boston Bruins. He had a coffee in the NHL many years ago with Buffalo. Previously he worked with Phoenix, probably because his brother coached there.
 
They nominally have a "European" scout in Vaclav Burda but based on the way the Sens have drafted since 2008 when Murray put his full staff together, he may as well just park himself in Sweden and not move all year. As mentioned, Forsberg had an amazing record in Sweden until he left the organization to coach there. He mentioned at the time that he would still provide player evaluations if the Sens wanted them since he was not affiliated with another NHL team but it's unclear whether the Sens have any contact with him anymore as it's been a couple years now. Ruutu (who is Jarko and Tuomo's brother FYI) is now working Sweden and the Sens are still drafting players from there so the pipeline appears to be open.

Just as a reminder, in the 6 drafts from 2008 up to the most recent draft, the Sens have taken exactly one player who wasn't from North America or Sweden and that was Jakub Culek in 2010. But that's kind of a cheat since Culek was already in North America with Rimouski when the Sens were scouting him prior to taking him in the draft.

I would assume that Burda helps to coordinate some of the Swedish scouting as part of his duties otherwise they are paying someone to do nothing.

They could be paying him to tell them not to draft certain players too. :P
 
They could be paying him to tell them not to draft certain players too. :P

Tim Murray: "Hey Vaclav, here's a list of a dozen Czech guys we're considering in 2014. You've seen all these guys play, right? What do you think?"

Vaclav Burda: (puts a red line through all 12 player's names, then tears the page into pieces, tosses them into a barrel, and lights it on fire) "What do I think? I think you need to go talk to Mikko."

Tim Murray: "Thanks, V!" (skips away)
 
Did the dude who wrote that even see Butler play? Power forward?!? Plays with an edge?!? LOL

Seriously. Maybe he played with an edge in the NCAA, against the tiny players that come out of the US Collegiate system, but it certainly did not translate at all into pro hockey. Dude was possibly out biggest "perimeter player" when he was here.

Also, Cory Conacher only made it to the "Other Notables" blurb at the end of the list, LOL. At least they sort of got Gustafsson & Scrivens right.
 

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