According to a report by Matt Sekeres on TSN 1040, the Canucks have made some changes to their scouting staff. Sekeres reported that changes were coming heading into the draft, where their picks seemed to suggest a change in emphasis away from size and raw physical tools and towards speed and skill.
Ultimately, the change seems not as significant as Sekeres initially speculated, though he suggests more could come. His initial report suggested the changes might go as high as assistant GM John Weisbrod, but there has been no indication that Weisbrod is on his way out. Instead, four scouts will be leaving the Canucks organization, while two more scouts will be reassigned.
.@mattsekeres on #Canucks scouting: pic.twitter.com/RkoVxtdXHq
— TSN Radio Vancouver (@TSN1040) July 7, 2017
All six were amateur scouts, tasked with scouting junior leagues in North America and Europe. The four leaving were not fired, according to Sekeres: they either retired or their contracts were not renewed. Harold Snepsts reportedly will retire, while Lucien DeBlois, Ken Cook, and Mike Addesa are not having their contracts renewed. Brian Chapman and David Volek will be reassigned to pro scouting.
The Canucks drafting has been a bone of contention for fans, who have called for changes to the scouting staff for years, though it's always difficult to tell which scout is responsible for championing certain draft picks. There have been some woeful years in Canucks' draft history.
In the 10-year period from 2002 to 2012, for example, only 10 players drafted by the Canucks managed to appear in at least 100 NHL games. No other NHL team managed to draft fewer than 15 credible NHL players over the same period.
The 2007 draft was particularly awful: Patrick White, a first round bust, was selected immediately before David Perron and not one Canucks draft pick from 2007 played a single game in the NHL. Then during the Mike Gillis era, the emphasis was on improving the current team, leading to the trade for Keith Ballard in 2010 that depleted the Canucks' stock of draft picks, resulting in just one player Alex Friesen, playing a single NHL game.
Much of the blame for poor drafting is laid at the feet of the General Manager but, while they are ultimately responsible as the leader of the organization, they have to depend on their scouting staff in order to make the right choices.
Since the promotion of Judd Brackett to director of amateur scouting prior to the 2016 draft, it seemed inevitable that further changes would come. A change of leadership and direction can cause consternation and conflict. It's mostly surprising that it's taken this long for changes to be made.
If this report is accurate, that is six of the 15 amateur scouts employed by the Canucks heading out the door. It remains to be seen how they will replace these exiting scouts.
